Blessedness: Suffering or Consolation
Monday, 10th week in Ordinary Time
1 Cor 1:1-7; Mt 5:1-12
Christian life is a call to living a life of love and communion. In a life of true love and communion - such as a loving couple, or a well bonded family, or a truly spiritual Religious community, or a well animated parish community - it is hard to find which is more blessed: suffering or consolation. That is what Paul expresses today. He says there are sufferings but they are not so abhorrent, because it comes from the Lord and is experienced for the sake of the Lord. There is a consolation that comes after that suffering which again comes from the Lord. Which is more blessed now - the consolation? or the suffering which was the cause of the consolation? It is altogether a different perspective.
The perspective comes from the Beatitudes that Jesus taught those with him when he lived. It was a totally different perspective but a very true perspective. Beatitudes serve as a lasting guideline for us, to live our lives as true Christians. It is a call and a challenge - can we make it true in our personal, family and communitarian living?