BLESSED

Blessed.

In a convoluted world like ours, the ever-current words of Jesus come as a relief to us. It doesn’t matter whether it is two thousand years, His words still make an impact and make a difference in our particular time and space.

Bishop Robert Barron has an insightful reflection on the Beatitudes. They are by all means a guideline to detachment. Bishop Barron suggests an alternate reading to the well-known “Blessed are you who are poor”; he proposes, “How lucky you are if you are not addicted to material things.” (The Word on Fire Bible, p. 338, 2020). As he suggests alternate readings to the different Beatitudes, all of them go in one direction: detachment, leave behind your ego, get used to the most poignant request from our Lord: deny yourself.

It is important to have the ability to create detachment, especially if after analyzing oneself, we will find that we are too entrenched in our comfort zone. Achieving the level of detachment that our Lord suggests will not happen overnight. Today, this week, the Lord invites you to begin.

A good way to begin is by asking ourselves, do I need this or that? Is it absolutely necessary to have this or that? Am I too attached to my comforts, to my ego, to every little thing that makes my life easier? Am I doing enough for my brother or sister?

Listen to the voice of the Spirit, guiding you through the process of detachment. We will not be perfect in this process, but we are encouraged to be faithful, so that at the end we may come to know that we are blessed in the Lord.