Blessed are those persecuted 5:10

 

Who are the persecuted?

Matthew 5:11-12, Happy are you when people abuse you and persecute you and speak all kinds of calumny against you on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven; this is how they persecuted the prophets before you.

Whether or not people listen or fail to listen we are to speak the word of God to people and to never back down despite criticism or judgement. Many saints were persecuted for following God so when we are faced with hardships or battles think of a saint such as Saint Mary Mackillop, Saint Monica, Saint Mary Magdalene, Saint Patrick, Saint Therese de Lisieux or St Francis de Sales. These amazing saints along with many more faced many obstacles, and it took faith, hope, grace, and love to overcome each obstacle that stood in their way. What encourages me and inspires me to keep sharing with you all and going to UNI is the strength and courage God gives to me and I trust when it is my time my reward will be great in heaven, and I am at peace with that.

May God Bless Always, Women of Faith and Hope.

Written and created by My Mother Rose.

Blest too the Peacemakers 5:9

 

Who are the peacemakers?

John 14:27 Peace I bequeath to you, my own peace I give you, a peace the world cannot give, this is my gift to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.

Every time I pray the Rosary I pray for peace and love for my family, friends, Women of Faith and Hope and the whole world. Each one of us can bring peace into our lives and the lives of others because through the Holy Spirit we are bound together by peace, his peace. We are being taught in this beatitude to unite and grow in love with one another as children of God’s.

I stumbled across an article because I couldn’t help wanting to know what the opposite of peace was and in the article it says, “The opposite of peace is not war, it’s fear” (The Opposite of Peace Is…? | The Prodigal Thought).

This to me is very interesting, when we are fighting against ourselves internally, we don’t have peace in our hearts, so externally, we want to lash out, we want revenge, we want someone to pay for disturbing our peace but as the author suggests we should take a moment to understand our fear. Who and What are we afraid of? Are we afraid of God, ourselves, or other people? I say afraid because when I am fearful, or I am worried and anxious I feel restless on edge, and this tells me that I am not allowing the peace of Jesus Christ to rule my heart. When I do allow the peace of Jesus Christ to rule my heart, I become what I am passionate about and that is to stand up, support and defend individuals God given rights in this world and in our communities. We don’t create peace by continuously punishing, rejecting, excluding, making a person feel unworthy or not good enough and certainly not being rude or ignorant. We create peace by acknowledging that everyone in this world is created in the image of Christ and that we are all called together as parts of one body of Christ, who are to love and live-in harmony with one another.

Colossians 3:15-17 And may the peace of Christ reign in your hearts, because it is for this that you were called together as parts of one body. Always be thankful. Let the message of Christ, in all its richness, find a home with you. Teach each other, and advise each other, in all wisdom. With gratitude in your hearts sing psalms and hymns and inspired songs to God, and never say or do anything except in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

May God Bless Always, Women of Faith and Hope.

Written and created by My Mother Rose.

Blest are the Pure in Heart 5:8

 

How to be Pure in Heart?

Psalm 118:9 How shall the young remain sinless? By obeying your word.

Well, I will be honest it’s not an easy task to live life blameless, we all fall short and at times we stop following the law of God, however it is something we should try and do in life seek him will all our hearts, never do anything evil but walk in his ways. Psalm 118:1-3.

May God Bless Always, Women of Faith and Hope.

Written and created by My Mother Rose.

Blest are they who show mercy 5:7

 Who are the merciful?

“Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” We all sin and when we do, we feel remorse, guilty even ashamed. Who do we go to when we need to be forgiven? We go to God and if we can ask for forgiveness for doing something that has hurt another person, we should be able to forgive those who hurt us. I know it’s hard to forgive someone who has caused so much pain and self-doubt and forgiveness is a process it takes time to make that decision but here in this beatitude Jesus is teaching us to be merciful to those who hurt us or offend us.  

I found a prayer that I wish to share with you all and I will share the link to where I found it 10 Powerful Prayers for the Forgiveness of Others – ConnectUS (connectusfund.org)

Prayer for Forgiving Others
Jesus, Prince of Peace, I pray that You provide the strength I need to forgive those who have offended me and hurt me. It can be so easy to want them to be punished for the wrong they have done and for them to get what they deserve. But that is not Your way, Jesus. Yours is the way of forgiveness. You are slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. Even when You were nailed to the cross, you cried out for God to forgive the very people who were murdering You. Fill me with Your strength, compassion, and love, dear Jesus. Mold me in Your image. In Your merciful name, I pray. Amen.

May God Bless Always, Women of Faith and Hope.

Written and created by My Mother Rose.

Blest are they who hunger and thirst for holiness 5:6

Who are they who hunger and thirst?

In 2020, while at Christmas Eve mass I went up to receive Holy Communion and I got back to my seat and my son looked over at me and he looked so thirsty and hungry. However, that is not quite the hunger and thirst we are talking about though. We are talking about those who are hungry and thirsty for what is right, for justice and peace. Putting on the breastplate of righteousness, we come to understand righteousness is something God gives us, we are not righteous on our own.

Micah 6:8, What is good has been explained to you, man; this is what the LORD asks of you: only this, to act justly, to love tenderly and to walk humbly with your God.

May God Bless Always, Women of Faith and Hope.

Written and created by My Mother Rose. 

 

Blest are the meek 5:5

 

Who are the meek?

1 Peter 5:5, To the rest of you I say: do what the elders tell you, and all wrap yourselves in humility to be servants of each other, because God refuses the proud and will always favor the humble.

One of Jesus’ virtues was meekness, and he teaches us to learn from him and as St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori says, “Learn of me for I am meek and humble of heart.” In everything we do, our actions should speak of humility and wisdom. Remember, being meek does not mean you are weak, it’s power under perfect control.

James 3:17-18, Whereas the wisdom that comes down from above is essentially something pure; it also makes for peace and is kindly and considerate; it is full of compassion and shows itself by doing good; nor is there any trace of partiality or hypocrisy in it. Peacemakers, when they work for peace, sow the seeds which will bear fruit in holiness.

May God Bless Always, Women of Faith and Hope.

Written and created by My Mother Rose.

Blest are those who mourn 5:4

 What does blest are those who mourn mean?

When I think of the word mourn, I am thinking those who mourn over someone who has passed away, we feel sorrow, regret, or sadness for the loss of someone or something. However, Jesus is teaching us to acknowledge our sins, to feel deep regret for our wrong choices although the Good News is Jesus suggests repentance which leads us to the grace and forgiveness of God.

Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 7:9-13, Our suffering leads to repentance and our kind of suffering God approves of so when we choose to change for the better, we leave no regrets. What is encouraging is we can live happily with no worries like Titus and again, I would like to remind you of the ‘Daughters of Jerusalem’ who Jesus meets on the way to Calvary. Luke 23:27-28, Large numbers of people followed him, and of women too, who mourned and lamented for him. But Jesus turned to them and said, ‘Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep rather for yourselves and for your children.

I would like to finish by sharing Titus 2:14, He sacrificed himself for us in order to set us free from all wickedness and to purify a people so that it could be his very own and would have no ambition except to do good.

“By saying “blessed are those who mourn,” Jesus does not intend to declare an unfortunate and burdensome condition in life to be happy. Suffering is not a value in itself, but a reality that Jesus teaches us to live with the correct attitude.” Pope Francis.

May God Bless Always and The Grace of God be with you all Women of Faith and Hope.

Written and created by My Mother Rose.