Blessings
“Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:10).
The other day I was speaking to a dear friend who had been very very sick with cancer several years ago. At one point she was so sick as part of her treatment that I spent quite a bit of time praying for her return to health…
This dear friend was telling me that they were very blessed because life was going well for them at the moment.
And I have been thinking about that today. You see, it is so easy to say that we are blessed by God when times are good. When things are going well and according to plan it is terribly easy to feel that God has blessed us and that we are going in the right direction and according to God’s plan. But I have been thinking about this today because that is certainly not the case.
Very very often, in the life of a Saint, their life did not seem to be going well. Very very often they were misunderstood, victims of abuse or violence, and poor. Christ Himself and His Holy Family – who are the greatest of the Saints – were in fact very poor and powerless and misunderstood. This did not make them less pleasing to God, rather it made them more so.
Think of the crucifixion… In that moment, Christ and His Holy Mother, the Queen of the Saint, were alone and poor and misunderstood. Their earthly life was not going according to any clear earthly plan. From a purely physical perspective, they were complete failures. If this were the measure of God’s blessing or approval, then there is no way that the crucifixion is a sign of blessing. And yet, in this vulnerable state Christ and His Blessed Mother pleased God more than any other souls in the history of the world. In gratitude for this great sacrifice, the Blessed Virgin was named Queen of Heaven and Queen of the Angels. This in itself – elevating a human soul (albeit a sinless one) above the Angels – is evidence enough of the fact that God ignores the so-called good times when making an assessment of whether we are blessed.
Christ explained this explicitly in the Beatitudes when He said, @Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:3-10).
And the more I reflect on this today, the more I realise that I have spent a lifetime forgetting that God is GOOD and turns all things to GOOD. And it should matter not to me whether things feel good to me in this lifetime or not, because God is GOOD and FAITH means that I believe that – even when times feel hard!
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.
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