WEDNESDAY 30TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME – YEAR A
By: Deacon Bill Frere
THEME: CHANGE THAT ATTITUDE
Church of the Beatitudes, Sea of Galilee
Gospel – Matthew 5: 1-12A
Let me tell you a story. There was a young man taking his last class to earn his MBA. He was a very conscientious student and pretty much breezed through all his assignments and tests, at least until his final exam. He easily got through all the questions until he got to the last page, the last question. What’s the first name of the woman who cleans the school? What?? Is this some sort of joke? He knew he saw her pretty much every day. He knew she was probably in her 50’s, dark-haired and tall. But her name? not a clue! So he turned in the final leaving that last question blank! And before he left the classroom, he asked the professor if that last question really counted!
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Absolutely, said the professor, and here’s why! In your career, throughout your life, you will meet many people. Every single one of them is important, significant, worth knowing! They deserve your attention and your care, even if all you do is smile and say hi!
When you think about it, this is not just a story about changing our actions; it’s about changing our attitude! We already know the 10 Commandments, rules for our actions. But we also know that there have been plenty of times when we DID the right thing but not always for the right reasons. We clean our room, do our homework, go to work, rake the leaves, speak the truth but too often it’s because we have to, because we were told to and we were afraid of what would happen if we didn’t! We did the right thing but grudgingly!
Over the past few weeks, Jesus has been making the same point! Do we need to do the right thing? Yes, absolutely! But we need to do it for the right reasons, as we saw last week, we do it out of LOVE. So do the right thing, for the right reasons, and today, do it with the right attitude!
That is what the Beatitudes are all about! Whenever I would cover the Beatitudes in my Scripture classes, I would always tell my students that these are not B – attitudes! These need to be A-attitudes. Yeah, I know, corny, but still effective!
We need to adopt a Christian attitude, an attitude that’s the complete opposite of today’s society! We are called to be merciful, meek, poor in spirit, recognizing that we are dependent on God. We are called to be peacemakers, clean of heart, comforters, peacemakers, hungry for justice and righteousness.
What we are given in today’s Gospel are our marching orders – to go forth with the right attitude, those qualities expressed in the Beatitudes. The same qualities that we celebrate today for the Feast of All Saints, qualities demonstrated in the lives of those we call saints! Will it be difficult? Sometimes seemingly impossible? Absolutely! But let me tell you a little secret – we are all called to be saints! Every single one of us!
I know what you’re going to say – no, no, not me! No way I can get to the point that some of these saints like Mother Theresa, St. Augustine, St Francis, reached! No way!
So let me tell you another little secret – every saint has a past! And every sinner has a future! How about we let that percolate a bit today in our minds and hearts. Let it be a reminder that we are called to direct our actions, our motivations and our attitudes in faith and in service to our Father in Heaven. And let the saints be our guide!
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