Saint Gertrude Parish - Lasne

Meditation by Pope Francis

At the heart of today's Gospel reading are the Beatitudes (cf. Lk 6:20-23). It is interesting to note that Jesus, though surrounded by a large crowd, proclaims them addressing "his disciples" (v. 20). He speaks to the disciples. The Beatitudes, in fact, define the identity of a disciple of Jesus. They may seem strange, almost incomprehensible, to those who are not disciples. But if we ask ourselves what a disciple of Jesus is like, the answer is precisely the Beatitudes. Let us look at the first Beatitude, which is the foundation of all the others: "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God" (v. 20). Blessed are you who are poor. Jesus says two things about his disciples: that they are blessed and that they are poor; indeed, that they are blessed because they are poor.

What does this mean? It means that the disciple of Jesus does not find joy in money, power, or other material possessions, but in the gifts he receives daily from God: life, creation, his brothers and sisters, and so on. These are gifts of life. And even the possessions he has, he is happy to share, because he lives according to God's logic. And what is God's logic? Grace. The disciple has learned to live in grace. This poverty is also an attitude toward the meaning of life, because the disciple of Jesus does not think he possesses it, that he already knows everything, but he knows that he must learn every day. And this is a poverty: the awareness of having to learn every day. Because he has this attitude, the disciple of Jesus is a humble, open person, free from prejudice and rigidity.

There was a beautiful example in last Sunday's Gospel: Simon Peter, an expert fisherman, accepted Jesus' invitation to cast his nets at an unusual hour; then, amazed by the prodigious catch, he left the boat and all his possessions to follow the Lord. Peter demonstrated his obedience by leaving everything and becoming a disciple. On the other hand, someone too attached to their own ideas and securities finds it difficult to follow Jesus. They follow him a little, only in matters where "I agree with Him and He agrees with me," but then, for everything else, they don't follow him. And such a person is not a true disciple. And so, they fall into sadness. They become sad because they don't find what they're looking for, because reality eludes their mental frameworks, and they are dissatisfied. In contrast, the disciple knows how to question themselves, knows how to humbly seek God each day, and this allows them to delve into reality, to grasp its richness and complexity.