Friends, welcome to Word on Fire, Catholic Ministries. Word on Fire is an apostolate dedicated

to the mission of evangelization, using media both old and new to share the faith on every

continent and to facilitate and encounter with Christ and His Church. The efforts of

Word on Fire engage the culture and bring the transformative power of God's Word where

it is most needed. Today we invite you to join Bishop Robert Baron as he preaches

the gospel and shares the warmth and light of Christ with each of us. Peace be with you.

Friends, we have a great privilege today on this fourth Sunday in ordinary time because

the church gives us the Beatitudes, the beginning of the sermon on the Mount. Here we have the

Word of God Himself teaching us how to be happy. Beatitude, it just means joy, happiness.

We look to all sorts of gurus and self-help guides and teachers to show us the way.

Well, the heck with them. We've got the Word of God Himself showing us the way.

Notice how this passage begins. Matthew is writing most likely to a Jewish audience and

he has a lot of references to the Old Testament. When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain.

After he had sat down, his disciples came to him. He goes up the mountain like Moses, who

went up Mount Sinai to get the Old Law, the Ten Commandments. Now Jesus goes up a mountain

and there teaches these new commandments, the eight Beatitudes. He sits down because that was

the attitude of the teacher in the ancient world. We think of teachers standing at podiums

or at lecturers, but in the ancient world you sat when you were teaching and your disciples

sat at your feet quite literally. That's the image here. After you sat down, his disciples

came to him. Well, see, imagine yourself in that crowd of disciples. Christ the teacher is seated.

He's about to speak and there you are at his feet listening. It's a moment of great

solemnity of great gravity and importance. He gives us, of course, these eight Beatitudes,

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