This would seem to be an odd attitude to focus on, given the tone of the reflection yesterday, yet it fits like a hand in a glove. Look at the entire Beatitude. "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted."
When Jesus speaks about blessing those who mourn in the Beatitudes, He is talking about something different entirely. Jesus isn't talking about the external expression of mourning, but the deep inner hurt, the deep inner longing of someone who has lost someone they love.
Note that I wrote some "one" not some "thing."
Since most things are objects that we use, it is hard for us to actually love that thing. Instead, we mourn when we lose a person. I can see how some people would be upset if they lost an object. Sometimes objects are difficult or expensive to replace and many times we are sad, upset, or angry at the prospect of having to replace that object or we have to deal with the fact that the object reminds us of a person and so we are forced to deal with that memory.
I have never been to a wake where a person who deeply loved another person was not mourning. That being the case, I think that mourning is a sign of love. Granted it is a sign that love is inaccessible and we are not going to be able to talk to that person again, but it is a sign of great love. You don't see people who didn't love a person mourning. It just doesn't happen. They may be putting on a good show, but in the heart is where mourning takes place.
It is the type of sadness that hits your heart when you recognize that you have lost someone you cared deeply about. You may have only discovered that you cared deeply about them after losing them. You may have only recently discovered you cared deeply about them. In the end, it is the fact that you are mourning that you should pay attention to.
Christ is actually telling us that mourning is good! That mourning means true happiness! That mourning means blessedness! This is difficult to accept when you are suffering.
Yet there is a connection. Suffering may result from mourning, but mourning results from great love. Great love takes sacrifice and sometimes sacrifice means suffering.
So where do we find the blessed happiness that Christ speaks of here? Where in this circle is that found?
It must be in the moments that we love. One of the illusions created by the world and helped along by a certain mouse organization is that once love is there we can live happily ever after. Not so. Those golden moments in which love is pouring joy upon us are the blessing of experiencing a little of Heaven right now. That is because we hope for that Heaven eternally. That is where we are willing to sacrifice and suffer for others. When we understand that the sacrifice and suffering is for the good of Heaven. The eternal happily ever after.
Our joy in love is set up proportionally by the amount of sacrifice that we invest into the relationship. Our happiness and blessedness in love is set up by the amount that we invest into it. How can you be envious when you have sacrificed for another's good? Envy cannot lead to true mourning because envy is set up by a love of things rather than a love of persons.
This is why those who are blessed are mourning. They are blessed because they have invested a great deal into the relationships. They are blessed because they have sacrificed for those in their lives.
We are all hoping to be blessed. We are not envious of the blessed in the same way that we are not envious of Christ. We hope for the blessed. We hope for Christ. We hope to be comforted.
Questions for Reflection:
- What losses would cause you to mourn? What losses in your life would cause you to suffer because you have sacrificed a great deal? Granted there are those that are close to us, our family, our friends. But what about people that we come into contact with every day? Would we mourn for them?
- Who in your life do you recognize as sacrificing a great deal? As mourning because of their love for others?
- How might hope lead to mourning? Why is it important to fully engage the hope and mourning that come to us? How have you done so in your own life?
- Recall the times that Jesus mourned in the Gospels. (hint: look at Lazarus, lack of faith, the Cross). If we are to imitate Christ, then what does this tell us about our own mourning? When is it appropriate to mourn? How is mourning different from despair?
- How might our idea of death and suffering change when seen in light of this Beatitude? How might it bring us hope?
- Write a card of sympathy for someone who has died. It may be someone in your parish or someone that you don't even know.
- Take the opportunity to reflect on the times in your life when you have mourned. What have you learned from those losses?
- Spend some time with the ministry of consolation at your parish, helping with funerals. If your church doesn't have one, make it a point to spend some time in prayer for those who are mourning.
- Try to evaluate your relationships this week and look at the ones that would not cause you to mourn if they ended. What would you have to do to engage that relationship more? To love them more?
- Make a list of the ways you are blessed this week. How might that cause you to be "more at a risk" of mourning? Do you still consider yourself blessed?
Jesus Prayer:
(Every time you walk through a door) "Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me, a sinner."
Anima Christi (Soul of Christ) (to be said in the morning)
Soul of Christ, sanctify me;
Body of Christ, save me;
Blood of Christ, inebriate me;
Water from the side of Christ, wash me;
Passion of Christ, strengthen me;
O my sweet Jesus hear me;
within your wounds hide me;
suffer me never to be separated from you;
from the malignant enemy defend me;
at the hour of my death call me; and bid me come to you;
that with your saints I may praise you forever. Amen.
Act of Hope (to be said at noon)
O my God, relying on your infinite goodness and promises, I hope to obtain pardon of my sins, the help of your grace, and life everlasting, through the merits of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Redeemer.
Come Holy Spirit (to be said in the evening)
Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and enkindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created and you shall renew the face of the earth.
Oh God, who didst instruct the hearts of the faithful by the light of the Holy Spirit, grant us in that same Spirit to be truly wise, and ever to rejoice in his consolation. Through the same Christ, Our Lord. Amen.
