Chapter 9Living in Praise and Thanksgiving

Class Reflection: “A Love Supreme”

Reader 1:

God loves.

May I be acceptable in Thy sight.

We are all one in His grace.

The fact that we do exist is acknowledgment of Thee Lord.

Thank you God.

Reader 2:

God will wash away all our tears…

He always has…

He always will.

Seek Him every day.

In all ways seek God every day.

Reader 3:

Let us sing all songs to God

To whom all praise is due…praise God.

No road is an easy one,

But they all go back to God.

With all we share God.

It is all with God.

It is all with Thee.

Reader 4:

God breaths through us so completely…

So gently we hardly feel it…

Yet it is our everything.

Thank you God.

John Coltrane

The message of the beatitudes and of the

impact of God’s goodness and love has been an inspiration to many

artists. One such inspiration came to the jazz tenor saxophonist

John Coltrane. He was a drug and alcohol addict whose life was on a downward spiral. He had

an experience of God that changed his life, and from

that moment on he wanted to express his

thanks in song. He wanted “to make others happy

through music.” After the death of a close friend and the birth of his

first child he went into seclusion and in three

days wrote “A Love Supreme.” He made his

song “a humble offering” to God.

Gospel Dimensions of The Good Life

In Chapters 7 and 8 we examined the ethical and the moral dimensions of the good life. In this chapter we will be looking at the gospel dimensions of the good life.

We will consider the impact of the revelation of God in Jesus upon our moral and ethical lives. This revelation calls for a personal response.

God is the highest good that we can enjoy. No other good compares.

The previous chapters emphasized what we must do as we strive to live ethically and morally. This chapter emphasizes what God brings to the relationship, and our response to His personal call.

Key Terms Beatitudes: Blessings found in both Matthew 5

and Luke 6 that summarize much of Jesus’ teaching about the kingdom of God. They have 3 parts: (1) the invocation or blessing word, (2) the group addressed, and (3) the conditions of the blessing. **The original Greek work for the beatitudes is makarios, which means both “blessed” and “happy.”

Charity: The power of God’s love working through us. This love incorporates action on behalf of the needy.

Spirituality: The pattern of how faith is translated in action.

Key Terms 2Liturgy: In Christian tradition it means in the

participation of the People of God in the ‘work of God’. The liturgy is the highest exchange or interaction between the work of God and our work. We call the actions in which this encounter occurs sacramental. The official worship of the Church as the Mass, Sacraments, Liturgy of the Hours. Devotional prayer, such as Stations of the Cross and the Rosary also contribute to moral living, as they flow out of liturgy or lead into it.

Vocation: A calling to a state of life: marriage, ordained ministry, consecrated life, single state. It is a calling by God to live a life of love in a unique and graced way.

The Spirit of the Lord God is Upon Me

At the beginning of his public ministry Jesus reads from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah in the synagogue.

-(Isaiah 61:1-3)

After he reading he proclaims himself the messiah to the people of Nazareth by saying: “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. (Luke 4:21)

Matthew’s Beatitudes Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled

Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God

Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven

Blesses are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Luke’s Beatitudes

Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God

Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled

Blessed who you who weep now, for you will laugh

Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets

Luke’s Beatitudes

But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation

Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry

Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep

Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets

The beatitudes are the Christian blueprint for the kingdom of God on earth

Whom is Jesus Addressing in Luke’s

Beatitudes? The poor are the real poor, those who have to

“crouch” for their living (beggars)

The hungry are the poor who have no food and no way to sustain themselves

Those who weep are the rejected because they follow the way of Jesus

The rich, the full, and the laughers are those whose lives are centered on themselves and their selfish desires and who forget the poor and God. They consider themselves above others

Jesus’ Proclamation of the Beatitudes In Luke’s Beatitudes Jesus speaks to the oppressed people: the poor. Paradox: The poor, the starving and the sad are the happiest, not in the future, but now! How is this possible?

The Paradox of the Beatitudes

For God it is not impossible for the poor to be happy.

Through them God’s glory will be displayed.

They are the heirs of the kingdom—in whom God’s happiness has entered. They are not the good or the pious, but the beggar, the sinner and the prostitute

Did they deserve it more that others? No, but God had heard their cries. They are an appeal to God’s goodness

So, the poor more than anyone else, were a sign that what Jesus proclaimed could only come forth out of God’s goodness (not any earthly statuses or possessions)

The Ethics of The Beatitudes

What do the beatitudes say about ethics and morality?

1) We are called to recognize that all is God’s gift:

-The beatitudes call us to acknowledge that everything comes out of God’s goodness

-Everything begins with His love

-Our Catholic religion is based upon what God has done for us, and what we do in response to His love

2) We are called to repent and believe the good news:

-Our first response to the beatitudes is repentance, or what the Christian tradition calls conversion

-This is the time of God’s generosity. In the gospel of Mark, the people are asked to “repent and believe in the good news” (1.13)

-To repent or convert is to let go of one’s previous way of living and looking at life

-We are called to accept God’s generosity and love, and to make these things the new starting point of our lives

3) We are called to live a life of praise and thanksgiving:

-If the beatitudes are about God’s goodness, then we should thank God

-This is why liturgy and participation in liturgy are so important for Catholic life.

-The gift of God’s life and love needs to be received and celebrated.

4) We are called to live generously

-This does not fall under the category of obligation. It is an ethics of response—gospel or eschatological ethics.

-It is living in God’s gift and responding generously with what I can give.

-Acting not out of fear, but out of the love allotted to us by God’s grace

Matthew vs. Luke The ethical aspects of the beatitudes is more evident in Matthew’s version than in Luke’s. Luke is more concerned about revealing God’s generosity. Matthew is more insistent that this generosity also has ethical repercussions. The beatitudes are invitations to be poor in spirit, peacemakers, meek, or to hunger for justice as an ethical response to God’s generosity.

Living the Beatitudes Dr. Martin Luther King

Was a man who truly hungered and thirsted for righteousness

Why I am opposed to the war in Vietnam:

“I am determined to take the gospel seriously”

“It has played havoc with our domestic destinies. This day we

are spending five hundred thousand dollars to kill every

Vietcong soldier. Every time we kill one we spend about five

hundred thousand dollars while we spend only fifty-three dollars a

year for every person characterized as poverty-stricken in the so-called poverty program, which is not even a good skirmish

against poverty”.

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty

stream.”

Living the Beatitudes

Saint Francis of Assisi

Pope Francis

Living the Beatitudes

Saint Francis of Assisi He was the son of a very

wealthy family

While going off to war in 1204, Francis had a vision that directed him back to Assisi, where he lost his taste for his worldly life

While going off to war in 1204, Francis had a vision that directed him back to Assisi where he lost taste for his worldly life

He renounced his wealth to live among the poor

He returned home, started preaching on the streets, and soon amassed a large following

Pope Francis Became Pope on March

13, 2013

Chose Francis as his papal name in honour of St. Francis

Like Saint Francis, he emphasizes the value of being humble

Recognizes God’s love of the poor (as seen in the beatitudes) over the privilaged

A Dedication to the Poor and Living Humbly

Pope Francis visits Assisi:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLHJ2ArfSj8

Pope Francis signals a remarkable shift in priorities for the Catholic Church. He is determined to see a shift from Catholic policies regarding such social issues as abortion, gay marriage and contraceptive methods to a return to gospel values.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSE07BXbxWM

The “Bling Bishop”

German bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-Van Elst was suspended by Pope Francis for his excessive spending and luxurious lifestyle

He fails to exemplify gospel values, specifically relating to our study of the beatitudes

He has earned the nick-name the “Bling Bishop”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DInZ5u2PAPE

Walking the Road of Love: Christian

SpiritualitySpirituality is the pattern of how faith is

translated in action.

The moral life is born out of this holy longing to be loved and to love. Without spirituality, morality is cut off from its core religious experience and so loses it character as a personal response to being loved by God, or being graced. With its roots firmly planted in spirituality, moral living strives to give freely in love what we have received freely in grace.

Charity: Living the Love of God

Charity is first of all God’s gift, the gift that Paul called “God’s love…poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit” (Romans 5.5)

We call this love charity not to confuse it with any other meanings of the word love

Charity originally means the power of God’s love in us. Jesus gave it the meaning, “Love one another as I have loved you” (John 15.12)

Charity is selfless love. It is loving whole heartedly without expecting or wanting anything in return. In this way it exists in God. God is this total self-giving love.

It is with this same love that God sent Jesus. Through Jesus and the Spirit, it is now at work everywhere

Charity is the centerpiece of Christian spirituality

Contemporary Calls to Charity

ABC News (October 23, 2013)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wxpFX_MhfE

CTV News Toronto (October 23, 2013)

http://toronto.ctvnews.ca/video?playlistId=1.1510518#1029880

Footsteps in the Sand

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBLkbBEfjcc

Journal ReflectionWrite a short reflection about finding God’s gift of happiness in your own lives.

Consider questions such as: How does the experience of knowing you are loved by God encourage you to respond in love to others, especially those whom Matthew and Luke see as “beatitude people”? Is there someone you know who has demonstrated a caring stance for these people who inspires

you? This can be someone you know personally or a historical figure or other famous person.