Rewarded by Love: A Reflection on the Beatitudes
Seriously, who doesn’t like getting rewarded? In my country, our commercial businesses want to sign us up for reward points every time we shop somewhere, and our children get ribbons and trophies for participation. Looking for a reward seems to be part of human nature, reaching back thousands of years. We know that in ancient times, people believed that if people behaved badly, bad things would happen in their life as God’s way of punishing them. If they did good things, God would bless their lives. In other words, God would reward them.
Much has been written about the Beatitudes, and I am not a scripture scholar. When I began to pray with them in light of this Feast of All Saints, the whole concept of reward started playing in my mind and heart. It seems to me that Jesus is saying to us, “Just do the right thing: Comfort those who are mourning. Be the voice that stands up for injustice. Make peace in circumstances where there is division. Be merciful to those who have caused pain. Care for those in need. Do the right thing even if the world will not reward you for it!” Jesus simply asks us to love as he loved…not in order to earn reward points on our “Heaven Card”, but because it’s the right thing to do, the loving thing to do, the way we can most be the person that God wants us to be. I think the saints understood this. They did not teach and heal and feed and wash and clothe because they were trying to make sure they would get into heaven. They did it – no matter how difficult – because loving their neighbor was, and still is, the right thing to do! It’s the Christ thing to do.
To paraphrase St. Julian of Norwich, “God did not say life would be easy, that there would not be troubles or doubts. God said ‘You will not be overcome.’”
On this All Saints Day and every day, may we be inspired by our favorite saints and ask for their intercession as we strive to do the right thing by loving and caring for our neighbor. In doing so, may we recognize the many ways that God is already blessing us in this life and in the next. What better reward could there be?
