March 24: Trying to make sense of (some of) the beatitudes...

Deuteronomy 2:1-3:29

Luke 6:12-38

Psalm 67:1-7

Proverbs 11:27

I find myself struggling for a clear reflection this evening.  But I'm going to give it a go.  

If our Lord means we have to be materially poor - and poor is a relative term, and I can tell you there is NO WAY any of us are going to be poor relative to, say, the impoverished in India, in Bangladesh, in Africa, in the Philippines and elsewhere - in order to enjoy the kingdom of God, we are toast.  And if we have to be genuinely hungry, malnutrition-driven hungry to be satisfied, then our goose is cooked.  Because we have been so blessed by our Lord that we could not become that poor, that hungry even if we tried.  

So what does it mean, then, that it seems as though the Lord blesses us with the very things that would seem to preclude us from His kingdom?  I don't believe so.  But what I do believe is that, whatever Warren Buffet - Bill Gates wealth we might enjoy on this earth, whatever foie gras-caviar-sushi-Philly cheese steak (yes, I like Philly cheese steaks...with the cheez-whiz!) diet we might be on now, neither the riches of this earth nor the satisfaction we might feel will even begin to compare with the time we are at home with our Lord for all eternity.  

So maybe that's what it is.  For those of us who choose to chase and content ourselves with the things of this earth, we are most certainly doomed to disappointment.  The adulation will get tiring, the rich food nauseating, the creature comforts increasingly boring.  And we will find ourselves chasing more of it, to no avail, and chasing it at the expense of what would truly satisfy.  However if, instead, whatever seeming perfection the world had to offer still left us unfulfilled because of our desire for our Lord, then we would remain poor, and we would remain hungry, and we would weep until such time we came to know the perfection of His presence in His kingdom.  

And when this life and this world do not matter so much as the next life and the next world, then it becomes easier to do good to those who hate us and bless those who curse us.  It becomes easier to forgive the wrongs, easier not to judge, easier not to expect to be paid in full.  Because what they seek to take away from us in this life will not really matter - because we know the perfection we seek is to be found in the next one.  

Lord, that's a tall order, and not one I can fulfill by my own strength.  I ask you then to grant me the grace to keep my eyes and my heart fixed on your Kingdom, not this world; and by your strength live as You describe.  

As I said at the beginning, I was struggling with this one.  Would love to get your thoughts.