In my lifetime, I have been extremely blessed to have many good and wonderful teachers. My first- grade teacher was one of my favorites, Sr. Jeanine. She was full of love, and faith, and enthusiasm. In Jr. High school, my favorite was my art teacher, Mrs. Gash. I had such a crush on this woman, that it was terrible. But I sure learned to love art. In high school, the teacher that changed my life was my U.S. history teacher, Mr. Lehnis. Mr. Lehnis was the first person that I told, that I thought God was calling me to be a priest. And I told myself, that if he laughed or didn’t think it was a good idea, that I would drop the idea then and there. He didn’t laugh. He was a great support. And remains a friend today. Our teachers affect us. They have a great influence on our lives. Who we follow, who’s example we use, who we let influence us, is a powerful thing. For all of us, Jesus wants to be our teacher.

Today for our Gospel, St. Matthew gives us his version of the Beatitudes. And in doing so, St. Matthew introduces us to his vision of Jesus, which is Jesus our teacher. Throughout St. Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus is constantly teaching his followers about the Kingdom, instructing them about the Christian life, and then entrusting the continuation of His teaching to His Church. Nowhere in the Gospel of St. Matthew is this better illustrated than in the Beatitudes. In the Beatitudes, Jesus teaches us what the expectations are, He affirms those who already living the Christian life according the to the ways of the Beatitudes, He challenges those Christians who aren’t living the radical way of the Christian life, and He promises blessings upon blessings to those who do live the life that Jesus is calling us to. The Beatitudes have it all when it comes to Jesus’ teachings. This is truly the way that we are supposed to be living our lives.

And yes, this is radical stuff. The Beatitudes are challenging all of us to live our lives substantially different from everybody else. And believe me, you’re not going to hear this from anybody else today. Not the media. Not the government. Not even from most of our families and friends. This is not the way that most of our world lives. Just ask how many of your friends and family really believe that it is a blessing to be poor, or to mourn, or to be persecuted? Believe me, we don’t have people lining up to be these things. And yet, God is saying something very different from everybody else here. He is saying that if we live seeking His way, He will turn everything around. God will take even our crosses, in this case, especially our crosses, and make them into sources of blessing. And we want to remember here that this is God saying this. We know just how many times God has turned things completely around in the past. The Beatitudes become a completely new teaching in what this life is supposed to be all about. The world has got it wrong. True blessings are not more money, or a newer car, or a faster computer. True blessings are being close to God by living His way of life.

And doesn’t this teaching ring true with our experience? How many times over and over have we thought that more money, or a bigger house, or this new thing or that new thing was going to be what made us happy, what made us feel blessed. And it never does. It’s always only a matter of time before we have our eyes and our hearts set on the next big thing to get. For the world, nothing is ever enough. You can’t get too much. God calls us out of the insanity and into His blessedness. It is a great teaching. It is a radical teaching. But it makes complete sense.

We need this Teacher. All of us have had some great teachers in our lives, but there’s no one who can compare with this Jesus. He loves us. He wants to help us. He wants to guide us to all of those things that last forever. Jesus taught not just with words, but with His life. He calls us to do the same.

Those people on that hillside two thousand years ago, were mesmerized by what Jesus was saying and teaching. He was describing a completely new way of living. Today, as we hear these powerful words, do we get what Jesus is telling us? We can’t be like everybody else. We can’t stay the same. At sometime we’ve got to get busy living the real Christian life. As we do so, may Jesus be our teacher and our guide. We can’t do it alone. God has given us the best teacher and coach possible: Himself. It’s time now to learn and to follow.

May God bless us as we daily learn how to be Christians, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit… AMEN !!!

St. Maria Goretti… Pray for us !!!