Comfort Zone

This is a reflection on the Mass readings of the day.

In today’s readings, the persons whom St. Paul is encouraging are the very persons whom Jesus is describing in the gospel, with the Beatitudes.

St. Paul explains how the encouragement He experiences from God the Father is also transmitted to other Christians who are participating in the same sort of sufferings that he is undergoing. Those sufferings are precisely the ones described in the Beatitudes: poverty, mourning, hunger, thirst, persecution.

For those of us who live in relatively prosperous lands, it may be difficult to remember that we are called–indeed, called directly by Jesus in today’s gospel–to the same sort of hardships.

Consciously or unconsciously, we seek comfort and easy prosperity as supreme ends, whereas Jesus challenges us to see detachment, purity of heart, and the establishment of justice and peace.

There are ways, in any society, to live the Beatitudes. It is not about our circumstances. It is about our drive, that is, what we strive for. If we are looking for the will of God and the welfare of others as our top priority, we will be pure of heart and poor in spirit, and we will suffer different forms of discomfort, humiliation, and hardship. If we seek only comfort, ease, and power, we will not enjoy the blessings promised by Jesus, and we will endure perpetual unrest of spirit.

Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Ask Jesus for the courage to live the Beatitudes fully. Tell Him that you are not afraid of the inconveniences and sufferings that this life will bring, as long as He is with you to give you strength.