 Below are excerpts from various online sources. Please follow the
links if you wish to read the entire documents from which these
were excerpted.
 "...she stood behind him at his feet weeping and began to bathe
his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed
them, and anointed them with the ointment." Luke
7; 38
"Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted. Forgive
me Lord for not reaching out to those who are depressed or lonely,
for my failure to comfort those in need of consolation, for the
selfishness that has blinded me to the needs and pains of others."
-- from An examination of conscience using the Beatitudes by Fr
Tom Groenewold
"Lord Jesus, you said, "Blessed are those who mourn, for
they shall be comforted." Let us not be impatient under our
own burdens and unconcerned about the burdens of others." -- Dialogued
Prayer on the Beatitudes
"What has been my attitude towards situations which caused
me grief and sorrow? Have I accepted them and learned from them?
Have I been able to say: “I am sorry” and really mean
it? Do I have an “I don’t care attitude” about the
evils in society?" -- from Rite
for Reconciliation of Several Penitents With Individual Confession
and Absolution
"The "mourning" in the Third Beatitude is in Luke
(vi, 25) opposed to laughter and similar frivolous worldly joy.
Motives of mourning are not to be drawn from the miseries of a life
of poverty, abjection, and subjection, which are the very blessings
of verse 3, but rather from those miseries from which the pious
man is suffering in himself and in others, and most of all the tremendous
might of evil throughout the world. To such mourners the Lord Jesus
carries the comfort of the heavenly kindgom, "the consolation
of Israel" (Luke, ii, 25) foretold by the prophets, and especially
by the Book of Consolation of Isaias (xi-lxvi). Even the later Jews
knew the Messiah by the name of Menahhem, Consoler. These three
blessings, poverty, abjection, and subjection are a commendation
of what nowadays are called the passive virtues: abstinence and
endurace, and the Eighth Beatitude (verse 10) leads us back again
to the teaching. " -- from The
Eight Beatitudes - Catholic
II. The Lucky Sad
"Blessed are those who mourn"
Flash floods of tears, torrents of them,
Erode cruel canyons, exposing
Long forgotten strata of life
Laid down in the peaceful decades:
A badlands beauty. The same sun
That decorates each day with colors
From arroyos and mesas, also shows
Every old scar and cut of lament.
Weeping washes the wounds clean
And leaves them to heal, which always
Takes an age or two. No pain
Is ugly in past tense. Under
The Mercy every hurt is a fossil
Link in the great chain of becoming.
Pick and shovel prayers often
Turn them up in valleys of death.
-- From
Holy Luck by Eugene H. Peterson, Theology Today - Vol 44, No.1
- April 1987
"We should also mourn the presence of evil in the world - injustice,
cruelty, violence, greed, oppression. For it is easy to become accustomed
to social evils because they are so prevalent in the world around
us. We become inured to them. We take them for granted. We hardly
give them a second thought. We see the hungry and the homeless and
pass by. We hear about the victims of violence and oppression but
do nothing. We find excuses for not getting involved in efforts
to solve these problems. We do not mourn because we do not care
deeply enough about the human consequences of evil. The saints do.
" -- quoted from Holy
Cross Family ministries
Top of the next column 
|
|
"The prophet Isaiah announced that a time would come when everyone
who suffers would be consoled (cf. Is. 61:1-3). The Messiah came
to fulfil these words. Jesus knows that those who suffer are fortunate,
or blessed, because they are more able to welcome his words and
so enter his Kingdom. He knows that, through him, the world's many
afflictions can be transformed into a life of joy." -- by Chiara
Lubich in Word
of Life - November 1998 "On this mountain he will destroy the veil that veils all peoples,
The web that is woven over all nations; he will destroy death forever.
The Lord GOD will wipe away the tears from all faces; The reproach
of his people he will remove from the whole earth; for the LORD
has spoken.
On that day it will be said: "Behold our God, to whom we looked
to save us! This is the LORD for whom we looked; let us rejoice
and be glad that he has saved us!" Isaiah
25, 7-9
"Suffering is a purifying experience. In losing a part of our
lives or something we value, we are given, with the Spirit's aid,
a clearer view of God. We come through suffering to see things -
our lives, especially - not just as they appear, but as they really
are." -- from Blessed are the poor in spirit
"Jesus says, "Blessed are they who mourn, for they will
be comforted." If we want to live this Beatitude, then we mourn
for all the sin and evil in the world which is so offensive to God.
Then we weep for our own sins, knowing that we ourselves have offended
God in big ways and small. And if we truly live this Beatitude,
we weep for love of our Savior who gave himself up to suffering
for our sake." -- from Homily from Fr. Paul D. Williams Jr.
- Ordinary Time 4 A
"Those who mourn know how little they are without God. In their
sorrow, they will be comforted. But their sorrow helps them see
the many around them who are much worse off - the poor, the abused,
the hungry, the discriminated against, the victims of crime and
war and disease and prejudice. Their sorrow can move them to lend
a helping hand to those who suffer and be Jesus' instrument of comfort
to them." -- from The
Beatitudes - by Father Kleppner
"Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted. Forgive
me Lord for not reaching out to those who are depressed or lonely,
for my failure to comfort those in need of consolation, for the
selfishness that has blinded me to the needs and pains of others."
-- from An examination of conscience using the Beatitudes by Fr
Tom Groenewold
"We mourn the sin and suffering that we see in the world. We
trust that God comforts anyone who suffers form loss or injustice.
We reach out to anyone who needs to be comforted." -- from
Living the Beatitudes - Holy Name School in San Francisco, California
Blessed are they who mourn... As people poor in spirit, we rely
on God to comfort us and hold us because we know that God is always
there. God gives us strength to continue living after losing a loved
one, a job, or moving to another place. It is God's love that renews
our spirit. -- from St. Ignatius, Martyr, Church - Beatitudes Homily
- Fr. Joe Tomei, CSC
"Blessed are they who mourn." Here is the Beatitude of
feeling grief for the sorrows of other people. I can hardly feel
someone else's pain without poverty of spirit, because otherwise
I am on always on guard to keep what I have for myself, and to keep
me for myself. If I begin to feel for someone, to feel and not just
pretend to feel, I will want to share with him what I have, and
even share myself. The immediate consequence of poverty of spirit
is becoming sensitive to the losses of people around us, not just
those whom I happen to know and like but strangers. This is the
Beatitude of tears. Remember chapter 11, verse 35, of the Gospel
of John: "Jesus wept." That is the entire verse. The 17th
Century poet and priest, John Donne, comments, "There is no
shorter verse in the Bible, nor is there a larger text." --
from The
Ladder of the Beatitudes - by Jim Forest - this text was subsequently
expanded into book form: "Ladder of the Beatitudes" published
by Orbis. |