June 15, 2024 • 58 mins
In this episode of The Heart of Fiat Crucified Love, Catholic evangelist and missionary Mary Kloska shares reflections on the meaning of the Beatitudes that Christ taught in the Sermon on the Mount. She explains how he himself lived each one and shows how each of us can live them practically in our own lives. (June 15, 2024)
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You're listening to WCAT radio, yourhome for authentic Catholic programming. Hello,
and welcome to the Heart of Fiatcrucified Love. We are going to talk
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this week about the Beatitudes. AsI listened to Mass on my drive home
this morning after work, and thenagain tonight when I went to Mass,
the gospel was the Beatitudes, andit was on my heart to do a
podcast for you on this I guessyou're going to see the arms of it
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chair. So we're going to startwith a song and then we're going to
reflect. So in the name ofthe Father and the Son and the Holy
Spirit. Amen, Come, HolySpirit, fill the hearts of your faithful
and kindle in us of your love. Set forth your spirit, and we
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will be recreated. And thou shaltrenew the face of the earth less,
starting the poor and spirit THESI isa kingdom of God left starting fool love
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sorrow. They shall be console.Rachel and big gland Land said, are
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you holy? Are you riche andbig cland you is a king gum love
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God Land staring the lordly one.The shallon her it be cless Starary who
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hung, and they shall have theirfifth Rachel and big glass, less scenar.
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Are you holy? Are you Rachel? And big glass you is a
kingdom of God. A lean startedwho show mercy macy should be the lad
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starting the pure. They shall seethere God. Rachel a big glad let
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said, are you holy? Areyou reatu and big glass you sis the
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kingdom of God. Lets stary whoseek peace. They are the children of
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God. Class starting who sun forfaith. The clory of God is a
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ritual and big Glass said, Iholy richeal and big class you s as
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a kingdom of God. Lead storywho suns f ah becns of me rejoy
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sand, big cland yours sucking dunshine for to see. Rachel and big
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class Plans said, I you holyritual, and big glass you sis a
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kingdom of God ritual. And bigGlass said I holy ritual and big glass
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your sis a king no of cose. Oh sweet Jesus, we praise you,
and we adore you, and wethank you and we love you.
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We thank you for the gift ofyour teachings of the Beatitudes, and we
ask you to place your wounded handsupon each one of our minds and our
hearts, so that as we meditateon these mysteries tonight, that we may
better understand them, and that wemay better live them, and so that
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one day we can come to dwellwith you in heaven. We ask our
Lady, the Mother of your Heart, the Queen of the Beatitudes, to
intercede for us. Hail Mary,full of grace. The Lord is with
thee blessed, art thou among womenus. It is a fruit of thy
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warm Jesus, Holy Mary, Motherof God. Pray for us sinners now
and at the hour of our death. Amen, the name of the Father
and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen, Ali Lujah. I didn't
turn on the extra light tonight.I hope we don't run out of the
light. I thought we'd have thesun a little bit longer, but we'll
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see. So tonight we want tomeditate on these beautiful mysteries of the Beatitudes.
And I chose to bring this statuedown or even scoot it up here
a little bit. Here. Iwas blessed to get the statue from a
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close to church in Spain, andit's of Christ, our King. And
here in the month of June wecelebrate the sacred Heart. And the sacred
Heart is a heart of the beatitudes. Right, when Christ taught us the
beatitudes, they were something that helived, and he taught with his life
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way before and to the full afterwardsthan when he spoke them and just gave
them to us. Right, Christis the word of God. And not
only did he teach us in hiswords, but he was the word that
became flesh. So his very lifeexemplified the beatitudes. And we're going to
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talk about that tonight. And welook at him here, and it's his
sacred heart on fire with love thatinspires us to follow Christ. And I
love this image of the sacred heartbecause it's of Christ, our king.
And Jesus is not a king whothreatens us with his authority or makes us
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fear his power, his omnipotence,but he is a servant of love.
I almost sang the song that whatis it? The Lord my shepherd is
right, the King of love,my shepherd is right. Because that's also
a message. The message of thegood shepherd is the message of the beatitudes
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as well. And Christ, asour king, serves us by laying his
crown down, and what replaced hisroyal crown, it was the crown of
thorns, not only around his head, but around his heart, and he
sits on this throne and he reigns, but he reigns in love. Christ
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is a king of love, andthe message of the Beatitudes is a message
of great love. And what we'recalled ultimately when we're called to live the
Beatitudes to become people of the Beatitudes, are to become children of God,
because a child of God behaves liketheir Father. And the greatest mystery that
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the Trinity lives within themselves, Father, Son and Holy Spirit is a mystery
of divine love. Right, theFather and the Son loved each other so
much from all of eternity that thethird person of the Holy Spirit was eternally
begotten from that love shared of theFather and the Sun. And that love
is given to us in the sacredHeart that we remember this month of June.
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Christ is always offering us his heart. He wants an exchange of hearts
with us. Right, we thinkof that passage of ezekielh where God says,
you know, I will take yourstony hearts, and I will give
you a new heart, a heartof flesh. What he's speaking about is
giving us the heart of his son, which is given to us, you
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know, symbolically we see it inthese pictures, but is given to us
physically in the Holy Eucharist. RightGod has made manifest to us in all
of the sacraments, but it's inthe Holy Eucharist where we see most profoundly
this gift of the Heart of Christon fire with love, offered to us
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as an exchange. And during Mass, as the priest takes the bread and
the wine and places them on thealtar, we place our hearts, our
lives on the altar. And thenhe offers them to the Father, with
all their wounds, all their failings, all their hopes, all their successes,
all their joys. And then Heunites us to himself. And then
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in the Holy Eucharist, he offersus his heart. The beatitudes may sound
radical to some people, but they'renot difficult to live because we receive the
Heart of Christ, who gives usthat grace to live them from within us,
and the Holy We become a tabernacleof His heart. This heart aflame
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with love, rules like a kingbody, blood, soul, and divinity
from within us. And if wecan surrender to God and allow his grace
to pour forth and full through us, if we don't put you know,
the sin of the blackage of sin, or our own human will, or
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you know any of the ways thatpeople can close their hearts through fear,
through unforgiveness, things like that.Then we remain open. You know,
if we remove those blocks, yougo to confession, right, and you
live a life of virtue, thenGod can rush forth like a bridegroom in
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love with his bride, not onlyin the eucharst to us personally, to
take us to himself, but tocome forth then through us, to the
world. When a husband and wifelive together for a long time, they
begin to look like each other.Right. Not only do they take on
each other's mannerisms and they are waysof thinking, but they physically kind of
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resemble each other. And that lifeof prayer together makes their hearts as one,
and all the more so in thegift of the Holy Eucharist, when
we receive God into our souls,he makes us to look and resemble like
him, right, so that whenpeople see us, they say, Wow,
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there's a child of God. Thereis another Christ in the world,
right, that must be a childof Mary, because she or he looks
just like their brother Jesus. Youknow, their husband, their spouse,
Jesus. And so the mystery ofthe beatachies help us to conform ourselves to
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Christ. I love to meditate onthis mystery of the heart of Christ and
our own hearts as they unite toHim, because the heart, like the
Catechism selves. If you want toread the most beautiful part of the Catechism,
go to the section on prayer andread about the human heart. When
the Father formed the human heart,right, what did he form? He
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formed the deepest part of our being. And not only did he knit us
together with DNA and all you know, everything that we need to be a
human person, but he breathed hisbreath of life in us, and we
gave us his own spirit, theHoly Spirit, to live within us.
And the human heart is what theBible speaks of when they speak about the
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deepest part of a person. Thedeepest part. You know, heart is
hidden inside the body of a person, right, but it's connected to the
whole person. If your heart stops, you die. The heart beats forth
and pumps blood to the whole body. And so our heart when it's united
with Christ and his sacred heart.Right in the Eucharist, in prayer,
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in the sacraments and in living thebeatitudes, His blood, his life is
pumped forth from within us and helpscontrol how we think and how we act,
how we speak, how we serve, how we love, how we
pray. And that's why we wantto go to that deepest part of ourselves
that the Bible calls the heart.It's the deepest part of our bodies,
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of our minds, of our emotions, of our memories, you know,
of our spirit, of our soul. And that is the sanctuary where a
person meets God. And so youknow, the Old Testament was full of
laws for the Jews, and it'simportant to have rules. Right. If
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you have children who are unruly,you have to teach them rules. It
might not change their heart at first, but it eventually will kind of bleed
over into that right. So youteach a child when they go to church
that they have to genufleck, theyhave to dress a certainly, they have
to be respectful. They may notunderstand those rules right away, but it's
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important to teach them that piety,that respect, that order. When they
go to school. It's the samething, right when they're in the street
and they're walking, they have towatch for the light and make sure that
they don't cross at the wrong timeor they'll get hurt. Every family,
every home has rules, so it'simportant for us to follow rules. And
the Jews were given jillions of rulesby the Father, and it was to
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kind of keep them rightly ordered.But the rules were not to serve themselves
or to be greater than the purposeof the rules, which was to teach
the Jewish people love. When achild goes to church and they're not allowed
to talk or eat, when they'renot allowed to run around, when they
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learn to genufleck, to make thesign of the cross, to keep their
hands folded, eventually then their heartbecomes attuned a little more to what's going
on and they can receive grace thathelps their heart fall in love with Jesus
right. And then as they getolder, they'll begin to genuflect. They'll
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be agin to answer the responses orto sing ali Lujah just out of love.
If you've ever been to a masswhere you hear a little one just
belting out the ali Lujah right sosweet, it's one of the first things
they learned to respond to, thesame as with school. They may not
understand all the rules but as theyget older, they'll come to see how
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you know, they should be respectfulto their teachers and to elders, and
they start to do it out oflove for them, right, or out
of a goodness of their own heart. So God began to form the Jewish
people with rules, and it wasimportant whether they understood them or not right.
And the Church asks us to followthe rules of the Church, whether
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we fully have studied and understand whythey're taught or not right. And there's
a grace that comes in that.But the deepest part is the part of
love. Right, when we speakand we act and we live from the
deepest part of our heart, whichis for love. We were created by
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love, by God to love forlove right, And so love is the
purpose of everything. And Jesus whenhe came to earth, was speaking to
those who already followed the rules right. He was speaking to the Jews.
He was speaking to people who youknow, rested on the Sabbath and didn't
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take God's name in vain and honoredyou know, the Torah and the precepts
and the Passover and all the differentrules, right. And if they didn't
have the rules, for example ofPassover, they never would have understood the
gift of Christ, who became thePascal lamb of God, if they didn't
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follow everything God told them about,you know, putting the blood over the
door, the wood of the doorto save them from death, they wouldn't
have gotten Christ, who came asthe lamb of God, who pours his
blood on us on the cross sothat we are safe from death. Right.
So there's a purpose. So todayin the Gospel, Christ tries to
take the Jewish people from being animmature people, right who just had the
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rules, and to take them deeperinto love, to see that great message
of love that He came to sharewith all of us. And it comes
in the Sermon of the Mount.And I could have done a whole podcast
on the entire Sermon of the Mount. It's so beautiful, it's so radical
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what God asks us to live.It's so otherworldly. If you live with
your eyes on this world, atthis life, that you're not going to
understand the teachings of Christ. Iread something. There was a prayer group
on Facebook that I'm part of,and I saw the saddest message today.
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It was from a member who said, can you please pray for me?
I'm eighty two or eighty three yearsold, and I have so many problems,
and I want my life to havea happy ending, and I don't
know how to make it happy atthe end. And it broke my heart
because the happy ending of life isnot in this world. It's not to
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achieve some kind of earthly peace,because you know, even even saints who
are really holy, even the mostwealthy, even the most powerful, even
those who have the most comfortable homes, or you know what, am the
most children. If an earthquake strit's all gone right. So our happiness
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cannot be found in this world.The woman's answer was, your happy ending
is heaven, and it's eternal.It's eternal, you know, and you
can give forth the rest of thebreaths you have this side of eternity for
that purpose. Our hope is inheaven, Jesus said, do not store
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up for yourselves treasures on earth,store up get, you know, instead,
treasures in heaven. And that's whatwe're given in the beatitudes, Christ
is teaching us. I have ahuge Bible. It was such a cool
find. I got it for fivedollars at an antique store. I love
it, but we're going to usethat. What Christ was teaching us was
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how to store up heavenly grace,right to follow the footsteps of our teacher,
the Great King, the great Shepherd, who maid down his life and
his authority to serve us with afight, a heart on fire, with
divine love. And he says,you know you want to follow me.
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This is what it means, andit means to take up your cross and
follow him. Right. It's notalways easy to live these beatitudes, but
if you follow the footsteps of Christ, he says, my yoke is easy,
my burden is light. He givesus joy and peace. Actually,
my t shirt today I didn't getto get fancy for you. I've been
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working. I worked all weekend andworked all night and I didn't. But
uh, it has the fruits ofthe Holy Spirit on it. That's what
we're given. Those are the treasuresthat we're given in heaven. Love,
joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and
self control. Those are the treasuresthat Christ rewards us with when we live
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the beatitudes, those things last withus and to have it so Matthew chapter
five, we're going to take thesefor Matthew because that's what the gospel did
today. When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on the mountain side.
After he had sat down, hisdisciples gathered around him, and he
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began to teach them. So Jesussaw all these people just like this old
lady, looking for a happy ending, looking for happiness in the heart of
hearts. Everybody is searching for happiness, and so he wanted to reach everyone.
So the first thing he did wasgo up on the mountain side.
He went up higher so that everyonecould see him. Right, that could
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be almost like a symbol of beinglifted up high on the cross on Calvary.
When Christ wants to show us howto live, he goes up that
mountain. He goes up on histhrone. And you know when you are
at a big tar walk outside ora concert, you know, the people
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who are presenting are always a littlebit higher up. They're separate so that
everybody can see them and hear them. But Christ didn't stay standing in front
of them. He went up onthe mountain side and he sat down.
He sat down. Have you everworked with children? My whole life has
been children, right from the timeI was little. I've always been surrounded
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by children. But I have agreat passion for children, especially the most
abused and the neglected, the trafficked, the suffering children. And when you
work with suffering children, when youwork with any children, it's important not
to scare them, right as anadult authority, but when you work with
suffering children, all the more soyou have to get down on their level.
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Right. You kneel down, yousit down, you get down,
you look them in the eye,you use a calm, quiet voice,
and then you're able to connect.So what did Christ do? He went
up in the mountains so everybody couldsee him. He was the presenter.
He had the authority that he satdown, He laid his crown at his
feet, and he began to teachthem. Right. And what did he
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say? Blessed are the poor inspirit? The rain of God is theirs.
Here he begins speaking about the reignof God, the kingship of God.
Only a king has a rain.But he doesn't say, look at
me, way up ahead of you, I'm in charge, listen to me.
No, he gives an example ofhumility as he calls all of us
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to be humble. He says,blessed are the poor in spirit, Blessed
are the lowly. Blessed are thechildren the humble. Right. The word
humble comes from Humus, to bemade out of the land, out of
the dirt, to be like youknow, have you ever met people who
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are like salt of the earth.They're just like real, you know,
there's nothing pretentious to them. There'sno you know, layers of makeup or
you know, trying to pretend,even like in a symbolic spiritual way.
They're not trying to pretend to besomebody that they're not, right, they
just are who they are. Thoseare humble people, people of the earth,
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right, And he says, Blessedare the poor in spirit. Blessed
are those who don't try to bepowerful or popular or beautiful and to lure
that over other people. Blessed arethe poor in spirit. Blessed are those
who aren't seeking treasure on earth,but are seeking treasure in heaven. Doesn't
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mean that you can't have treasure onearth. Sometimes God like rewards people with
a lot of money, but it'swith a responsibility that they share it with
other people. Right, So that'swhy he adds in spirit, he calls
us to be poor in spirit thereare several very wealthy people that I know
and that I'm friends with that ifyou met them, you would never know,
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because they don't laud that over others, right, They don't always try
to shine brighter than the world aroundthem. They're very humble. They use
that those riches to serf and beingpoor in spirit doesn't just speak about our
environment around us, you know,like Jesus, he gives us an example
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of that kind of poverty in Bethlehem. You know, he was born without
a home, in a cave,you know, laid in a manger,
So his surroundings and the dirt andthe night and the cold, he understands
poverty. But you could be abitter person who's poor. You could be
a jealous person who's poor. Sopoverty itself doesn't make you holy. Poverty
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of spirit. What's the opposite ofpoverty of spirit? Pride, pride,
haughtiness, vanity, right, control, jealousy, those are things opposite to
this. So he asks us toimitate him in the manger, on the
cross, even on his throne,where we're poor in spirit, where we
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lose any riches, any authority,any wisdom that we're given to lay it
at the service like his crown thereof others. And when we empty ourselves
of ourselves, God can enter andset our hearts on fire with his own
love. You see his sacred heartrevealed here, burning as a lamp,
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burning as a furnace to warm us, purifying us. And he's saying that
if you become poor like me,right, you'll be consumed with my love.
And what's the reward, The reignof God, God is theirs.
You'll be free. You know.You look sometimes at these saintly people that
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were thrown in prison, and whenyou read their stories, it's the guards
in prisoning them that are actually bound. They're bound in their own sin.
They're vice in a system, youknow. And it's those who are holy,
even in a prison cell, whoare free because they're children of God.
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If you're poor in spirit, thenthe riches of heaven can fill you.
You become a child of God,and you are free regardless of what
people do to you, what theysay to you or about you. They
can calimnate you, right, theycan reject you, but all of heaven
is yours. Because when you're poor, then you give Christ everything you have
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that he can place his own heartfull of love, and the reign of
heaven, of being a child fieldof heaven, the kingdom of Heaven within
you. And so then there canbe, you know, a big bomb
somewhere and everything can be destroyed,and you can walk around and have peace
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and serve those who are suffering becauseyou have Christ in you. So there
are little ways that we can growin this virtue. Right. It might
be giving away something you have that'sexcess. You know, maybe you're spending
too much money on Netflix or TVprograms and it's kind of taking you away
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from the Lord. Maybe put anend to that and give that money to
the poor. Maybe you buy toomany clothes and access, maybe too many
homes or cars, maybe too muchmakeup. Whatever it is. So God
does call us to give up that. But what's also important and most important
is our hearts. What is heasking you to give up that has to
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do with poverty of spirit. Isthat your pride, your vanity, your
anger, your unforgiveness, you know, your jealousy. There's so many vices
that come from not being poor inspirit being full of yourself. So we
ask the Lord to show us howwe can grow in poverty of spirit.
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Because when we grow in poverty ofspirit, that we grow as children of
God. The reign of God istheirs. The Kingdom of Heaven comes to
live in us. Blessed too arethe sorrowing. They will be consoled.
When you're sad, you don't feelblessed, but you have a special predilection
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in the heart of God. Andso you know, I take care of
large families, I take care ofmultiple babies. Who gets my most attention
the one that is hurt, thatis sad, the most that is sick,
the one that's needy, the mostright. God is the same when
he looks upon earth and he seespeople who are miserable, who are sorrowing.
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Maybe they're sorrowing over their own sin, maybe over the sin or the
rejection of those they love, maybeover the you know a person that needs
conversion. Maybe they're sorrowing over thestate of the world. Maybe they just
can't find meaning in their own life. Maybe it's financial troubles, what a
sickness? What's making you sorrow?Give that to the Lord, because he
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looks on you with compassion. Hewants to console you. Yes, in
heaven, someday you'll be rewarded forthe sacrifices that you offer on earth to
him, right, but he wantsto comfort you on earth. Say you
have cancer and you offer it upto God, you will have an extra
jewel in your crown. You willhave an extra degree of happiness in heaven
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that you wouldn't have had if youdidn't offer your cancer to the Lord.
So it's a gift for eternity.But also like when you speak to people
who've had cancer who are very faithful, they'll say cancer itself was a gift.
God consoled me in cancer because Isaw what was important in life.
I could prepare for death, becausehe brought me so many people who were
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loving and concerned, because it savedmy soul. There's so many gifts that
the Lord can give us when heallows maybe sickness or other people to pierce
our lives with wounds. So rememberthat, hope. If you can't find
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joy in your suffering, your sorrowing, at least hold on to this promise
of the Lord that you will beconsoled. There will be an end to
it. And if nothing else inheaven, what does the Book of Revelation
say, He will wipe away everytear there will be no death in pain.
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Right because the one on the throne, Jesus, who has wounded hands
and wounded feet and a wounded heart, what does he say. He promise,
I make all things new. Andhe doesn't just tell us this,
he shows it to us. Lookat his hands. He was crucified and
helled, he was resurrected. Hemade everything new. And when we stay
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close to him and we give himour sorrows, he makes some new.
He makes some new. The saintswho have appeared to other saints or mystics
in the Church have always said theone thing that they regret being in heaven
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is that they can no longer suffer, because suffering well has such merit.
It's not only a powerful prayer forother people, but it helps us become
like Christ, to become holy.He's our example of that on the cross.
The next one is blessed are thelowly. They will inherit the land.
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We spoke about that at the beginningof the Beatitudes. What does it
mean to be lowly? He wentup on the mountain and he sat down
right. You know, he teacheswhen you go to a banquet, don't
go and sit at the best sea, in the you know, front of
the restaurant where everyone can see you. Now go to the back, you
know, humble yourself, hide yourselfin a humility, in a lowliness.
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Don't try to be the most popular, you know, don't try to you
know, get the most followers onFacebook, or you know, to be
up there and important. The morewe lower ourselves, the more the Lord
will lift us up. Right,and our lady proclaims that in the Magnificat,
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right, she was so lowly whenGod asked her to be the mother
of a son. No privilege toa human on earth has ever been or
ever will be greater than that.What did she do? She lowered herself.
I am the handmaiden of the Lord, Fiat, let it be done
unto me according to Thy word.She was lowly, And in the Magnificat,
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what does she say? You knowthat God lifts up the lowly.
Don't be afraid to humble yourself.Oh but if I you know, step
back, or I'm not in thelimelight, or I don't work so hard
that maybe I'll fail God. You'regiving God room to lift you up into
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work through you. Right, Butif I don't prove that I'm right to
this family member, then they won'tknow that I'm right. Well, why
if you just be silent, humbleyourself and pray for it. Let the
Lord lift up the lowly and defendyou. Right. So many ways to
live this, And Jesus says,blessed are the lowly. They'll inherit the
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land. What land is he speakingabout the Kingdom of heaven? And the
Kingdom of Heaven is not like ourcountries that have borders and border patrol police,
and you know it's and argument's overthat and wars. The Kingdom of
Heaven makes you free no matter whereyou are and what you encounter. So
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when you just lower yourself, Godbecomes all things in you, and he
will lift you up. He willdefend you. He will give you all
things, not only in heaven,but on earth. Right, he said
to Peter and the apostles, blessedare you. You know when you those
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of you who have given up landsor family, or brothers or sisters or
homes on a part of me auntof me right, you will receive all
of that, all the more,together with the blessing of persecution and eternal
life to come. The next isBlessed are they who hunger and thirst for
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holiness. Some translations say for righteousness. Righteousness means holiness, doing what is
right before God. Blessed are you. It doesn't say who you know are
perfect, because it's you know,not possible the sight of eternity for most
people to become perfect. Our ladywas perfect. Right. Some of the
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saints at the very end probably reacheda perfection, which is why we know
they went right to heaven. Butfor most people, you're not going to
reach a perfection and action. Butwhere you fail in your words and your
actions, mercy, the mercy ofGod in the confessional, right through our
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humbling ourselves before Him and asking forgiveness, mercy will wash us. So Christ
doesn't say blessed are those who areperfect. He says those who hunger and
thirst for holiness for that perfection.Do you desire to be holy? Not
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only just desire it, but thesame like consuming pain that you feel when
you have been eaten for a longtime, or that it's hot sun and
you're thirsty and you've been running.Do you hunger and thirst for holiness?
Right? You will have your fill. He will make you holy if you
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hunger and thirst for it. Andwhere you fail him in perfection of action
or word, he will replace thatwith his merciful love that transforms you.
In that tribunal of the confessional,you know, in the holy eucharst.
You give him your own little imperfections, and he makes you perfect. He
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says, be perfect as my heavenlyFather is perfect. He wants us to
hunger and thirst for holiness. Weask for that grace. Blessed are those
who show mercy. Mercy shall betheirs. Number one? Do you forgive
people or do you judge? Doyou hold bitterness and resentment? I think
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more people are kept out of heavenfor being unforgiving and bitter than from committing
thievery or murder and apologizing for it. It takes like a firmness of pride
to not forgive and to resent people, you know, a decision repeatedly to
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not let that go. Because Godis always offering us the grace to forgive
and to let things go. Hesays, Blessed are those who show mercy.
Mercy shall be theirs. Number one. Forgive everybody, and you will
be forgiven right here. Later on, in chapter five of Matthew you know,
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love your enemies, do good tothose who hurt you, Bless those
who persecute you, Pray for thosewho come against you. So he says,
you have to be willing to showmercy in forgiveness, right, and
then you'll be forgiven. But mercyis beyond there. There's corporal works of
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mercy and spiritual works of mercy.What else are we called to do?
To feed the hungry, give drinkto the thirsty, clothe the naked,
Visit the imprisoned, you know,shelter the homeless, bury the dead and
missing some. But you know,if you are being generous to those who
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knock on your door hungry and youknow that they're legitimately hungry, they're not
trying to take you right. Oryou send compassionate gifts to those who are
imprisoned. In different ways, youvisit the sick, even if it's a
grumpy relative who you don't like.Then someday, when you're hungry, God
will make sure you're fed. Whenyou're you know, feel like you're imprisoned.
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Maybe it's in a prison, butmaybe it's you know, in your
own sickness, Maybe you're paralyzed.Someday, maybe it's in a darkness that
comes around you. Then God willshow you mercy in that situation. Right,
you struggle to pay your you helpsomebody pay their bills. When you
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struggle, God is going to helpyou. Whenever you show mercy to other
people, you know that the Lordwill not be outdone in generosity. He
will show you mercy. He willtake care of your needs. You know,
to counsel those who are erroneous.You know, if you help and
sit patiently and have a couple hourconversation with someone struggling spiritually. Maybe they
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don't understand a teaching of the church, maybe they're just angry at something that
happened to them. Maybe they're confusedof their own vocation. But you give
them that time. Then when yourturn comes, someday, God will send
you spiritual help. He'll send youthe answers. So blessed are those who
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show mercy. Mercy shall be theirs. God wants to bestow us mercy on
us, but our hearts are onlyopen enough to receive that mercy when we
show it to other people. Blessedare the single hearted, for they shall
see God right single hearted. That'sa beautiful translation. Most translations today say
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the pure of heart, But it'sthe same thing. What does it mean
to be pure of heart? Ithas it's way beyond like sexual morality right,
or modesty or chastity. These areall important things you know to avoid
lust in itself. The pure ofheart are those who seek God for the
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goodness of God right, who loveothers to help them get to heaven,
who completely just forget about themselves.Those who are pure of heart are single
hearted. Their focus is on heaven, and every decision they make in life
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is how will this help me orothers get to heaven right? Or what
is God's will? Because when wedo God's will, we get to heaven.
Sometimes we won't see how an actionor a word is, you know,
getting us or other people to heaven. Maybe of a job and you
really don't know how you're accounting isgetting you to heaven. But you know
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it's God's will that you provide foryour children, that you work this good
job, that you're you're honest init, and you trust that having that
single hearted goal of heaven, thatGod will use it to help you to
see Him in the midst of thatwork and help you to see him eternally
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and the beatific vision. Right,those who are pure of heart see God
everywhere. They see him in thesunset, they see him in the rose.
Right, you know that beautiful poem, I see him upon the You
know his blood is upon every rose. There's that beautiful, is it?
John Manley Hopkins the end of thebrevery. There's a beautiful option to pray.
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This prayer about howevery you know,red rose reminds us of the blood
of Christ, and you know howwe can find His majesty and everything.
So we ask for the skift tobe pure of heart, which is to
be single hearted in our love,to actually follow those most important commandments,
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to love God with all of ourmind, all of our heart, all
of our soul, all of ourspirit, and to love our neighbor as
ourself boom, to be single heartedin our desire for heaven. And if
everything in our lives push us towardsit, blessed to are the peace makers.
They will be called the children ofGod. We can be peacemakers or
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peace breakers. Right, God cameto give us peace. He reconciled us
and gave us peace through the bloodof the Cross. He was willing to
suffer to bring us peace. Andthen there's Satan, the devil, diabolo,
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the divider, who does everything possibleto cause unrest and discord and disunity.
And we can be children of thedevil and cause division, you know,
stirring up gossa or division between people, or we can be children of
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God who bring peace. Saint Ritaand her father, her family was known
to be peacekeepers in their time,and when there are family feuds in their
village, they would come and theywould try to reconcile the people to each
other. And God blesses those whoare peacemakers. And sometimes you can't enter
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in and maybe you'll walk in aroom and you have two siblings, you
know, talking negatively about another one. Sometimes you're not in the conversation enough
to bring peace, but you canstop and say a prayer, ask Saint
Michael to cast out any demons thatare causing them to speak negatively, asking
the Lord to put healing love onthe person spoken about, and a repentance
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in the heart of those speaking.Sometimes the greatest act of peace that we
can do is just prayer. Ican't go to Russia and meet with the
Russians and the Ukrainians and bring peace. But I can pray every day for
peace in that division. I canhelp the Russians that I meet in America
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to know the Lord, and Ican meet you, help the Ukrainian refugees
with their needs, and just offerthat work up to bring peace and unity
to the earth. Right, andwhen we are peacemakers where children of God
he created, it's a purpose ofour life. He created us to be
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instruments of peace. We think aboutSaint Francis and his beautiful prayer. Lord,
make me an instrument of your peace. Right where there's hatred, Let
me so love where there's injury,pardon where there's doubt, faith where there's
despair, hope where there's darkness,light right where there's sadness. Help me
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bring joy that's bringing peace. OhMaster, grant that I may never seek
so much to be consoled as toconsole. Help me forget myself so I
can bring consolation to the sorry,to be understood, as to understand,
to be loved, as to love. For it is in giving that we
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receive, It is in pardoning thatwe are pardoned, and it is in
dying that we are born to eternallife. That's a prayer of a peacemaker.
Next, or blessed are the persecutedfor holiness sake? The reign of
God is theirs. Do people mockyou for seeking the will of God?
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Have you been denied jobs? Orhave people become jealous and knocked you down
from whatever you're trying to do?How have you been persecuted in your life?
Sometimes we see children persecuted in schoolfor their faith. We certainly see
politicians, doctors, and nurses,and today's culture of death persecuted for protecting
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life. But Jesus says, don'tbe afraid. Blessed are the persecuted?
Right, the reign of God istheirs. You are only persecuted to the
degree that you are one with Christ. Blessed are you when they insult you?
He even like lays it out oneby one. Not only blessed are
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you when you're persecuted in general,but when you're insulted, when they persecute
you, when they utter every kindof slander against you because of me?
Have you ever had people lie aboutyou because of your devotion to the Lord,
call you names, make assumptions,gossip behind your back? I have
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Jesus is blessed. When they calimnateyou, when they insult you, when
they slander you, be glad andrejoice. Your reward will be great in
heaven. Sometimes in the midst ofsuch dire persecution, we don't see on
earth what good came from it?Right? Why you know, was my
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missionary work in whatever country I wasin persecuted, so I had to leave
that country. I don't see mehelping them, But my reward is in
heaven. And by offering up thatpersecution, people are being helped that I
don't see. What about my hermitvocation? Greatly persecuted, the Lord will
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reward me in heaven for every personwhoever didn't understand such a strange vocation.
Right might be in little ways,maybe you've given up the TV or Internet
and your home. Maybe you don'tlet your kids read the popular books.
Right, But when you're persecuted forthat, you are blessed, and that
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blessing will carry on to eternity.Your reward will be great in heaven,
for they persecuted the prophets before youin the very same way. It's in
following these beatitudes that we become what'sthe next section here in Matthew, you
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are the salt of the earth.If the salt, If the salt goes
flat, how can you restore itsflavor? Right? Living the Beatitudes keeps
us tasty as salt. Right,by living the Beatitudes in the world,
we bring flavor to the world.We enhance the presence of God in everything.
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Think about it, how you havea taste of something, but if
you add a little salt, itbrings out that taste. God is everywhere.
But when his people are living likeHis children are living the Beatitudes,
then others can taste that presence ofGod, taste and see the goodness of
the Lord more clerk clearly right,and we are the light of the world.
(56:17):
A city set on a hill cannotbe hidden. Right, don't put
a light under a bushel basket.It's by living the Beatitudes that we will
shine that light of Christ everywhere.So I invite you to take those beatitudes
in Matthew five, and to takethem into silence, take them into adoration.
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Maybe read them in your bed atnight before you go to sleep,
and ask the Lord to do anexamination of conscience within you through the beatitudes,
so that you can see how youare living them. With him and
how maybe you've failed. What youneed to confess and ask him to help
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you imitate him both in the stableand on Calvary and on his throne in
heaven, so that you can bechildren of God that truly show His face
to the world. Glory beat tothe Father and to the Son and to
the Holy Spirit. As it wasin the beginning is now never shall be
(57:28):
world without it. Amen, Father'sSon the Holy Spirit. Ama. Hello,
God's beloved. I'm Annabel Moseley,Author, professor of theology and host
of then Sings My Soul and DestinationSainthood on WCAT Radio. I invite you
(57:51):
to listen in and find inspiration alongthis sacred journey. We're traveling together to
make our lives a masterpiece and withGod's race, become saints. Join me
Annabel Moseley for Then Sings My Songand Destination Sainthood on WCAT Radio. God
bless you. Remember you are neveralone. God is always with you.
(58:20):
Thank you for listening to a productionof WCAT Radio. Please join us in
our mission of evangelization, and don'tforget Love lifts up when knowledge takes flight.
You're listening to WCAT radio, yourhome for authentic Catholic programming. Hello,
and welcome to the Heart of Fiatcrucified Love. We are going to talk
(00:20):
this week about the Beatitudes. AsI listened to Mass on my drive home
this morning after work, and thenagain tonight when I went to Mass,
the gospel was the Beatitudes, andit was on my heart to do a
podcast for you on this I guessyou're going to see the arms of it
(00:41):
chair. So we're going to startwith a song and then we're going to
reflect. So in the name ofthe Father and the Son and the Holy
Spirit. Amen, Come, HolySpirit, fill the hearts of your faithful
and kindle in us of your love. Set forth your spirit, and we
(01:03):
will be recreated. And thou shaltrenew the face of the earth less,
starting the poor and spirit THESI isa kingdom of God left starting fool love
(01:47):
sorrow. They shall be console.Rachel and big gland Land said, are
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you holy? Are you riche andbig cland you is a king gum love
(02:32):
God Land staring the lordly one.The shallon her it be cless Starary who
(03:07):
hung, and they shall have theirfifth Rachel and big glass, less scenar.
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Are you holy? Are you Rachel? And big glass you is a
kingdom of God. A lean startedwho show mercy macy should be the lad
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starting the pure. They shall seethere God. Rachel a big glad let
(05:00):
said, are you holy? Areyou reatu and big glass you sis the
(05:21):
kingdom of God. Lets stary whoseek peace. They are the children of
(05:49):
God. Class starting who sun forfaith. The clory of God is a
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ritual and big Glass said, Iholy richeal and big class you s as
(06:46):
a kingdom of God. Lead storywho suns f ah becns of me rejoy
(07:21):
sand, big cland yours sucking dunshine for to see. Rachel and big
(07:46):
class Plans said, I you holyritual, and big glass you sis a
(08:15):
kingdom of God ritual. And bigGlass said I holy ritual and big glass
(08:52):
your sis a king no of cose. Oh sweet Jesus, we praise you,
and we adore you, and wethank you and we love you.
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We thank you for the gift ofyour teachings of the Beatitudes, and we
ask you to place your wounded handsupon each one of our minds and our
hearts, so that as we meditateon these mysteries tonight, that we may
better understand them, and that wemay better live them, and so that
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one day we can come to dwellwith you in heaven. We ask our
Lady, the Mother of your Heart, the Queen of the Beatitudes, to
intercede for us. Hail Mary,full of grace. The Lord is with
thee blessed, art thou among womenus. It is a fruit of thy
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warm Jesus, Holy Mary, Motherof God. Pray for us sinners now
and at the hour of our death. Amen, the name of the Father
and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen, Ali Lujah. I didn't
turn on the extra light tonight.I hope we don't run out of the
light. I thought we'd have thesun a little bit longer, but we'll
(10:24):
see. So tonight we want tomeditate on these beautiful mysteries of the Beatitudes.
And I chose to bring this statuedown or even scoot it up here
a little bit. Here. Iwas blessed to get the statue from a
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close to church in Spain, andit's of Christ, our King. And
here in the month of June wecelebrate the sacred Heart. And the sacred
Heart is a heart of the beatitudes. Right, when Christ taught us the
beatitudes, they were something that helived, and he taught with his life
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way before and to the full afterwardsthan when he spoke them and just gave
them to us. Right, Christis the word of God. And not
only did he teach us in hiswords, but he was the word that
became flesh. So his very lifeexemplified the beatitudes. And we're going to
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talk about that tonight. And welook at him here, and it's his
sacred heart on fire with love thatinspires us to follow Christ. And I
love this image of the sacred heartbecause it's of Christ, our king.
And Jesus is not a king whothreatens us with his authority or makes us
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fear his power, his omnipotence,but he is a servant of love.
I almost sang the song that whatis it? The Lord my shepherd is
right, the King of love,my shepherd is right. Because that's also
a message. The message of thegood shepherd is the message of the beatitudes
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as well. And Christ, asour king, serves us by laying his
crown down, and what replaced hisroyal crown, it was the crown of
thorns, not only around his head, but around his heart, and he
sits on this throne and he reigns, but he reigns in love. Christ
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is a king of love, andthe message of the Beatitudes is a message
of great love. And what we'recalled ultimately when we're called to live the
Beatitudes to become people of the Beatitudes, are to become children of God,
because a child of God behaves liketheir Father. And the greatest mystery that
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the Trinity lives within themselves, Father, Son and Holy Spirit is a mystery
of divine love. Right, theFather and the Son loved each other so
much from all of eternity that thethird person of the Holy Spirit was eternally
begotten from that love shared of theFather and the Sun. And that love
is given to us in the sacredHeart that we remember this month of June.
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Christ is always offering us his heart. He wants an exchange of hearts
with us. Right, we thinkof that passage of ezekielh where God says,
you know, I will take yourstony hearts, and I will give
you a new heart, a heartof flesh. What he's speaking about is
giving us the heart of his son, which is given to us, you
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know, symbolically we see it inthese pictures, but is given to us
physically in the Holy Eucharist. RightGod has made manifest to us in all
of the sacraments, but it's inthe Holy Eucharist where we see most profoundly
this gift of the Heart of Christon fire with love, offered to us
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as an exchange. And during Mass, as the priest takes the bread and
the wine and places them on thealtar, we place our hearts, our
lives on the altar. And thenhe offers them to the Father, with
all their wounds, all their failings, all their hopes, all their successes,
all their joys. And then Heunites us to himself. And then
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in the Holy Eucharist, he offersus his heart. The beatitudes may sound
radical to some people, but they'renot difficult to live because we receive the
Heart of Christ, who gives usthat grace to live them from within us,
and the Holy We become a tabernacleof His heart. This heart aflame
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with love, rules like a kingbody, blood, soul, and divinity
from within us. And if wecan surrender to God and allow his grace
to pour forth and full through us, if we don't put you know,
the sin of the blackage of sin, or our own human will, or
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you know any of the ways thatpeople can close their hearts through fear,
through unforgiveness, things like that.Then we remain open. You know,
if we remove those blocks, yougo to confession, right, and you
live a life of virtue, thenGod can rush forth like a bridegroom in
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love with his bride, not onlyin the eucharst to us personally, to
take us to himself, but tocome forth then through us, to the
world. When a husband and wifelive together for a long time, they
begin to look like each other.Right. Not only do they take on
each other's mannerisms and they are waysof thinking, but they physically kind of
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resemble each other. And that lifeof prayer together makes their hearts as one,
and all the more so in thegift of the Holy Eucharist, when
we receive God into our souls,he makes us to look and resemble like
him, right, so that whenpeople see us, they say, Wow,
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there's a child of God. Thereis another Christ in the world,
right, that must be a childof Mary, because she or he looks
just like their brother Jesus. Youknow, their husband, their spouse,
Jesus. And so the mystery ofthe beatachies help us to conform ourselves to
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Christ. I love to meditate onthis mystery of the heart of Christ and
our own hearts as they unite toHim, because the heart, like the
Catechism selves. If you want toread the most beautiful part of the Catechism,
go to the section on prayer andread about the human heart. When
the Father formed the human heart,right, what did he form? He
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formed the deepest part of our being. And not only did he knit us
together with DNA and all you know, everything that we need to be a
human person, but he breathed hisbreath of life in us, and we
gave us his own spirit, theHoly Spirit, to live within us.
And the human heart is what theBible speaks of when they speak about the
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deepest part of a person. Thedeepest part. You know, heart is
hidden inside the body of a person, right, but it's connected to the
whole person. If your heart stops, you die. The heart beats forth
and pumps blood to the whole body. And so our heart when it's united
with Christ and his sacred heart.Right in the Eucharist, in prayer,
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in the sacraments and in living thebeatitudes, His blood, his life is
pumped forth from within us and helpscontrol how we think and how we act,
how we speak, how we serve, how we love, how we
pray. And that's why we wantto go to that deepest part of ourselves
that the Bible calls the heart.It's the deepest part of our bodies,
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of our minds, of our emotions, of our memories, you know,
of our spirit, of our soul. And that is the sanctuary where a
person meets God. And so youknow, the Old Testament was full of
laws for the Jews, and it'simportant to have rules. Right. If
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you have children who are unruly,you have to teach them rules. It
might not change their heart at first, but it eventually will kind of bleed
over into that right. So youteach a child when they go to church
that they have to genufleck, theyhave to dress a certainly, they have
to be respectful. They may notunderstand those rules right away, but it's
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important to teach them that piety,that respect, that order. When they
go to school. It's the samething, right when they're in the street
and they're walking, they have towatch for the light and make sure that
they don't cross at the wrong timeor they'll get hurt. Every family,
every home has rules, so it'simportant for us to follow rules. And
the Jews were given jillions of rulesby the Father, and it was to
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kind of keep them rightly ordered.But the rules were not to serve themselves
or to be greater than the purposeof the rules, which was to teach
the Jewish people love. When achild goes to church and they're not allowed
to talk or eat, when they'renot allowed to run around, when they
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learn to genufleck, to make thesign of the cross, to keep their
hands folded, eventually then their heartbecomes attuned a little more to what's going
on and they can receive grace thathelps their heart fall in love with Jesus
right. And then as they getolder, they'll begin to genuflect. They'll
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be agin to answer the responses orto sing ali Lujah just out of love.
If you've ever been to a masswhere you hear a little one just
belting out the ali Lujah right sosweet, it's one of the first things
they learned to respond to, thesame as with school. They may not
understand all the rules but as theyget older, they'll come to see how
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you know, they should be respectfulto their teachers and to elders, and
they start to do it out oflove for them, right, or out
of a goodness of their own heart. So God began to form the Jewish
people with rules, and it wasimportant whether they understood them or not right.
And the Church asks us to followthe rules of the Church, whether
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we fully have studied and understand whythey're taught or not right. And there's
a grace that comes in that.But the deepest part is the part of
love. Right, when we speakand we act and we live from the
deepest part of our heart, whichis for love. We were created by
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love, by God to love forlove right, And so love is the
purpose of everything. And Jesus whenhe came to earth, was speaking to
those who already followed the rules right. He was speaking to the Jews.
He was speaking to people who youknow, rested on the Sabbath and didn't
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take God's name in vain and honoredyou know, the Torah and the precepts
and the Passover and all the differentrules, right. And if they didn't
have the rules, for example ofPassover, they never would have understood the
gift of Christ, who became thePascal lamb of God, if they didn't
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follow everything God told them about,you know, putting the blood over the
door, the wood of the doorto save them from death, they wouldn't
have gotten Christ, who came asthe lamb of God, who pours his
blood on us on the cross sothat we are safe from death. Right.
So there's a purpose. So todayin the Gospel, Christ tries to
take the Jewish people from being animmature people, right who just had the
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rules, and to take them deeperinto love, to see that great message
of love that He came to sharewith all of us. And it comes
in the Sermon of the Mount.And I could have done a whole podcast
on the entire Sermon of the Mount. It's so beautiful, it's so radical
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what God asks us to live.It's so otherworldly. If you live with
your eyes on this world, atthis life, that you're not going to
understand the teachings of Christ. Iread something. There was a prayer group
on Facebook that I'm part of,and I saw the saddest message today.
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It was from a member who said, can you please pray for me?
I'm eighty two or eighty three yearsold, and I have so many problems,
and I want my life to havea happy ending, and I don't
know how to make it happy atthe end. And it broke my heart
because the happy ending of life isnot in this world. It's not to
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achieve some kind of earthly peace,because you know, even even saints who
are really holy, even the mostwealthy, even the most powerful, even
those who have the most comfortable homes, or you know what, am the
most children. If an earthquake strit's all gone right. So our happiness
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cannot be found in this world.The woman's answer was, your happy ending
is heaven, and it's eternal.It's eternal, you know, and you
can give forth the rest of thebreaths you have this side of eternity for
that purpose. Our hope is inheaven, Jesus said, do not store
(24:26):
up for yourselves treasures on earth,store up get, you know, instead,
treasures in heaven. And that's whatwe're given in the beatitudes, Christ
is teaching us. I have ahuge Bible. It was such a cool
find. I got it for fivedollars at an antique store. I love
it, but we're going to usethat. What Christ was teaching us was
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how to store up heavenly grace,right to follow the footsteps of our teacher,
the Great King, the great Shepherd, who maid down his life and
his authority to serve us with afight, a heart on fire, with
divine love. And he says,you know you want to follow me.
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This is what it means, andit means to take up your cross and
follow him. Right. It's notalways easy to live these beatitudes, but
if you follow the footsteps of Christ, he says, my yoke is easy,
my burden is light. He givesus joy and peace. Actually,
my t shirt today I didn't getto get fancy for you. I've been
(25:33):
working. I worked all weekend andworked all night and I didn't. But
uh, it has the fruits ofthe Holy Spirit on it. That's what
we're given. Those are the treasuresthat we're given in heaven. Love,
joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and
self control. Those are the treasuresthat Christ rewards us with when we live
(25:57):
the beatitudes, those things last withus and to have it so Matthew chapter
five, we're going to take thesefor Matthew because that's what the gospel did
today. When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on the mountain side.
After he had sat down, hisdisciples gathered around him, and he
(26:18):
began to teach them. So Jesussaw all these people just like this old
lady, looking for a happy ending, looking for happiness in the heart of
hearts. Everybody is searching for happiness, and so he wanted to reach everyone.
So the first thing he did wasgo up on the mountain side.
He went up higher so that everyonecould see him. Right, that could
(26:41):
be almost like a symbol of beinglifted up high on the cross on Calvary.
When Christ wants to show us howto live, he goes up that
mountain. He goes up on histhrone. And you know when you are
at a big tar walk outside ora concert, you know, the people
(27:02):
who are presenting are always a littlebit higher up. They're separate so that
everybody can see them and hear them. But Christ didn't stay standing in front
of them. He went up onthe mountain side and he sat down.
He sat down. Have you everworked with children? My whole life has
been children, right from the timeI was little. I've always been surrounded
(27:25):
by children. But I have agreat passion for children, especially the most
abused and the neglected, the trafficked, the suffering children. And when you
work with suffering children, when youwork with any children, it's important not
to scare them, right as anadult authority, but when you work with
suffering children, all the more soyou have to get down on their level.
(27:48):
Right. You kneel down, yousit down, you get down,
you look them in the eye,you use a calm, quiet voice,
and then you're able to connect.So what did Christ do? He went
up in the mountains so everybody couldsee him. He was the presenter.
He had the authority that he satdown, He laid his crown at his
feet, and he began to teachthem. Right. And what did he
(28:14):
say? Blessed are the poor inspirit? The rain of God is theirs.
Here he begins speaking about the reignof God, the kingship of God.
Only a king has a rain.But he doesn't say, look at
me, way up ahead of you, I'm in charge, listen to me.
No, he gives an example ofhumility as he calls all of us
(28:37):
to be humble. He says,blessed are the poor in spirit, Blessed
are the lowly. Blessed are thechildren the humble. Right. The word
humble comes from Humus, to bemade out of the land, out of
the dirt, to be like youknow, have you ever met people who
(29:00):
are like salt of the earth.They're just like real, you know,
there's nothing pretentious to them. There'sno you know, layers of makeup or
you know, trying to pretend,even like in a symbolic spiritual way.
They're not trying to pretend to besomebody that they're not, right, they
just are who they are. Thoseare humble people, people of the earth,
(29:22):
right, And he says, Blessedare the poor in spirit. Blessed
are those who don't try to bepowerful or popular or beautiful and to lure
that over other people. Blessed arethe poor in spirit. Blessed are those
who aren't seeking treasure on earth,but are seeking treasure in heaven. Doesn't
(29:45):
mean that you can't have treasure onearth. Sometimes God like rewards people with
a lot of money, but it'swith a responsibility that they share it with
other people. Right, So that'swhy he adds in spirit, he calls
us to be poor in spirit thereare several very wealthy people that I know
and that I'm friends with that ifyou met them, you would never know,
(30:08):
because they don't laud that over others, right, They don't always try
to shine brighter than the world aroundthem. They're very humble. They use
that those riches to serf and beingpoor in spirit doesn't just speak about our
environment around us, you know,like Jesus, he gives us an example
(30:29):
of that kind of poverty in Bethlehem. You know, he was born without
a home, in a cave,you know, laid in a manger,
So his surroundings and the dirt andthe night and the cold, he understands
poverty. But you could be abitter person who's poor. You could be
a jealous person who's poor. Sopoverty itself doesn't make you holy. Poverty
(30:53):
of spirit. What's the opposite ofpoverty of spirit? Pride, pride,
haughtiness, vanity, right, control, jealousy, those are things opposite to
this. So he asks us toimitate him in the manger, on the
cross, even on his throne,where we're poor in spirit, where we
(31:17):
lose any riches, any authority,any wisdom that we're given to lay it
at the service like his crown thereof others. And when we empty ourselves
of ourselves, God can enter andset our hearts on fire with his own
love. You see his sacred heartrevealed here, burning as a lamp,
(31:44):
burning as a furnace to warm us, purifying us. And he's saying that
if you become poor like me,right, you'll be consumed with my love.
And what's the reward, The reignof God, God is theirs.
You'll be free. You know.You look sometimes at these saintly people that
(32:07):
were thrown in prison, and whenyou read their stories, it's the guards
in prisoning them that are actually bound. They're bound in their own sin.
They're vice in a system, youknow. And it's those who are holy,
even in a prison cell, whoare free because they're children of God.
(32:30):
If you're poor in spirit, thenthe riches of heaven can fill you.
You become a child of God,and you are free regardless of what
people do to you, what theysay to you or about you. They
can calimnate you, right, theycan reject you, but all of heaven
is yours. Because when you're poor, then you give Christ everything you have
(32:54):
that he can place his own heartfull of love, and the reign of
heaven, of being a child fieldof heaven, the kingdom of Heaven within
you. And so then there canbe, you know, a big bomb
somewhere and everything can be destroyed,and you can walk around and have peace
(33:15):
and serve those who are suffering becauseyou have Christ in you. So there
are little ways that we can growin this virtue. Right. It might
be giving away something you have that'sexcess. You know, maybe you're spending
too much money on Netflix or TVprograms and it's kind of taking you away
(33:37):
from the Lord. Maybe put anend to that and give that money to
the poor. Maybe you buy toomany clothes and access, maybe too many
homes or cars, maybe too muchmakeup. Whatever it is. So God
does call us to give up that. But what's also important and most important
is our hearts. What is heasking you to give up that has to
(34:00):
do with poverty of spirit. Isthat your pride, your vanity, your
anger, your unforgiveness, you know, your jealousy. There's so many vices
that come from not being poor inspirit being full of yourself. So we
ask the Lord to show us howwe can grow in poverty of spirit.
(34:23):
Because when we grow in poverty ofspirit, that we grow as children of
God. The reign of God istheirs. The Kingdom of Heaven comes to
live in us. Blessed too arethe sorrowing. They will be consoled.
When you're sad, you don't feelblessed, but you have a special predilection
(34:49):
in the heart of God. Andso you know, I take care of
large families, I take care ofmultiple babies. Who gets my most attention
the one that is hurt, thatis sad, the most that is sick,
the one that's needy, the mostright. God is the same when
he looks upon earth and he seespeople who are miserable, who are sorrowing.
(35:12):
Maybe they're sorrowing over their own sin, maybe over the sin or the
rejection of those they love, maybeover the you know a person that needs
conversion. Maybe they're sorrowing over thestate of the world. Maybe they just
can't find meaning in their own life. Maybe it's financial troubles, what a
sickness? What's making you sorrow?Give that to the Lord, because he
(35:37):
looks on you with compassion. Hewants to console you. Yes, in
heaven, someday you'll be rewarded forthe sacrifices that you offer on earth to
him, right, but he wantsto comfort you on earth. Say you
have cancer and you offer it upto God, you will have an extra
jewel in your crown. You willhave an extra degree of happiness in heaven
(36:00):
that you wouldn't have had if youdidn't offer your cancer to the Lord.
So it's a gift for eternity.But also like when you speak to people
who've had cancer who are very faithful, they'll say cancer itself was a gift.
God consoled me in cancer because Isaw what was important in life.
I could prepare for death, becausehe brought me so many people who were
(36:22):
loving and concerned, because it savedmy soul. There's so many gifts that
the Lord can give us when heallows maybe sickness or other people to pierce
our lives with wounds. So rememberthat, hope. If you can't find
(36:45):
joy in your suffering, your sorrowing, at least hold on to this promise
of the Lord that you will beconsoled. There will be an end to
it. And if nothing else inheaven, what does the Book of Revelation
say, He will wipe away everytear there will be no death in pain.
(37:05):
Right because the one on the throne, Jesus, who has wounded hands
and wounded feet and a wounded heart, what does he say. He promise,
I make all things new. Andhe doesn't just tell us this,
he shows it to us. Lookat his hands. He was crucified and
helled, he was resurrected. Hemade everything new. And when we stay
(37:30):
close to him and we give himour sorrows, he makes some new.
He makes some new. The saintswho have appeared to other saints or mystics
in the Church have always said theone thing that they regret being in heaven
(37:50):
is that they can no longer suffer, because suffering well has such merit.
It's not only a powerful prayer forother people, but it helps us become
like Christ, to become holy.He's our example of that on the cross.
The next one is blessed are thelowly. They will inherit the land.
(38:14):
We spoke about that at the beginningof the Beatitudes. What does it
mean to be lowly? He wentup on the mountain and he sat down
right. You know, he teacheswhen you go to a banquet, don't
go and sit at the best sea, in the you know, front of
the restaurant where everyone can see you. Now go to the back, you
know, humble yourself, hide yourselfin a humility, in a lowliness.
(38:38):
Don't try to be the most popular, you know, don't try to you
know, get the most followers onFacebook, or you know, to be
up there and important. The morewe lower ourselves, the more the Lord
will lift us up. Right,and our lady proclaims that in the Magnificat,
(39:00):
right, she was so lowly whenGod asked her to be the mother
of a son. No privilege toa human on earth has ever been or
ever will be greater than that.What did she do? She lowered herself.
I am the handmaiden of the Lord, Fiat, let it be done
unto me according to Thy word.She was lowly, And in the Magnificat,
(39:23):
what does she say? You knowthat God lifts up the lowly.
Don't be afraid to humble yourself.Oh but if I you know, step
back, or I'm not in thelimelight, or I don't work so hard
that maybe I'll fail God. You'regiving God room to lift you up into
(39:44):
work through you. Right, Butif I don't prove that I'm right to
this family member, then they won'tknow that I'm right. Well, why
if you just be silent, humbleyourself and pray for it. Let the
Lord lift up the lowly and defendyou. Right. So many ways to
live this, And Jesus says,blessed are the lowly. They'll inherit the
(40:08):
land. What land is he speakingabout the Kingdom of heaven? And the
Kingdom of Heaven is not like ourcountries that have borders and border patrol police,
and you know it's and argument's overthat and wars. The Kingdom of
Heaven makes you free no matter whereyou are and what you encounter. So
(40:32):
when you just lower yourself, Godbecomes all things in you, and he
will lift you up. He willdefend you. He will give you all
things, not only in heaven,but on earth. Right, he said
to Peter and the apostles, blessedare you. You know when you those
(40:52):
of you who have given up landsor family, or brothers or sisters or
homes on a part of me auntof me right, you will receive all
of that, all the more,together with the blessing of persecution and eternal
life to come. The next isBlessed are they who hunger and thirst for
(41:15):
holiness. Some translations say for righteousness. Righteousness means holiness, doing what is
right before God. Blessed are you. It doesn't say who you know are
perfect, because it's you know,not possible the sight of eternity for most
people to become perfect. Our ladywas perfect. Right. Some of the
(41:37):
saints at the very end probably reacheda perfection, which is why we know
they went right to heaven. Butfor most people, you're not going to
reach a perfection and action. Butwhere you fail in your words and your
actions, mercy, the mercy ofGod in the confessional, right through our
(41:58):
humbling ourselves before Him and asking forgiveness, mercy will wash us. So Christ
doesn't say blessed are those who areperfect. He says those who hunger and
thirst for holiness for that perfection.Do you desire to be holy? Not
(42:19):
only just desire it, but thesame like consuming pain that you feel when
you have been eaten for a longtime, or that it's hot sun and
you're thirsty and you've been running.Do you hunger and thirst for holiness?
Right? You will have your fill. He will make you holy if you
(42:40):
hunger and thirst for it. Andwhere you fail him in perfection of action
or word, he will replace thatwith his merciful love that transforms you.
In that tribunal of the confessional,you know, in the holy eucharst.
You give him your own little imperfections, and he makes you perfect. He
(43:00):
says, be perfect as my heavenlyFather is perfect. He wants us to
hunger and thirst for holiness. Weask for that grace. Blessed are those
who show mercy. Mercy shall betheirs. Number one? Do you forgive
people or do you judge? Doyou hold bitterness and resentment? I think
(43:27):
more people are kept out of heavenfor being unforgiving and bitter than from committing
thievery or murder and apologizing for it. It takes like a firmness of pride
to not forgive and to resent people, you know, a decision repeatedly to
(43:52):
not let that go. Because Godis always offering us the grace to forgive
and to let things go. Hesays, Blessed are those who show mercy.
Mercy shall be theirs. Number one. Forgive everybody, and you will
be forgiven right here. Later on, in chapter five of Matthew you know,
(44:15):
love your enemies, do good tothose who hurt you, Bless those
who persecute you, Pray for thosewho come against you. So he says,
you have to be willing to showmercy in forgiveness, right, and
then you'll be forgiven. But mercyis beyond there. There's corporal works of
(44:38):
mercy and spiritual works of mercy.What else are we called to do?
To feed the hungry, give drinkto the thirsty, clothe the naked,
Visit the imprisoned, you know,shelter the homeless, bury the dead and
missing some. But you know,if you are being generous to those who
(44:58):
knock on your door hungry and youknow that they're legitimately hungry, they're not
trying to take you right. Oryou send compassionate gifts to those who are
imprisoned. In different ways, youvisit the sick, even if it's a
grumpy relative who you don't like.Then someday, when you're hungry, God
will make sure you're fed. Whenyou're you know, feel like you're imprisoned.
(45:22):
Maybe it's in a prison, butmaybe it's you know, in your
own sickness, Maybe you're paralyzed.Someday, maybe it's in a darkness that
comes around you. Then God willshow you mercy in that situation. Right,
you struggle to pay your you helpsomebody pay their bills. When you
(45:42):
struggle, God is going to helpyou. Whenever you show mercy to other
people, you know that the Lordwill not be outdone in generosity. He
will show you mercy. He willtake care of your needs. You know,
to counsel those who are erroneous.You know, if you help and
sit patiently and have a couple hourconversation with someone struggling spiritually. Maybe they
(46:07):
don't understand a teaching of the church, maybe they're just angry at something that
happened to them. Maybe they're confusedof their own vocation. But you give
them that time. Then when yourturn comes, someday, God will send
you spiritual help. He'll send youthe answers. So blessed are those who
(46:28):
show mercy. Mercy shall be theirs. God wants to bestow us mercy on
us, but our hearts are onlyopen enough to receive that mercy when we
show it to other people. Blessedare the single hearted, for they shall
see God right single hearted. That'sa beautiful translation. Most translations today say
(46:52):
the pure of heart, But it'sthe same thing. What does it mean
to be pure of heart? Ithas it's way beyond like sexual morality right,
or modesty or chastity. These areall important things you know to avoid
lust in itself. The pure ofheart are those who seek God for the
(47:17):
goodness of God right, who loveothers to help them get to heaven,
who completely just forget about themselves.Those who are pure of heart are single
hearted. Their focus is on heaven, and every decision they make in life
(47:37):
is how will this help me orothers get to heaven right? Or what
is God's will? Because when wedo God's will, we get to heaven.
Sometimes we won't see how an actionor a word is, you know,
getting us or other people to heaven. Maybe of a job and you
really don't know how you're accounting isgetting you to heaven. But you know
(47:59):
it's God's will that you provide foryour children, that you work this good
job, that you're you're honest init, and you trust that having that
single hearted goal of heaven, thatGod will use it to help you to
see Him in the midst of thatwork and help you to see him eternally
(48:22):
and the beatific vision. Right,those who are pure of heart see God
everywhere. They see him in thesunset, they see him in the rose.
Right, you know that beautiful poem, I see him upon the You
know his blood is upon every rose. There's that beautiful, is it?
John Manley Hopkins the end of thebrevery. There's a beautiful option to pray.
(48:44):
This prayer about howevery you know,red rose reminds us of the blood
of Christ, and you know howwe can find His majesty and everything.
So we ask for the skift tobe pure of heart, which is to
be single hearted in our love,to actually follow those most important commandments,
(49:05):
to love God with all of ourmind, all of our heart, all
of our soul, all of ourspirit, and to love our neighbor as
ourself boom, to be single heartedin our desire for heaven. And if
everything in our lives push us towardsit, blessed to are the peace makers.
They will be called the children ofGod. We can be peacemakers or
(49:30):
peace breakers. Right, God cameto give us peace. He reconciled us
and gave us peace through the bloodof the Cross. He was willing to
suffer to bring us peace. Andthen there's Satan, the devil, diabolo,
(49:50):
the divider, who does everything possibleto cause unrest and discord and disunity.
And we can be children of thedevil and cause division, you know,
stirring up gossa or division between people, or we can be children of
(50:12):
God who bring peace. Saint Ritaand her father, her family was known
to be peacekeepers in their time,and when there are family feuds in their
village, they would come and theywould try to reconcile the people to each
other. And God blesses those whoare peacemakers. And sometimes you can't enter
(50:36):
in and maybe you'll walk in aroom and you have two siblings, you
know, talking negatively about another one. Sometimes you're not in the conversation enough
to bring peace, but you canstop and say a prayer, ask Saint
Michael to cast out any demons thatare causing them to speak negatively, asking
the Lord to put healing love onthe person spoken about, and a repentance
(51:01):
in the heart of those speaking.Sometimes the greatest act of peace that we
can do is just prayer. Ican't go to Russia and meet with the
Russians and the Ukrainians and bring peace. But I can pray every day for
peace in that division. I canhelp the Russians that I meet in America
(51:22):
to know the Lord, and Ican meet you, help the Ukrainian refugees
with their needs, and just offerthat work up to bring peace and unity
to the earth. Right, andwhen we are peacemakers where children of God
he created, it's a purpose ofour life. He created us to be
(51:43):
instruments of peace. We think aboutSaint Francis and his beautiful prayer. Lord,
make me an instrument of your peace. Right where there's hatred, Let
me so love where there's injury,pardon where there's doubt, faith where there's
despair, hope where there's darkness,light right where there's sadness. Help me
(52:07):
bring joy that's bringing peace. OhMaster, grant that I may never seek
so much to be consoled as toconsole. Help me forget myself so I
can bring consolation to the sorry,to be understood, as to understand,
to be loved, as to love. For it is in giving that we
(52:27):
receive, It is in pardoning thatwe are pardoned, and it is in
dying that we are born to eternallife. That's a prayer of a peacemaker.
Next, or blessed are the persecutedfor holiness sake? The reign of
God is theirs. Do people mockyou for seeking the will of God?
(52:52):
Have you been denied jobs? Orhave people become jealous and knocked you down
from whatever you're trying to do?How have you been persecuted in your life?
Sometimes we see children persecuted in schoolfor their faith. We certainly see
politicians, doctors, and nurses,and today's culture of death persecuted for protecting
(53:14):
life. But Jesus says, don'tbe afraid. Blessed are the persecuted?
Right, the reign of God istheirs. You are only persecuted to the
degree that you are one with Christ. Blessed are you when they insult you?
He even like lays it out oneby one. Not only blessed are
(53:37):
you when you're persecuted in general,but when you're insulted, when they persecute
you, when they utter every kindof slander against you because of me?
Have you ever had people lie aboutyou because of your devotion to the Lord,
call you names, make assumptions,gossip behind your back? I have
(54:00):
Jesus is blessed. When they calimnateyou, when they insult you, when
they slander you, be glad andrejoice. Your reward will be great in
heaven. Sometimes in the midst ofsuch dire persecution, we don't see on
earth what good came from it?Right? Why you know, was my
(54:24):
missionary work in whatever country I wasin persecuted, so I had to leave
that country. I don't see mehelping them, But my reward is in
heaven. And by offering up thatpersecution, people are being helped that I
don't see. What about my hermitvocation? Greatly persecuted, the Lord will
(54:47):
reward me in heaven for every personwhoever didn't understand such a strange vocation.
Right might be in little ways,maybe you've given up the TV or Internet
and your home. Maybe you don'tlet your kids read the popular books.
Right, But when you're persecuted forthat, you are blessed, and that
(55:09):
blessing will carry on to eternity.Your reward will be great in heaven,
for they persecuted the prophets before youin the very same way. It's in
following these beatitudes that we become what'sthe next section here in Matthew, you
(55:30):
are the salt of the earth.If the salt, If the salt goes
flat, how can you restore itsflavor? Right? Living the Beatitudes keeps
us tasty as salt. Right,by living the Beatitudes in the world,
we bring flavor to the world.We enhance the presence of God in everything.
(55:53):
Think about it, how you havea taste of something, but if
you add a little salt, itbrings out that taste. God is everywhere.
But when his people are living likeHis children are living the Beatitudes,
then others can taste that presence ofGod, taste and see the goodness of
the Lord more clerk clearly right,and we are the light of the world.
(56:17):
A city set on a hill cannotbe hidden. Right, don't put
a light under a bushel basket.It's by living the Beatitudes that we will
shine that light of Christ everywhere.So I invite you to take those beatitudes
in Matthew five, and to takethem into silence, take them into adoration.
(56:40):
Maybe read them in your bed atnight before you go to sleep,
and ask the Lord to do anexamination of conscience within you through the beatitudes,
so that you can see how youare living them. With him and
how maybe you've failed. What youneed to confess and ask him to help
(57:02):
you imitate him both in the stableand on Calvary and on his throne in
heaven, so that you can bechildren of God that truly show His face
to the world. Glory beat tothe Father and to the Son and to
the Holy Spirit. As it wasin the beginning is now never shall be
(57:28):
world without it. Amen, Father'sSon the Holy Spirit. Ama. Hello,
God's beloved. I'm Annabel Moseley,Author, professor of theology and host
of then Sings My Soul and DestinationSainthood on WCAT Radio. I invite you
(57:51):
to listen in and find inspiration alongthis sacred journey. We're traveling together to
make our lives a masterpiece and withGod's race, become saints. Join me
Annabel Moseley for Then Sings My Songand Destination Sainthood on WCAT Radio. God
bless you. Remember you are neveralone. God is always with you.
(58:20):
Thank you for listening to a productionof WCAT Radio. Please join us in
our mission of evangelization, and don'tforget Love lifts up when knowledge takes flight.
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