ASSIGNED READING
61 What Christian value is expressed by the eighth Beatitude?
The final Beatitude is Blessed are they who suffer persecution for justice' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
This attitude is one of penance. It is comprised of the joyful following of Christ in his suffering and death. When we ourselves are the victims we are to offer the wicked person no resistance. "On the contrary, if anyone hits you on the right cheek, offer him the other as well" (Matthew 5:39). And, at his trial, guards standing by gave Jesus a slap in the face (see John 18:22).
Following Christ's own practice in the desert we are to deny ourselves. Our sharing in Christ's death, celebrated in the Eucharist, is to be extended into our everyday life through voluntary penance in the form of prayer, tasting, and works of charity. The Church commends fasting for those who are materially prosperous and the acceptance of suffering (while still seeking to promote better social justice) for those who are poor.
"Happy are you when people abuse you and persecute you and speak all kinds of calumny against you on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven" (Matthew 5:11-12).
A small boy was carrying his little brother up a steep hill. Moved by the sight of the boy obviously struggling under the weight of his burden, a passerby called out, "Isn't that a very heavy load you are carrying?" "No," the boy replied, "it isn't a load; it's my brother."
Saint Paul once described the burden of his sufferings in a similar way. "The only thing I can boast about is the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. . . the marks on my body are those of Jesus" (Galatians 6:14,17), he wrote. Everywhere he traveled Paul took the burden of persecution upon his shoulders for the sake of the Gospel. But his sufferings ware not too heavy to bear, for in them he carried Christ his Brother.
It is easy to accept God's will when it coincides with our own. The trouble is that it so often doesn't! In carrying Christ we will always be asked to carry, too, some of the weight of the Cross.
Nothing calls for a more complete change of attitude than that of accepting suffering for Christ's sake. Every fiber of our flesh, every human conviction of our mind cries out against pain and rejection. In all the world there is now question asked more often than, "Why suffering?"
We try to think it out. Maybe we start with the Old Testament idea that we are being punished for our sins. From there we go on to think of offering up our sufferings in payment of our sins. We are making some progress, but we have a long way to go yet. We only realize how far when we are faced with suffering in the innocent, maybe in a child who is dear to us. Then we are really left with one big question, why? We look to heaven, somewhat reproachfully, for the answer.
There is no need to look too high, no higher than the crucifix on our wall. The moment of suffering can be the moment we look on the crucified Christ for the millionth time, and see him for the first time. For there is the most innocent One who has suffered the most.
There is an alternative to the burden of the Cross. But the alternative is heavier still. It is the burden of hate. A short while before being struck down by the assassin's bullet, Martin Luther King spoke the following words: "I've seen too much hate to want to hate, myself . . . and every time I see it, I say to myself, hate is too great a burden to bear...."
"In your minds you must be the same as Christ Jesus: His state was divine, yet he did not cling to his equality with God but emptied himself to assume the condition of a slave, and became as men are, and being as all men are, he was humbler yet, even to accepting death, death on a cross" (Philippians 2:5-8).
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SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL
QUIZ
Read the chapter indicated and match each statement on left column with the best phrase you can find in fthe tright column. Note that the numbering of the Beatitudes in the Catechism may differ from other lists.
__ 1 Reward of the Persecuted
__ 2 Martin Luther King
__ 3 If hit on right cheek
__ 4 Works of voluntary Penance
__ 5 Calumny
__ 6 "Only thing I can boast about"
__ 7 Why suffering?
__ 8 Attitude of Penance
__ 9 "Though divine he emptied himself"
__ 10 Trial of Jesus
a. Assasinated
b. Baking powder
c. Collaboration
d. Condition of a slave
e. Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ
f. Following Christ even to suffering & death
g. Hair shirt & self-laceration
h. A Del iberate Hurtful lie
i. Jury &
j. Justice' sake
k. Kingdom of Heaven
l. Offer the left
m. Payment for our sins "
n. Prayer, fasting, almsgiving
o. Punishment for sins )
p. Redemptive value of Christ's death
q. Slapped in the face
PRAYER
The everlasting God has in His wisdom foreseen from eternity the cross that He now presents to you as a gift from His inmost heart. This cross He now sends you He has considered with His all-knowing eyes, understood with His divine mind, tested with His wise justice, warmed with loving arms, and weighed with His own hands to see that it be not one inch too large and not one ounce too heavy for you. He has blessed it with His holy Name, anointed it with His grace, perfumed it with His consolation, taken one last glance at you and your courage, and then sent it to you from heaven, a special greeting from God to you, an alms of the all merciful love of God.
Fr. Ron 04/03/04