‘Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven’ (Luke 6:23).

In Sunday’s Gospel, the word used for ‘leaping for joy’ in response to hatred is the same as that which described John the Baptist leaping in his mother’s womb. The unborn John knew that Jesus was near and so he jumped joyfully. Do I react gladly to hatred in this way, trusting that Jesus is near whenever I suffer it?

To be rooted in Christ, we must uproot our attachments to all other things. As Jeremiah describes in the first reading: He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit (Jeremiah 17:8). The fruit we seek to bear is the risen life of Christ, who is the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep (1 Corinthians 15:20). To bear the fruit of the Resurrection, we must be like the true tree of life: Jesus on the Cross.

The Beatitudes describe this love of Christ crucified and offer us a model of virtue to imitate. On Calvary, he was poor, hungry, mourning and hated. We are called to grow in justice to others through spiritual poverty in our hearts, to increase our self-control by choosing hunger in small ways, to mature in decision-making by placing reason in charge of mourning and other emotions, and to strengthen our fortitude by enduring hostile words.

Listening to Jesus describe this way of life can transform us into examples of it by his grace—but only if we listen with the right disposition. The lectionary omits the verses preceding the Beatitudes: His followers came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all the crowd sought to touch him, for power came forth from him and healed them all (Luke 6:17–19). We must absorb Jesus’s words not simply intellectually, but with our whole selves, seeking his healing touch at every level of our being.

In this way, we can begin even now to live the new life of Easter that defines us as Christians: If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied (1 Corinthians 15:19). And if the trials we face ever drag us down excessively, we can remember that all these crosses have been foreseen by our Father and permitted only to make us bear more fruit, just as the prophets of the past testified: for so their fathers did to the prophets (Luke 6:23).

Mary was called ‘blessed’ twice by Elizabeth: Blessed among women (Luke 1:42) and blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her from the Lord (Luke 1:45). While we cannot share these particular blessings, we can take part in the blessing her Son pronounced for her and for all his faithful disciples: Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it (Luke 11:28).

The post ‘Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven’ (Luke 6:23). first appeared on Catholic Herald.

The post ‘Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven’ (Luke 6:23). appeared first on Catholic Herald.