Homily: Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
February 1, 2026
My dear brothers and sisters, let me begin with a word of gratitude to you all for your prayers for me for journey mercies to/from Nigeria for my annual vacation. I had a quiet time of rest. It was a wonderful time to reunite with family, relations and friends over there. My mother and siblings extend their warmest greetings to the good people of Blessed Sacrament parish and St Linus Bath.
In this fourth Sunday of the Ordinary time of the Church’s calendar in which we are still relatively at the inchoate stage of the new calendar year, the Holy Mother the Church in the gospel reading, presents to us the beatitudes. This list of blessedness serves as a guide, a reminder to us of our Christian calling as we live our lives in this blessed year. The beatitudes are part of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Jesus Himself tells us His mind for us. He tells where true and everlasting happiness is to be found. Just as God gave His chosen ones the Ten commandments in the Old Testament as guiding norms that would take them to the Promised Land, Jesus preached these sermons of life which contain the beatitudes in the New Testament to show us the pathway to paradise.
The Sermon on the Mount in Mattew chapter 5 began with saying that Jesus went up to the Mountain and sat down. The very intimation that Jesus sat down to teach His disciples is an indication that this teaching is very central and official, just like when the Pope speaks ex cathedra, that is from his seat as pope, the Church will know the pope is giving a very important, central and official pronouncement for the Universal Church. So, Jesus sitting to deliver these sermons shows they contain very important message for Christians. Both the Ten Commandments in the Old Testament and the Sermon on the Mount in the New Testament show us the pathway to heaven. The beatitudes have a clear message: we cannot govern ourselves and achieve true happiness only by our own common sense of happiness. We must go beyond our common sense to understand and practice God’s sense of things. When we begin to understand reality from God’s sense and practice the beatitudes, we become true followers of Christ.
The beatitudes given by Jesus are eight, but they rest on two main pillars: humility and mercy. It is humble people who acknowledge their need for God and make space for God in their lives. It is humble people who are meek and gentle even towards those who are rough and tough, because their love for God sets them apart and makes them behave like God. Humble people accept sorrows and persecution for righteousness’ sake and for the sake of the kingdom of God. Jesus says it very clearly; blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Also, prophet Zephaniah in the first reading of today prophesies; “seek righteousness, seek humility, perhaps you may be hidden on the day of the Lord’s wrath.” This virtue of humility is one virtue we have to pray for always and strive to acquire. This virtue will place us in the heart of Jesus.
Similarly, the virtue of mercy is also foundational. Mercy encompasses a compassionate attention to others, readiness to forgive our persecutors, willingness to suffer in support of those who struggle to return to the path of peace, hunger and thirst to correct the injustices in our society that perpetuate inhuman conditions. Jesus makes it clear; blessed are the merciful for they will receive mercy.
Brothers and sisters, we must know that these beatitudes remain the golden rules for true happiness. They may not present a sweet recipe for a worldly-minded person but the wisdom in them has perennial and universal validity. They counsel attitudes and actions that will keep us secure in eternal blessedness. Our heart and mind should be on these beatitudes to imbibe and live them because God’s word in them endures forever. The humble will see God in heaven. God will come to comfort those who mourn and the meek and fill those who persevere in righteousness. Merciful persons will receive mercy; peacemakers will be called children of God. Those who are persecuted for the sake of God will be rewarded in heaven.
