Matthew 5:4

God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

If you listen to the news regularly you will be well aware that a lot of mourning goes on in our world. It always has. Today there will be people experiencing the agony of losing a loved one. Their world has suddenly been turned upside down. There are also millions of people mourning because they have been forced to leave their homeland. There are said to be nearly 300 million migrants across our world, forced to leave their homes because of war, famine or persecution. I cannot begin to imagine how horrifying it must be to live with such complete insecurity.

This Beatitude does not claim that God will suddenly make all sadness disappear. But he is the God who meets with us and transforms all our experiences. Through the years I have visited many homes just after a terrible accident has happened or a relative has suddenly died. It’s very difficult to find words to say on such occasions, but I have always found incredible peace in being able to tell people that God is with them in the middle of their crisis. We have been able to pray and thank God that he will never leave our side. There can be no greater comfort than that.

In these brief sayings we cannot possibly know all that was in Jesus’ mind when he said them. He was probably also thinking of those who mourn because of their sin. We all have good reason to mourn in that way. We have let God down in our thoughts, words and actions. We should definitely mourn when we think of our failings, but we don’t need to wallow in our sense of failure. Jesus came to offer his forgiveness to everyone who genuinely mourns because of their sin, and is willing to repent and live a new life. Thank God for the comfort that he is willing to give us.

Question

In what ways have you experienced God comforting you when you have been through a difficult time?

Prayer

Loving God, thank you for the comfort that you give me as I face the challenges and difficulties of life. Amen