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THE BEATITUDES · Padre Alberto (Father Albert)

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  Too many of you are young here, but who remembers Dear Abby?
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  The Dear Abby columns Remember Dear Abby?
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  Yeah, it's an advice column, probably the most popular advice
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  column in the English speaking world, Dear Abby.
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  And very, very, very practical, filled with advice.
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  And many times people would sign their name instead of saying,
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  you know, Albert, I have a problem.
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  Whatever it would be anonymous, right?
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  Like, you know, upset mother or, you know, disgruntled Co worker,
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  something like that. So let me share with you.
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  One of these columns disappeared in the Dear Abby column some
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  time ago. Dear Abby, Happiness is not
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  having your parents scold you if you come home late.
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  Happiness is having your own bedroom and getting that
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  telephone call you've been hoping for.
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  You can tell this was a while ago, right?
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  Happiness is belonging to a popular group at school and
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  being dressed as well as anybody.
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  Happiness is having a lot of money to spend and then he girl
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  says happiness is something I don't have.
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  Signed by 15 and unhappy and I said it's a girl because girls
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  always want more. Shortly after this letter was
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  published, Dear Abby got this letter.
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  This was a 13 year old girl. It says here girl.
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  So it was a girl for sure, Dear Abby.
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  Happiness is being able to walk and talk, to see and to hear.
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  Unhappiness is reading a letter from a 15 year old girl who can
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  do all four things and still says she isn't happy.
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  I can talk, I can see, I can hear, but I cannot walk.
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  And it was signed 13. Crippled but happy.
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  What do you hear in Matthew 51 to 12:00?
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  It's the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount.
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  Those of you who have come with me to the Holy Land, to Israel,
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  you've seen that beautiful little Church of the Beatitudes
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  right up there and then the Mount, and you could almost
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  imagine our Lord speaking from there to the people next to the
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  Sea of Galilee. What do you hear?
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  So the word beatitude is a word that comes from the Latin and
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  from the traditional biblical languages.
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  It means to be abundantly blessed, to be very blessed, to
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  be blessed beyond measure. It's about blessedness and being
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  blessed, being full of blessings.
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  That's where this word beat attitude comes from.
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  But today, as we pay close attention to what Jesus is
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  saying, it can sound a bit romantic.
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  Blessed are the poor in spirit, and who wants to be poor, And
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  blessed are those who mourn and who wants to mourn.
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  Blessed are the meek, the meek, the humble.
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  Blessed are they who hunger, Who wants to be hungry.
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  It's interesting because something happens with the
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  Beatitudes that also happens with the commandments.
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  If you look at the 10 commandments, the first 3 or 4
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  have to do directly with our relationship with God, and one
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  of them is keep holy the Sabbath day.
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  Oh, did I say that that means show up to church?
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  The first 3 commandments have to do with your relationship with
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  God and the others have to do with your relationship with
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  others, other human beings, starting with your parents and
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  everyone else. How we should behave?
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  Well, that happens with the Beatitudes.
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  We just don't pay attention. If you think about it, the first
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  one, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the
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  Kingdom of heaven. It has to do with an attitude
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  from within. And the poor in spirit has
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  nothing to do with how much you have in your bank account.
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  The poor in spirit means that you recognize that your riches
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  aren't here on this earth, that your riches are in heaven.
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  It's talking about the spiritual wealth, not the material one.
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  And blessed are those who mourn. Well, he's not saying to be sad
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  all the time, and he's not saying to to stay sad because of
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  things are lost, for they will be comforted.
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  It means we are lacking here, but in the presence of God we
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  will have everything we need. We are all lacking here.
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  If you think about it, We're all poor in spirit because none of
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  us has absolutely everything that our hearts desire.
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  There's always a human longing, and that human longing
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  ultimately is God. And so in that human longing, we
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  will only be comforted when we're in the presence of God
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  forever. What they used to call him, the
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  old catechism, the beatific vision.
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  When you're face to face before God and everything is fulfilled,
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  that is when every longing will be filled and every poverty of
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  spirit will be fulfilled. But a poor in spirit person is
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  not one who is materially poor, but one that allows himself or
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  herself to be filled with the joy that comes from God having
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  the Lord. The same we can say for those
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  who are meek. Meek is an interesting word
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  because it's sometimes seen as humble.
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  We have a tendency in our world to think of meek as someone who
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  kind of, you know, downplays themselves a lot.
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  The self effacing person. Latinos love this, you know, my
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  people love this, they say and when you meet all day, they're
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  very humble. They love that.
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  And the more you pound your chest, the more humble you are.
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  But I'm here to tell you, being meek has nothing to do with
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  that. Blessed are the meek, for they
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  will inherit the earth. Means the meek are the ones who
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  realize that whatever it is that they have in this world, whether
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  it's your title, your socio economic position, whether it's
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  your degrees or whatever advancement you'd be able to
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  make, it's nothing in comparison to the greatness of God.
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  Because guess what, with all that greatness, those who are
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  truly meek will inherit the earth.
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  The whole thing, true humility. Blessed are the pure in heart,
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  just my favorite one. Blessed are the pure in heart
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  for they will see God. Do you remember when Jesus said
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  let the children come to me because of such as these as the
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  Kingdom of heaven? This is what Jesus is speaking
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  about when he says the pure of heart.
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  Have you spoken to a child and looked into their eyes and seen
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  the purity that shines through? That's what Jesus is talking
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  about. Pure of heart means that you're
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  not cluttered with all that stupidity that comes with age
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  and and the advancement of life. Sometimes it's envy or jealousy
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  or you want to have what others have.
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  You want to do what others have. Do you want to always?
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  You know, no purity of heart means you're free before God.
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  You're completely free. And purity of heart is something
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  we're called to have. And when we're pure of heart,
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  then Jesus says, for they will see God.
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  Can you see God? Because the pure of heart can
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  see God. You see God in the smile of a
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  child, in the innocence of a child.
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  You see God in the beauty of creation.
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  Every time you get up in the morning and you look up and you
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  see the beautiful sky and the sun, you can see God.
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  Sometimes people can take these too literally.
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  Yesterday I had a wedding down, down, down, way South, and the
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  bride said I'm getting married outside no matter what.
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  Did you see the weather yesterday?
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  Not just when I said cold and windy, it was rainy, cold, windy
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  and might take nasty weather. But she had to get married
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  outside. So the priest of course, had all
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  this stuff on. You know the big long black
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  outfit, you know the get up. I had this.
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  I had my overcoat. It wasn't enough.
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  I was freezing. But she wanted to get married
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  outside. So for 45 minutes, friends and
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  family, everyone gathered so that the bride could get married
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  outside. I sprinkle the holy water on the
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  rings and stuff and I think it became ice.
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  It was wicked nasty, but you know, when they were there and I
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  was watching them, beautiful young couple, I was thinking,
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  you know, all those girls that walked in the hole, what do they
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  call it? The court?
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  No, no coats, no nothing. They had that little dress with
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  the I'm like man, put a coat on. But you know, she wanted to be
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  out by nature and and God granted her something.
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  I must say, the bride, she always has a good connection
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  with God because she told the wedding planner, oh, it's going
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  to be clear and beautiful. Now, nobody believed that when
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  we went out there to sit that it was going to be clear and
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  beautiful. But believe it or not, when she
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  walked in, the sky was blue, the sun was coming out.
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  And so it got pretty for her. And I told her, keep praying
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  because you have a good connection with God.
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  So blessed are the pure of heart.
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  When we're pure of heart, we're uncluttered, we're free
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  spiritually. We're able to see God in the
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  simplest things. This is a great one for today.
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  Blessed are the peacemakers where they would call children
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  of God. Now, you may not be a world
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  leader. You may not be able to end wars
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  by speaking to a bunch of politicians or diplomats, but
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  you can be a peacemaker right where you are.
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  You can be a peacemaker in your workplace.
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  You can be a peacemaker in your family.
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  You can try to build bridges where bridges have been broken.
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  That's what Jesus is calling us too.
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  If we're children of God, we do everything we can to bring
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  people together to live in peace.
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  This is a tough one, and it's the last one.
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  Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness
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  sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.
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  You know, when Jesus said this to his disciples, he knew not
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  just that he would be persecuted and executed on Calvary as a
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  criminal, but that his disciples, his apostles, would
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  go out into the world and they too would suffer the
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  consequences. But the kind of persecution that
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  I think applies to us in the 21st century as Christians is to
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  realize that when you stick to your guns, when you stick to
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  your convention, when your convictions, when you follow
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  your heart, some will like it, some will not.
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  And that's OK because the only person that you have to be well
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  with is God. Ultimately, nothing you do will
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  satisfy everyone. So I say to you, be at peace
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  with following your heart and doing what is right.
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  Because what ends up happening is too many people live their
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  whole life worried about it, what everybody else thinks about
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  them. My wife tells me all the time,
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  you have such thick skin, honey, you have thick skin.
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  So Yep. Started working in television in
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  1998. So my first week on television,
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  well, not my first week, my first month on television, 800
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  interviews, 800. That was the most interviewed TV
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  person ever. And can I tell you this to some
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  people? I like money, which I've never
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  been materialistic. You can look at my shoes and
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  tells you the whole story. To some people, oh, I was a
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  womanizer, lots of girls. To other people, I was gay.
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  Never been into that. To other people.
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  I mean, people give their opinions about others that they
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  don't know all the time. Right or wrong.
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  We do it with everybody. We do it with pastors, we do it
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  with politicians, We do it with all kinds of people, right?
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  And it's not when you get to know a person, heart to heart is
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  when you get to know who they are.
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  You got to get to know people, to get to know who they are.
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  So when you feel persecuted, misjudged, misread, get over it.
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  It's really not about you. I'm going to say that again.
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  Get over it. It's not about you.
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  It's about them. People who speak negatively of
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  others and have a tendency to say ugly things about others,
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  there's something going on in them that's not right.
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  It's not about you. You will never be right with
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  everyone. This includes family members.
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  This includes people in your workplace.
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  This includes people at church. Did I say that?
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  Yeah, I said that. It includes everyone.
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  You do not have to worry about what everybody thinks about you.
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  There's only one judge in heaven on earth.
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  It's God. And there's a bunch of people
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  who love to play God, but guess what?
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  They're not God. There's only one God.
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  We say that in the creed, right? Only one God.
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  So what you have to do, what you and I have to do is be right
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  with God, be at peace with God. So I think in the 21st century,
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  this is something, you know, that applies to us a lot.
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  And you know what Jesus says if, if you're OK with that, you can
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  get through that. Yours.
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  So yours will be the Kingdom of heaven.
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  You'll have nothing to worry about.
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  At the end of the day, God's going to bless you.
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  God's, if you follow your heart, you do what is right.
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  You follow the way of God no matter what everybody else
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  thinks. If you're following the way of
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  God, you have a clear conscience you have, you're trying to do
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  what's right. God will reward you.
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  Yours will be the Kingdom of heaven.
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  Wow, that's pretty good, huh? So at the end of the day, the
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  beatitudes are about the be attitudes.
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  That's made-up, but it's English.
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  Be be the Christian you're called to be be the follower of
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  Jesus, you're called to be be the person with the right
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  attitude. Be the 13 year old that
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  considered herself blessed even though she was crippled.
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  Don't be the 15 year old complainer because you don't
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  have everything you think you need.
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  Be the Christian that feels blessed and that knows that they
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  are blessed and that knows that God is good.
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  Amen. In the name of the Father, Son
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  and Holy Spirit, Amen.