Please read this passage before reading the homily.
Mountains are places where God teaches God’s people. Jesus climbed the mountain, sat down to teach the people. Jesus is God.
A beatitude is a common form of speaking in the Old Testament. In Psalm 32, we can read “Happy the person who has received pardon for his faults…. Happy the person whom the Lord does not hold accountable for faults.” The poor, those who find their hope in God, will find the Kingdom of Heaven. Those who mourn are those who do not find their success in the riches of the world. Those who seek the Kingdom of Heaven point their lives towards God. The Kingdom is not a place, but a relationship with God.
The clean of heart will see God, a thing that Moses himself wanted but did not receive.
Peace for the Israelites meant the totality of all the gifts of grace and goodness. Peace is not the absence of war, but an overflowing of goodness and graciousness.
All the beatitudes are one and the same. They all say the same thing; they all proclaim blessed those who submit themselves to God in everything.
The prophet Zephaniah spoke about these beatitudes. “Seek the Lord, you humble of the earth, you who seek the commandments of God. Blessed are those who seek justice and lowliness. The poor and the lowly person is blessed.”
“Blessed are you, then they harm you, persecute you, and say false thing about you for the sake of Christ.”