Sept 10 2018 - Grandparents Day, Peace and Justice, Beatitude (School Mass)

As was mentioned in our introduction before Mass this morning, today we have a few events being commemorated today. We are celebrating the important role our grandparents play in our lives. We also remember the victims of the September 11th terrorist attacks, those who lost their lives because of hate and violence. We offer special prayers for justice and peace, that the justice and peace of Jesus Christ might fill our world and our hearts. And just like we do at every Mass, we gather to offer thanksgiving to God for the gift of our salvation.

Our Gospel reading is very fitting to have read today. We heard the famous beginning of Our Lord’s great Sermon on the Mount, these opening lines to his great sermon are known as the beatitudes. And we should be pretty familiar with the beatitudes. Our third graders, I believe, study them line by line when they learn about Jesus’ ministry. We do well to memorize the beatitudes, so that we always have them with us. And in the liturgical life of the Church, the beatitudes are read at baptisms, weddings, funerals, and throughout the Church year. We read them so often, and in so many different settings because they are the attitudes and dispositions we are meant to cultivate throughout all of life whether we are grieving at a funeral, or rejoicing at a wedding, or coming to a deeper understanding of what it means to be a Christian.

The beatitudes help us to practice the blessedness, the holiness, that God wants for all of us. Not all of us are designed by God to be great athletes, great musicians, great public speakers, greater writers or scientists, we all can’t be all those things. But God has designed all of us to be holy. Each one of us can become deeply holy, and we are to do so by practicing the beatitudes.

By practicing the beatitudes we begin to value heavenly things over earthly things; humility over pride, repentance over hard-heartedness, gentleness over harshness, justice and peace over violence and selfishness; courage over fear; purity over perversion.

The beatitudes teach us that True Success in this life isn’t measured by the size of our house or bank account, the number of athletic trophies or academic rewards we accumulate but by allowing the Christian faith to permeate every dimension of our life; by using our time, talent, and treasure for God’s Will, not our own.

We thank God today for our grandparents, who are so often models of holiness, and blessedness, and Christian faith for us. For many years, every Sunday, week after week, year after year, my grandparents would bring me to Sunday mass when my own parents would not. I would not be here today, a would not be a priest without my grandparents faith and generosity. Grandparents never underestimate your role in these young people’s lives.

We also pray today that each of us may put into practice the lessons the Lord teaches us, that grave evil, like the September 11th terrorist attacks may never happen again. We pray t who allow hatred and evil to fill their hearts, may come to know the love and peace of Jesus Christ, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.