“Blessed are the merciful: they shall have mercy shown them.
Blessed are the pure in heart: they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers: they shall be called ‘children of God’.
Blessed are those who are persecuted in the cause of right: theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.” (Mt 5:7-10)
What is Jesus says?
What are we doing?
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As the saying goes, “The action is where the rubber meets the road” and that is certainly shown in the second four Beatitudes. In our discussion, we worked through these sayings of Jesus.
People talk of having a “positive attitude”. We draw our positive attitude from the mercy of God which he wants to flow through us to others.
We don't find it easy to be “pure in heart” when, all around us, people are being devious and deceptive. Yet it is when we do examine and purify our motives that we find it easier to experience God. In our discussion we noticed that our "seeing God" was more striking early on, whereas our experience now is more of God's abiding presence.
We like being peacemakers but our group find that it is hard to be a peacemaker when we have to be firm with others. It can also be hard when each side in a dispute thinks that we are lining up with the other side. “You cop the flak from both sides.”
When we try do the right thing all the time, we may not experience direct persecution, but we have been “passed-over” by bosses and “left-out” by workmates and be made to feel uncomfortable by the social group.
But, as they say, "The action is where the rubber meets the road". And there is no action when you have lost your traction.
