Blessed are....

who are the blessed

After a very powerful Mass in which the Sermon on the Mount was the Gospel reading, I left my church questioning, what is the right approach to the Kingdom of Heaven? Like so many, I questioned my ability to ever be good or strong enough to climb to the doorway to heaven and enter in.

Only God and I know how broken I am, and that knowledge has brought me to the edge of despair many times in my life. But an ingrained belief in the richness of God’s forgiveness kept me going through the most painful and rough parts of my existence.

Now, as an old man, God seems to be giving me the time and motivation to think more clearly about His Messages and scripture. As a young man, I sought answers to eternal questions while continuing to work on my life in this world. I thought I was seeking the answers to these questions, but I was wrong.

For God’s wisdom to be meaningful to humans, it must be tempered by life experience, which provides opportunities to forge a stronger knowledge of God’s Love. But existence in this world doesn't often have a clear meaning when applied to God's Kingdom

Listening to the reading of Matthew’s account of the Beatitudes, I heard something new, to me. The people God was choosing to bless were the lowly, meek, poor, and powerless – not people who made things happen in this world.

It struck me that if these were God’s blessed, how were they able to climb to a lofty heaven’s gate or enter by their strengths. Maybe I was misunderstanding the nature of the entrance to heaven.

I remembered that the Lord said it was easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. My easy answer to this was that those riches themselves prevented admittance, but now I think that being tied to one’s importance in this world makes it very difficult to see the value in the eternal world and inhibits the ability to let go of the shackles of this one.

It makes more sense to me that the way to be with our God is to enter through a low gate that you must bow to pass through. It is not a difficult path if you can bow to God’s will. The blessed peoples of the beatitudes know how to bow; their lives have taught them even forced to be humble. It is who they are. It is not only the act of bowing but the willingness to follow the path He has paved for each of us.

The powerful, successful, and even the thoughtful fear to bow, worried that they will be devoured by the world when they sincerely accept the gift of God’s love already given. It requires no superhuman powers, but requires the ability to fearlessly accept His will with faith.

Long life removes the skills and talents that one has achieved throughout their life. Frailty creeps, illness finds entry, mental capabilities decline, and dependence on others increases. You gradually become like the Blessed – you become powerless, frail, knowingly humble, and dependent on the goodwill of others.

As the possibility of death becomes a daily reality, the real or imagined challenges of life in this world begin to fade in importance; contemplation becomes not only easier but central to one’s existence. The old begin to understand that they can not climb any ladders to Heaven physically, spiritually, or intellectually, and controlling life is and always was beyond their capabilities.

Far from being a cause for despair, this recognition can become the cause of peaceful acceptance of God's Love. The humbled heart is the key to open the door to the Kingdom.

The low door requires you to bow down to enter, not just with your body but with all of your heart and mind. All are capable of entering regardless of their status in this life, but the struggle is to bow. The spirit required to live in this world doesn't need to be destroyed – it needs to be transformed to enter the next

I think that is a central purpose of this life.