The Beatitudes according to Luke, shorter than the Matthean redaction, are accompanied by their opposite: woe to you. While Matthew emphasizes the magisterial role of Jesus’ teaching by having his words pronounced on the mountain like Moses, Luke loves to present Jesus in the clothing of the prophets and in a flat place that is the scene of great battles. Thus the spiritual battle is evoked which takes place in the heart of every disciple to enter and remain in the logic of the Gospel. Furthermore, the Lord’s words are directed – you – and are not addressed to the great crowd – who seem to be only spectators – but to his disciples, to us. The second reading helps us to contextualize the challenge of the Beatitudes at the very heart of our faith in the resurrection without which our hope is useless. Jeremiah, using a strong antithesis between blessing and curse, illustrated by the double plant image, draws attention to the central verb which is to trust. So that being blessed, like its opposite, depends on the degree of trust we place in the Lord and not in ourselves. Before being an exhortation, the Beatitudes are a serene and far-sighted observation of the Lord Jesus who takes a real look at our inner battle and shows us the remedy for every illusion of happiness at a low price. Every human being resembles a tree whose beauty and fruitfulness is directly proportional to its roots. It is a question of letting the roots of our humanity sink into the fruitful soil of the Gospel from which we can draw all that allows us to bear fruit.

Commentary by b. Michael David, osb Community of the Koinonia de la Visitation

Translation by f. Mark Hargreaves, Prinknash Abbey