Even my bosom friend in whom I trusted...

 

Monday 08 June, 2026.

From the Gospel of Monday of the 10th Week in Ordinary Time (Matthew 5:1–12).

These Beatitudes describe our Lord Jesus Christ and who we are in Him through our baptism.

We are poor and broken people entering this rough place as lambs, because He is our shield and protection. In our First Reading yesterday, Moses described this place of our sojourn as “the great and terrible wilderness”—an arid wasteland with poisonous snakes and scorpions (see Deut. 8:15).

That is why we mourn: because of the bites of these poisonous snakes and scorpions.

But when we want to give up and long to rest, He still invites us to be meek. He tells us:

“Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matt. 11:28–30).

And so we do not want the devil to succeed in quenching that hunger and thirst for righteousness.

People hurt us, sometimes deliberately, but when we remember how He forgives us, we want to continue being merciful (see Matt. 18:21–35).

We try to allow Him to purify our intentions and free us from all ulterior motives in our dealings with others.

We are disturbed whenever and wherever there is no peace, and we do our best to build bridges. How can we forget His invitation to leave our offering and first be reconciled with our brother or sister (see Matt. 5:21–25)?

But what do we get in return? Persecutions, blackmail, attacks, indifference, coldness...

If these came only from outsiders, from those who do not know Christ, we might understand. The early Christians expected opposition from the world. What often breaks our hearts is when these things come from fellow believers—from those who pray with us, worship with us, and profess the same Lord.

Somehow, we have become comfortable with many of the world’s ways of relating to one another. Competition, manipulation, revenge, self-interest, and the desire to dominate are often accepted as normal. Yet the Beatitudes propose a completely different way of life. They call us to meekness instead of power, mercy instead of retaliation, purity of heart instead of hidden agendas, and peacemaking instead of division.

The real difficulty is not simply that the world rejects the Beatitudes. It is that we ourselves are often tempted to reject them and to treat as unrealistic the very values that our Lord calls blessed.

The Psalmist expresses this pain we carry within when he cries out:

“Even my bosom friend in whom I trusted, who ate of my bread, has lifted his heel against me” (Ps. 41:9).

We who are meant to support one another on the journey are now sometimes the very ones wounding one another. But that only wounds and destroys us further.

So our Lord comes again today, announcing to us that the only path to salvation is to remain who we truly are: broken people who still possess a heart of flesh and who seek their consolation in God.

For the Beatitudes are not merely a list of virtues to be admired or commandments to be obeyed. They are a portrait of Christ Himself. In Him, poverty becomes richness, mourning becomes consolation, meekness becomes strength, mercy becomes victory, and persecution becomes a path to blessedness.

Fortunate, happy, blessed are we if we stop running away from the One in whom we discover who we truly are!

Happy New Week!

Ifeanyichukwu

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