Lk.6: 20-26
It is said that saints are those who take Christ seriously. They accepted his words wholeheartedly and tried to practise it to the best of their ability. When we study the lives of every saint, we perceive their honest and intense efforts to live the beatitudes given by Christ to his followers. The Indian church witnessed such a heroic example of sanctity in the life of Ms. Ajna. She was born in Vytila, Kerala, as the second daughter of Mr. George Muttunkal and Achaamma. She began her career as an assistant professor at Sacred Heart College, Thevara. She had a great passion for the Holy Eucharist and was driven by her eucharistic devotion. It was strengthened and intensified with her entry into the Jesus youth movement. She possessed a eucharistic heart filled with compassion for the poor and needy. She dedicated her free time to reaching out to the needy and suffering as a channel of God’s love and mercy. She was diagnosed with mandible bone cancer four years ago. During these years of her fighting with cancer, carcinogenic cells spread to her entire body. Gradually, she lost her eyesight, hearing, as well as speaking ability. However, she has never been absent from singing praises to Jesus, the beloved of her life.
During the pandemic time, it was impossible to receive Jesus, but because of her ardent desire and devotion, her parish priest, Fr. Jean, made his best effort, in spite of lockdown rules, to give Jesus to her every day. She regularly participated in the Holy Eucharist, coming to church by walking in spite of her severe suffering. When Fr. Jean made vehicle arrangements for her to come to church, she joyfully denied it and endured those moments of suffering for Christ. When she was encountering the last days of her life in the hospital, she used to spend a holy hour before the Eucharistic Lord before the reception of communion. Even when she was not able to take any food through her mouth, the blessed species was dissolved in the water and conceived through the pipe inserted into her stomach. She continued to receive Jesus for the last seven months of her life.
On January 21st, 2022, on the feast day of St. Agnes, this little lamb of Christ received the viaticum and went to Our Father’s house at 3 p.m. for her eternal reward. In the eulogy, her spiritual director shared that she never complained to God about her terrible suffering or this tragedy at such a tender age. She used to say that if God would heal her, she would live the rest of her life proclaiming him, but otherwise she would spend eternity with him in heaven praising and glorifying him. We cannot comprehend the meaning of her suffering at this tender age, its impact and reward. She lived the beatitudes of Christ to the highest perfection. Yes, we can be certain that she is indeed blessed and enjoying beatific vision and the rewards of beatitude, which she attempted to live to the fullest…
The incarnation of Jesus didn’t intend the establishment of a political state or monarchy. Yes, it is true that the religious and political leaders of his time thought that he would either be a rebel fighting against them or a war Lord attempting to conquer the Romans and re-establish the throne of King David forever. However, Jesus was clear about his mission, and he did not seek merely political liberation, but rather a holistic liberation of humanity through the establishment of God’s kingdom on earth. Did Jesus manage to succeed in this mission? Yes, Jesus manages to proclaim the kingdom of God through his public ministry and to put a foundation stone by offering his own life at Calvary.
The Kingdom of God is not a reality fully confined to this world. It will be fully realised at the end of time, as we read in the book of revelation, “He will wipe every tear from their eyes.” (Rev. 21:4) Therefore, the kingdom of God is always in the making. All of us are called to contribute to the growth of the kingdom of God by living and witnessing Christ in our lives. How can we live and witness Christ? Jesus has shown us the way. It is that way of the beatitudes. We can mould and lead our lives based on this attitude. We can be sure that we are establishing the kingdom of God through the mission that Jesus entrusted to each one of us.
As Jesus says, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.” (Lk.6:20) Here, Jesus did not praise material poverty. However, it is the spirit of poverty that enables each one of us to detach ourselves from wealth and consider it a God-given grace to reach out to our needy brethren. It can happen to all of us that instead of detaching ourselves from wealth, we attach ourselves to wealth and tend to think that the only purpose of our lives is to amass wealth. If we didn’t have this spirit of detachment, we might be acquiring lots of wealth, but somehow, we would be dissatisfied and disturbed. Jesus says that those who live in this spirit of poverty will inherit eternal life.
The next attitude that we need to inculcate is a sense of justice. an ardent desire to seek justice and a heartfelt effort to establish justice for others. We need to understand ‘those who are hungry and those who weep” (Lk.6:21) from this perspective of establishing justice through our relentless effort. In our surroundings, we see rampant denial of justice at various levels. Those who deny their basic human dignity, human rights through the practise of the caste system, exploitation of labourers, etc. When we surrender our lives to Jesus with great passion to establish justice here on earth by being the voice of the voiceless, we are contributing our share to building the kingdom of God.
When we put these attitudes into practice, we tend to think that everything will be fine. At the same time, we also need to encounter the challenges of those who live a life contrary to the beatitudes. They may disgrace our name, reject us. These are moments of public shame and mental agony, but a disciple of Christ should accept these moments with great joy because of our deep conviction that this is not the end of our story. When we accept these moments of difficulty for the kingdom, we can be sure that they will not go unnoticed. The sacrifices that we endure will be credited in the book of life and will be rewarded.
Meanwhile, all those who live contrary to the spirit of the beatitudes, that is, those who believe that our earthly sojourn is the end of everything, such as those who divinize their wealth, contented by the pleasures of this world, and did not have a compassionate heart towards their needy brethren, are warned. When the world sees luxurious and comfortable lifestyles of those individuals, we tend to appreciate and praise them for all that they possessed. But the reality is that none of them can carry this vain glory and wealth beyond their death. These people believe only in this material world and don’t believe in the continuity of life after death. If they inquire, what sign would indicate that those who lived the beatitude received their reward after this life? It is true that we can’t have any scientific evidence for this, but those who lived a life based on beatitudes while they were alive, they enjoyed the fortune of their reward through a sense of contentment they cherished here and the peace with which they passed away from this life. All the same, we can also ask in return, how can they be so sure that these righteous people did not receive any reward?
In the second reading, taken from the letter to the Corinthians, Paul clearly teaches us that if we rely on Christ only for our life here on earth, then our faith is futile. Similarly, if we don’t believe in the resurrection of Christ, there is no meaning to our faith. We need to imbibe the spirit of the beatitudes and its practise by ardently believing in the resurrection of Christ. If he is resurrected, we can be certain that his words and assurances are absolutely true because “he has been raised as he said.” (Mt.28:6)
The Beatitudes are meant to make us fruitful and give the fragrance of Christ to our lives. The world can never achieve this fruitfulness by way of living a well celebrated life. But the one who lives the beatitudes will always be fruitful, as the prophet Jeremiah says: “They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream. It shall not fear when heat comes, and its leaves shall stay green; in the year of drought, it is not anxious, and it does not cease to bear fruit. ” (Jer. 17: 😎 As we contemplate this word of God today, let us reorient our lives based on the beatitudes. It is not meant to be read and bypassed. It is a manifesto given by Christ to us, his followers, to live in its spirit to inherit eternal life.