Rise up to the Sermon on the Mount

           “God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. 

God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 

God blesses those who are humble, for they will inherit the whole earth. 

God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied. 

God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy. 

God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God. 

God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God. 

God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs." (Matthew 5:3-10, New Living Translation)     

          If you have your Bible handy, turn to the book of Matthew, the first book in the New Testament, and read all of chapters 5 through 7. If you don’t have a Bible, click on this link to get you to the Bible Gateway website.

          These words of Jesus in Matthew are known as the Sermon on the Mount. If you read nothing else in the Bible, study these words of Jesus. Take them to heart. Memorize the verses that stick out the most for you.

          Today is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, those forty days leading up to Easter when we should take time to reflect on the life and death of Jesus Christ, our Savior.

          Back in the day, all my good Catholic friends gave up something for Lent (I’ve written about that here in the past). This year, let’s all give up hatred, anxiety, and fear. 

Let’s devote more time for prayer and studying the Bible. Let’s take more deep breaths. Let’s tell our friends and family how important they are to us. Let’s review our budgets to find a way to give a little bit to a worthy charity. Let’s carve out some time each day to just be at peace. And let’s share that peace with everyone we meet. And not just for the next six weeks, but for the rest of our lives.

Let us be a blessing just as God blesses us. 

(The picture is from my trip to Kenya in 2015. I’ve unfortunately never been to Israel, but maybe the location of Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount looked something like this.)