Wednesday in the Twenty-Third Week of Ordinary Time at Mississippi Abbey

At first sight the Beatitudes seem to turn everything upside down. Poverty and hunger are a blessing while riches and plenty are a woe. 

But at second sight, we realize the Beatitudes turn everything right side up. The proud are brought low, the lowly are lifted up, crooked ways are made straight, and the Kingdom of God is revealed, a Kingdom of eternal Beatitude where there will be no more poverty, hunger, weeping or hatred, but a new heaven and a new earth!  The Beatitudes give us hope that we will also hear Jesus say to us, “This day you will be with me in Paradise.”

So, in his commentary on the Beatitudes, William Barclay writes, “O the sheer happiness of knowing Jesus Christ, O the bliss of being a Christian.”