11 September 2013
Wednesday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time
The Beatitudes are a way of identifying more fully with the Heart of Christ. Jesus suffered through endless deprivations and mistreatments, yet as St. Claude de la Columbiere said, “The Sacred Heart was full of most tender love: there was no bitterness in it; no cruelty and injustice that he received moved it to feelings other than those of compassion and affection.” When we experience the rejection and sorrow of which the Beatitudes speak, we must unite them with Christ’s Heart. In this way, we can suffer yet be consoled with an increase of faith, hope, and love. Then in the light of faith, despite our pains we can “Rejoice and leap for joy on that day!”
For example, no matter how hard we try, many of us have thankless jobs. I shudder to think of how many times I was ungrateful and even mean to my parents who were only trying to do good to me. Yet whenever we are “poor,” “hungry,” “weeping” or faced with an “insult,” if we endure these things for Christ and through Christ, we will indeed be “blessed.” In these sufferings, we will more intimately know and be conformed to the Sacred Heart.