With paradox there is tension between two seemingly opposing realities. This tension is like a golden thread linking the two, sending divine impulses as one experiences either side of the polarity. What does this have to do with today’s gospel of the Beatitudes (Mt 5:1-12)? Blessedness is promised. Blessedness is promised to everyone. At the center of the gospel way is paradox. To follow the One who said: ‘I am the way, the truth and the life’ is to enter paradox. The cross is the paradigm of the Way, it is the greatest paradox of Christian faith. There is no resurrection, no life, no growth of love without the cross. And this teaching today of Jesus is saying something similar: blessedness emerges from struggle, hardship, including suffering.
“The eyes of the saint make all beauty holy and the hands of the saint consecrate everything they touch to the glory of God, and the saint is never offended by anything and judges no one’s sin” (New Seeds of Contemplation, p.24). These words of Thomas Merton are packed with meaning. First he says the ‘eyes of a saint make all beauty holy’….This vision or seeing is possible for everyone…the eyes that behold beauty connect the beauty with holiness…what is seen is beautiful and it is holy, imbued with Divine life….Then the ‘hands of the saint consecrate everything they touch,’ treating everyone and everything as holy, as gift of God
Jesus’ Sermon on the Mountain, with His famous Blessings, is usually associated with the Evangelist Matthew, who gives the most elaborated version. But also Luke has his version. According to Luke, Jesus is rather descending into a valley – or at least towards ‘a stretch of level ground’. Though being closer to the earth, it is especially Luke who stresses the hereafter. Jesus speaks his consolation words to all those who appear to be unfortunate in this life: the poor, the hungry, the mourning and the suppressed.
A popular Guest House recipe that is vegan, easy to mak...
