"Blessed are the poor in spirit."

Matthew 5

Tenth Week of Ordinary Time

Sunday is the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. This week is a great preparation for our journey with Jesus more deeply into the mystery of self-giving love. “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”

This week we celebrate the Memorial of Saint Anthony of Padua, Priest and Doctor of the Church. Friday is the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus and Saturday is the Memorial of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

The first reading this week is from Paul's Second Letter to the Corinthians. Paul is defending himself. He tells the people of Corinth and us not to receive the grace of God in vain. Paul reminds them about generosity and cheerful giving. He begs the community not to dismiss him because of his poor speaking abilities saying, “Even if I am untrained in speaking, I am not so in knowledge.”  He boasts about his weakness, which he had at first begged to be freed from by the Lord, who said to him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.”

We have ended our readings from Mark for this Liturgical Year and take up the Gospel of Matthew, which will be part of our readings for the rest of the year. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus calls us beyond simply being moral. His message is not an “eye for an eye,” but turning the other cheek, loving our enemies and praying for them. Jesus warns us about performing good deeds for others to see. He teaches us to pray simply, because our Father knows what we need. “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal.... For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.” Focus on God, not the world: “No one can serve two masters... You cannot serve God and mammon.

Sunday is the Eleventh Sunday of Ordinary Time. Jesus missions the Twelve to proclaim the message that, "The kingdom of heaven is at hand."

Daily Prayer This Week

This week of prayer can be very blessed. Just as Jesus looked out on that crowd of followers and saw the spiritually poor, who were mourning and stripped of all success, looking for justice, yet themselves merciful and seeking to make peace with others, Jesus looks upon us this week. His words to us remain the same, "Rejoice and be glad." All week, we can ask for the grace to understand and embrace the blessedness of poverty, of our grief, of our seeking for justice, of how difficult it is to be merciful and be a peacemaker. We are blessed in this place, because Jesus promises we will be comforted, we will be shown mercy, we will be God's children, because the Kingdom of Heaven is ours.

So, the first movement for the week is to let Jesus change our perspective on things. We can practice all week seeing things from Jesus' point of view. When we get so angry with someone, we might be tempted to scream at them or worse, instead we can let Jesus speak to our hearts and help us with the grace to forgive that person and actually love, as Jesus loves. If our eye causes us to sin, we can hear Jesus reminding us that we'd be better without that precious gift of our sight, than suffering the deadly effects of what is happening to us, through our fantasies.

This type of daily prayer, that finds intimacy with God throughout our very busy days, can only work if we keep focusing on what we are desiring each day. And that can only work if we begin each day, naming our desires. Keeping the desires simple: for example, "Lord, today, please help me see the grace you are offering me in the poverty I feel in this situation." It can take only seconds to say that in the morning when I get up, or while I'm showering or getting dressed. But, by saying it "out loud," in our head, we give shape to a background place of conversation with the Lord all day. With some focused moments throughout the day, our desires will interact with the events our day.

"It is here, Lord, that you are asking me to surrender my anger. Mercy is so hard, but it is the way to life you are offering me. I know you desire mercy more than sacrifice. I so much want to know the blessedness of being a loving person. I feel more peaceful just knowing you are with me as I try to respond to this person with more compassion and forgiveness."

Each evening, our daily prayer comes to closure. We briefly look back through our day and remember those moments of "connection" and thank the Lord for the graces given. It takes practice, but the rewards are what we truly desire.