2 Cor 1:1-7 / Matthew 5:1-12
It is always easier to preach a message of happiness and prosperity rather than about pain and suffering.
People generally like to hear a message of happiness and prosperity and if a person has garnered enough of public speaking skills he can actually make a living by being a motivational speaker.
But when it come to pain and suffering, it can be rather challenging and difficult to motivate people - who would want to be motivated and look forward to pain and suffering?
In the gospel, when Jesus saw the crowds, He went up the hill and sat down and He began to teach.
And up there in the hill, where the air is fresh and the vision is clear, He taught the Beatitudes.
As we look at the Beatitudes carefully, they are actually about pain and suffering.
Yet, the underlying message is that pain and suffering are temporary. Beyond the pain and suffering lies true blessing and happiness.
As St. Paul said in the 1st reading: When we are made to suffer, it is for your consolation and salvation.
God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, a gentle Father and the God of all consolation, comforts us in our sorrows, so that we can offer others, in their sorrows, the consolation that we have received from God ourselves.
Yes, pain and suffering are only temporary. Consolation and blessing are eternal. Let us bear with the temporary, and have faith in the eternal.