Good News Reflection FOR NEXT SUNDAY: January 30, 2011 4th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Good News Reflection FOR NEXT SUNDAY: January 30, 2011 4th Sunday in Ordinary Time Parish bulletins, faith-sharing groups, RCIA: For professionally published, printable copies of this reflection, please go to Catholic Digital Resources: http://catholicdr.com/calendar/January/4thA.htm - Preview a sample Next Sunday's Readings: Zep 2:3; 3:12-13 Ps 146:6-10 (with Matt 5:3) 1 Cor 1:26-31 Matt 5:1-12a http://www.usccb.org/nab/013011.shtml USCCB Podcast of the Readings: http://ccc.usccb.org/cccradio/NABPodcasts/11_01_30.mp3 In next Sunday's Gospel reading, we get a glimpse of our own sainthood. The eight Beatitudes in Matthew 5:1-12 describe the holiness of those who imitate Jesus. The first four deal with our relationship with God; the last four deal with our relationships with others. How can we call ourselves saints? Remember that you are a saint, as imperfect as you are at this time on your journey, because God has sanctified you through what Jesus did for you on the cross. This means that he has blessed you. And blessed are you because you love as Jesus loves. Everything that God blesses is made holy! Therefore, any person who lives the lifestyle of the Beatitudes (which is the lifestyle of Jesus) is blessed by God and can rightfully be called a saint: the poor in spirit who recognize that they need God's love, those who mourn and turn to the Holy Spirit for comfort, those who meekly (i.e., without arrogance) stand up for what is right because they love God, and so on down the list of beatitudes. Meditate on each blessing and notice your sainthood AND the challenge to become more saintly by improving how well you imitate Jesus. The Church canonizes Saints (which we signify with a capital "S") so that we have role models. Even though we've not reached their level of holiness, we belong to the same communion of saints. A saint is anyone who is following Christ toward heaven, without or without a lay-over in purgatory. As we strive to improve, we can ask the Saints for help and receive their spiritual guidance. Questions for Personal Reflection: Looking over the list of the Beatitudes, which do you implement best? Which do you need to improve? Which one do you find least desirable? Why? Discuss this with a Christian friend, priest, counselor or spiritual director to figure out how this weakness is really based on a misunderstanding of God's love for you. Then you will be set free to grow in this area of holiness! Questions for Community Faith Sharing: How do you avail yourself of help from the Saints? How does this help you grow in holiness? Give an example. Note: This Gospel reading is from the Sermon on the Mount. For a full Bible study on this, go to http://wordbytes.org/Bible/HolyLiving1.htm. © 2010 by Terry A. Modica This work is NOT in Public Domain and may NOT be copied without permission. You may print one copy for your own personal use. For PERMISSION and info on how to copy this reflection for sharing, see: http://gogoodnews.net/DailyReflections/copyrights-DR.htm Seeking a past reflection? Click this button to register for the searchable Archive Library of the Good News Reflections. One week access is free to subscribers of these emailed reflections.

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