Gospel according to Saint Matthew 5:1-12
When he saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him. He began to teach them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven. Thus they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

The Beatitudes: prelude to eternity

Luis CASASUS President of the Idente Missionaries

Rome, February 01, 2026 | IV Sunday in Ordinary Time

Zeph 2,3;3,12-13; 1Cor 1,26-31; Mt 5,1-12

Our Founder, Fernando Rielo, said that the list of Beatitudes that appears in the Gospels could have been much longer, because in truth these are promises that are fulfilled every day… and of which we have continuous and truly varied experience.

But Christ chose a very significant sample, particularly because in them he teaches us what the consequences are, the response of the Holy Spirit to those who are portrayed in some of these Beatitudes: above all, “possessing the kingdom of heaven,” which deserves to be meditated upon, since He does not say “enter” or “deserve,” but “possess” an entire kingdom, which implies a responsibility that is difficult to imagine for a poor human being, no matter how capable he or she may believe themselves to be. This is because it is an inheritance that is given to us as children, as one of those Beatitudes explains: Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.

In truth, this is Jesus’ style. He treats and comforts us in this way, not paternalistically, but by uniting us to his own task, which he later confirms when he says: Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls (Mt 11:28-29). The first impression is one of surprise: Will carrying a yoke comfort me… or—even worse—being responsible for a kingdom full of incorrigible rebels like me?

But that is the role of the Master: to make us see what we are unable to imagine when we are tired, discouraged, or even desperate.

Let us recall an unusual episode from the Old Testament that can help us understand how the Beatitudes represent very well the dialogue between our weakness and divine power.

The young Gideon appears in one of Israel’s darkest moments (Judges 6–7). The people are oppressed by their Midianite neighbors, living in fear and scarcity, and he himself is in hiding, threshing wheat in a winepress so that it will not be stolen by the relentless and powerful Midianites. He is not acting like a hero, but like someone who is scared and vulnerable. But that is when God calls him to something impressive, inconceivable. The angel of the Lord appears to him and says: The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.

The irony is striking: Gideon does not feel brave at all. He responds with doubts and a confession of weakness: If the Lord is with us, why is all this happening to us? My clan is the weakest… and I am the least in my family.

In other words, he feels small, inadequate, and confused, and just then God asks him to do the unthinkable: to liberate Israel. God does not ignore his fragility and gives him a sign that we might consider trivial: a piece of wool that he spread out on the threshing floor, which was wet in the morning, while the ground appeared dry after the night. A sign that was meaningful only to him, intimate and stronger than any calculation.

Later, he even allows him to know the fear of his enemies, by listening to one of them recount a dream. Then Gideon, who by God’s command had reduced his army from 32,000 to only 300 men, wins a crushing victory and kills 120,000 Midianites, even though they were as numerous as locusts, and their camels were innumerable.

—ooOoo—

Of course, Gideon’s personal experience does not coincide with ours. Not all of us are called to free a people from their powerful oppressors. Even that is not something of lasting value. In fact, when Gideon died, the Israelites forgot the Lord their God, who had delivered them from the hands of all their enemies around them (Judges 8:34).

The message of this episode and so many others in the Old and New Testaments teaches us a lesson directly linked to the Beatitudes: if we accept our limitations and external difficulties with faith that God is watching over us, we are granted the opportunity to do something (surely small, but its human measure does not matter) whose consequences will be eternal, because it will form part of the landscape of the kingdom of heaven. Saying this may seem… megalomaniacal, but eternity would not be the same if we stopped offering that limitation of any kind, which of course hurts us.

This reality reminds me of a painting in the Louvre Museum (Paris) that measures only 6 cm; it is the smallest in the museum, and is titled “Portrait of a Man”; it has nothing to do with the famous Mona Lisa, which is the star of the Louvre, but it is famous for its finesse and expressiveness. If it were not in the Flemish Painting Gallery… the Louvre would not be the same.

Christ solemnly confirms this when he proclaims the last of the Beatitudes: Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great. In the same way they persecuted the prophets who preceded you. It was the perfect argument for the poor people who listened to him, to tell them that their lives could be compared to those of the prophets, that is, those who were the sure guide and light of the people of Israel.

—ooOoo—

Let us focus in particular on how Jesus says: Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. It is significant that He uses the same word to identify Himself as meek and humble of heart (Mt 11:29). This meekness has a somewhat different meaning from what we normally understand by “being meek,” that is, not being aggressive.

But, in its evangelical sense, meekness has an extremely interesting positive content, because it refers to nothing less than the center of our effort in ascetic prayer: how we make use of the unitive faculty.

Meekness is self-denial, self-control, not allowing oneself to be carried away by anger or violence, nor by the hasty desire to express what I think I know.

In a small mountain monastery, the master had an exquisite porcelain vase, famous for its beauty and age. One day, while a young novice was cleaning the room, the vase slipped from his hands and shattered into a thousand pieces.

Just then, a merchant visiting the temple entered the room. Seeing the disaster and the novice’s pale face, the merchant smiled arrogantly. When the master entered shortly thereafter, the merchant, eager to demonstrate his sharpness and “help” the master, opened his mouth to point out the culprit.

However, the master raised a hand, asking him to be quiet before he uttered a single word. He approached the remains, looked at them calmly, and said: The afternoon wind has been very strong today, hasn’t it?

The novice, trembling, nodded silently. The merchant was outraged. He knew perfectly well that it had not been the wind, but the young man’s clumsiness. He wanted to shout out the truth, to prove that he knew what had happened, but the master’s serene gaze kept him silent, albeit reluctantly.

That night, the novice went to the master’s room. Crying, he confessed his mistake and thanked him for not humiliating him in front of the merchant. From that day on, the young man became the most attentive, dedicated, and careful disciple the monastery had ever known.

Years later, the merchant returned and asked the master: Why didn’t you let me tell the truth? I knew what had happened. You let a lie float in the air.

The master replied: You had knowledge, but you did not have wisdom. Expressing what you thought you knew would only have served to feed your ego and humiliate a young man who was already suffering. By not saying what you ‘knew’ right away, you gave space for the truth to blossom in the form of repentance and loyalty, something much more valuable than a simple accusation.

Meekness has its roots in trust in God, recognizing that He is the one who does justice as He wills and when He wills.

Meekness is inner strength, the ability to respond to evil without returning evil. Of course, this “returning evil” does not refer only to physical violence, but also to hurtful words or gestures of contrariness.

It is interesting how Christ, instead of mentioning “the kingdom of heaven” here, speaks of “possessing the earth,” as if he intended to emphasize God’s immediate response, so that no one would think that meekness will bear fruit only after death. In fact, it means possessing true life, already now and fully in eternity.

We see an impressive example of the strength given to the meek when Christ is violently arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane: unlike Peter’s aggressive reaction, who strikes a servant of the High Priest, Jesus, amid the shoving and threats, immediately heals him. Those who are meek like Christ are neither inactive nor indifferent; on the contrary, they embrace wisdom to find how and when to act.

St. Paul was not a timid or fearful person either, and we all remember his image on horseback, arresting the members of that group suspected of being followers of Christ or approving the martyrdom of St. Stephen. However, he understood and practiced meekness passionately. In his Letter to the Galatians (5:22–23), he lists the fruits of the Spirit and explicitly mentions meekness:

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, self-control.

For Paul, meekness opens the door to forgiveness and, consequently, to living together without divisions, pride, and power struggles. That is why he exhorts us: Live with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love (Ephesians 4:2).

In one way or another, more or less explicitly, we all seek happiness, but it is always a state contaminated by the desire for control, power, tranquility, independence, good reputation, or some form of pleasure.

But the only possible answer is that of Christ, who offers us a happiness that is not individualistic, not static, not subject to external events or mood swings. Only when we weep with others, show mercy to one another, and our hearts are cleansed of impure intentions, can we rightly be called children of God.

_______________________________

In the Sacred Hearts of Jesus, Mary and Joseph,

Luis CASASUS

President