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February 1, 2026
Similar to last week’s Gospel, this week, we find Jesus teaching in Northern Israel in the region of Galilee. He is continuing His missionary journey preaching in what was formerly the Northern tribes of Israel.
Jesus began His ministry traveling to the lost sheep of Israel, those who had fallen away from practicing their Jewish heritage. Jesus begins His Sermon on the Mount teaching about the fulfillment of God’s covenantal promises by proclaiming the blessings or beatitudes that follow from living out God’s commands.
At the start of this week’s Gospel, St. Matthew mentions that upon seeing the crowds, Jesus goes up the mountain. This is a significant detail because it calls to mind the way in which God spoke to the prophets and the people of Israel in the Old Testament. Jesus intentionally leads the crowds up the mountain because mountains were seen as places where one went to encounter God. Moses in the book of Exodus, goes up the mountain to receive the Ten Commandments. Elijah, similarly, climbed Mount Sinai to listen for God’s voice, and Abraham went up Mount Moriah to offer the sacrifice of his only son Isaac. Throughout the history of the Israelite people, going up onto a mountain top symbolized going to speak with God and the establishment of a covenant or promise. Jesus in leading the crowds up a mountain is calling to mind the establishment of the Old Testament covenants. He is setting the stage for the fulfillment of God’s promises and the establishment of the New Covenant with humanity.
In giving His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus proclaims a new law, a New Covenant with the Israelite people. He established Himself as the New Moses. As the Israelites received the original Law or set of Old Testament instructions from Moses in the form of the first five books of the Old Testament, known as the Torah, Jesus now provided the fulfillment of that law by proclaiming the Beatitudes and the Sermon on the Mount.
The Beatitudes in this week’s Gospel may at first glance, seem like contradictions. Jesus mentioned, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.” (Matthew 5:3-6) Jesus presents the difference between living a life according to the dictates and ways of the world and a life according to God’s commands. In the eyes of the world, the poor are not blessed. They have not achieved their ultimate fulfillment, which is wealth. However, from the eyes of faith, the poor in spirit are blessed because they are the ones who seek only God as their ultimate reward. They count everything else as a loss in comparison to obtaining the ultimate prize of Heaven. In addition, meekness is not a virtue valued in the world. Strength and the show of force are what elicit respect. In the eyes of God, however, true meekness is strength under control. It is the moderation of one’s appetites and powers. It points towards reliance on God. In reflecting on this week’s Gospel, what are those Beatitudes that strike us? How are we striving each day to live out of the Beatitudes proclaimed by Christ and not those of the world? Beatitude comes from the latin root beatus meaning “blessed” or “happy”. It refers to that state of supreme happiness achieved in Heaven. The more we strive to live out our lives following the ways proclaimed by Christ in this week’s Gospel, the more we will encounter and experience that true joy and happiness we seek and for which we were made. The more we follow the words and teachings given to us by Christ, the more we will become truly happy.
Father John