2 November 2026 · Syro-Malankara Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Syro-Malabar Rite · Latin Rite · മലയാളം
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” Matthew 5:8
On the day after the Church was sanctified in the liturgy, St Paul tells the Thessalonians plainly what God wants: their holiness. “For God did not call us to impurity but in holiness.” Holiness is not a feeling; it is a way of living in the body, in marriage, in business, in every relationship, so that no brother is wronged.
On the mountain Jesus paints the portrait of the holy person: poor in spirit, mourning, meek, hungry for justice, merciful, pure in heart, a peacemaker, persecuted for his sake. It is first of all his own portrait. To live the Beatitudes is to let his face appear in ours, and the promise is the greatest of all: the pure in heart will see God.
Theme: “Blessed are the pure in heart.”
The Beatitudes as God's call to holiness.
“You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.” Leviticus 19:2
“For God did not call us to impurity but in holiness.” 1 Thessalonians 4:7
Apply: Avoid one occasion of sin you know well.
“Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD? And who shall stand in his holy place? Those who have clean hands and pure hearts,” Psalm 24:3–4
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” Matthew 5:8
Apply: Make a short examination of conscience tonight.
“But the meek shall inherit the land, and delight themselves in abundant prosperity.” Psalm 37:11
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:3
Apply: Give way gently in one argument today.
The Beatitudes are the face of Jesus.
Let his face appear in ours.
Take-home resolution: Live one Beatitude each day this week.
Dear friends, the day after the Church was dedicated to God on Qudos Eetho Sunday, Paul tells us plainly what God wants: this is the will of God, your sanctification; God did not call us to impurity but in holiness (1 Thessalonians 4:3, 7). Holiness is not for a few; it is the calling of all the baptised.
In the Beatitudes Jesus paints the portrait of holiness: the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God (Matthew 5:8).
The Beatitudes are the face of the saints. This week choose one of them and try to live it: perhaps meekness, perhaps making peace. We are the living stones of the Church that was dedicated yesterday. Amen.
Children, Jesus said: blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Today, only good thoughts and good words!
Holy Father, you have called us not to impurity but to holiness. Give us a pure heart, that we may see you, and make us poor in spirit, meek and merciful like your Son. Amen.
After the Sunday of the Church's sanctification, the weekday readings ask what a holy Church looks like in daily life. Paul tells the Thessalonians plainly that God's will is “your sanctification”, a holiness that reaches the body and the way we treat one another. In the Gospel, Jesus draws the face of that holiness in the Beatitudes.
Setting.
1 Thessalonians is probably the oldest writing in the New Testament, sent by Paul from Corinth around AD 50–51. Thessalonica was the chief city of Macedonia and a busy port. Paul had founded the church there in a short and stormy visit (Acts 17:1–10), and the new converts, mostly Gentiles, had come out of a world in which sexual licence was widely accepted. Chapters 4–5 turn from thanksgiving to instruction.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“For this is the will of God, your sanctification:” (4:3)
People often ask what God's will is for their lives. Paul answers first not with a job or a place, but with holiness.
“For God did not call us to impurity but in holiness.” (4:7)
“Therefore whoever rejects this rejects not human authority but God, who also gives his Holy Spirit to you.” (4:8)
Christian chastity is not a human rule imposed from outside. The body of the baptised is a dwelling of the Holy Spirit (compare 1 Corinthians 6:19).
How the Church reads it.
The Second Vatican Council quotes 1 Thessalonians 4:3 when it teaches that all the faithful, in every state of life, are called to holiness (Lumen Gentium 39–40). The Catechism describes chastity as the successful integration of sexuality within the person, a work of grace and of daily effort (CCC 2337–2338).
Setting.
The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7) is the first of five great discourses in Matthew. Jesus goes up the mountain and sits down to teach, as a rabbi did, and the scene recalls Moses on Sinai. But Jesus does not bring a law carved on stone; he begins with a blessing.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (5:3)
The first beatitude is the door to all the others. Only empty hands can receive.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” (5:8)
In the Bible the heart is the centre of thinking and choosing. A pure heart is undivided, and so it can see. This beatitude is the Gospel's answer to the epistle's call to holiness.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” (5:9)
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism says that the Beatitudes depict the face of Jesus Christ and portray his charity (CCC 1717); they are first a portrait of him, and then a path for us. St Augustine, in his commentary on the Sermon on the Mount, linked the Beatitudes with the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit named in Isaiah 11, as steps of a ladder from humility to wisdom (in substance).
Are the Beatitudes commands or promises?
Both. They are first good news: God's blessing on the lowly. But they also describe the way of life of those who follow Jesus, and so they call us to become what they describe (CCC 1716–1717).