4 January 2027 · 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
Hebrews begins its great chapter on faith with three ancient figures. Abel offered a more acceptable sacrifice; Enoch “pleased God” and was taken up; Noah, warned of things not yet seen, built an ark and saved his household. The principle is simple: “without faith it is impossible to please God, for whoever would approach him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” Faith is not a feeling but a life that trusts God's word and acts on it.
The Gospel gives the Beatitudes, the portrait of a life of faith: poor in spirit, mourning, meek, hungry for righteousness, merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers, persecuted. Today we remember the prophet Malachi, last of the prophets, who promised that “the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings”, and St Kuriakose Elias Chavara, a son of Kerala who lived the Beatitudes as priest, founder and teacher. Two days before Denho, they point us to the Sun that rises at the Jordan.
Theme: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”
Faith that pleases God, the Beatitudes, and the rising Sun.
“Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him.” Genesis 5:24
“And without faith it is impossible to please God, for whoever would approach him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” Hebrews 11:6
Apply: Act today on one word of God you have been postponing.
“Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD? And who shall stand in his holy place? Those who have clean hands and pure hearts, who do not lift up their souls to what is false, and do not swear deceitfully.” Psalm 24:3–4
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” Matthew 5:8
Apply: Go to confession before Denho.
“But for you who revere my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.” Malachi 4:2
“You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid.” Matthew 5:14
Apply: Light a lamp at home for Denho.
Faith, purity of heart and light belong together.
The Sun of righteousness is about to rise at the Jordan.
Take-home resolution: Live one Beatitude deliberately this week.
Dear friends, Hebrews 11 is the great hall of faith. Today we hear about the first three heroes. Abel offered God a more acceptable sacrifice. Enoch pleased God and was taken up. Noah, warned about things not yet seen, built an ark and saved his household (Hebrews 11:4–7).
The key sentence is this: without faith it is impossible to please God, for whoever would approach him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him (Hebrews 11:6). Faith is trusting God's word enough to build an ark before the rain.
In the Gospel Jesus goes up the mountain and gives the Beatitudes. They are the portrait of a person of faith: poor in spirit, merciful, pure in heart, a peacemaker. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God (Matthew 5:8).
Today we remember the prophet Malachi, who promised that the sun of righteousness would rise with healing in its wings (Malachi 4:2), and St Kuriakose Elias Chavara, who lived the Beatitudes among the poor of Kerala, building schools and homes of prayer.
On Wednesday we celebrate Denho, when that Sun rises at the Jordan. Let us choose one Beatitude to live this week, and prepare our hearts to see God. Amen.
Children, Jesus said: happy are the kind, the gentle and the peacemakers! Choose one this week. Will you be a peacemaker at home?
Lord Jesus, Sun of righteousness, you taught us the Beatitudes and lived them perfectly. Through the prayers of the prophet Malachi and St Kuriakose Elias Chavara, give us a pure heart and a living faith, so that we may see God. Amen.
Hebrews begins its roll of faith at the very start of the Bible, with Abel, Enoch and Noah, who lived long before any covenant with Abraham. The Gospel gives the portrait of a life that trusts God in the same way: the Beatitudes. What Hebrews calls pleasing God, Jesus calls being blessed, and both look past what can now be seen to what God has promised.
Setting.
Having said what faith is (11:1) and that creation itself is known by faith (11:3), the preacher starts his list with three figures from Genesis 4–9. He has a small problem: Genesis does not use the word faith of any of them. So he reasons from what the text does say. God accepted Abel's gift; Enoch pleased God; Noah acted on a warning about what no one could yet see.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“he died, but through his faith he still speaks.” (11:4)
Genesis 4:10 says Abel's blood cried out from the ground. Later this letter says that the blood of Jesus “speaks a better word than the blood of Abel” (12:24): Abel's cries for justice, Christ's for mercy.
“And without faith it is impossible to please God, for whoever would approach him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” (11:6)
Two things are the minimum: that God is, and that he is not indifferent. “Those who seek him”: a faith on the move.
“By faith Noah, warned by God about events as yet unseen, respected the warning and built an ark to save his household;” (11:7)
A man builds a boat on dry land because of something only God has seen. The whole household is saved through the faith of one, and for this reason the Fathers and 1 Peter 3:20–21 see the ark as a figure of Baptism and the Church.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism quotes Hebrews 11:6 in teaching that faith is necessary for salvation (CCC 161), and it points to the prayer and offering of these first righteous ones, Abel and Enoch among them, and to Noah (CCC 2569). It also recalls that Scripture honours great figures from among the Gentiles, Abel the just and upright Noah among them (CCC 58). Noah's ark, for its part, is listed among the Old Testament figures of Baptism (CCC 1219).
Setting.
This is the opening of the Sermon on the Mount, the first of five great teaching blocks in Matthew. Jesus goes up a mountain and sits, the posture of a teacher, and Matthew's readers would think of Moses on Sinai. Luke has a shorter form on a level place, with four blessings and four woes (6:20–26).
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
““Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (5:3)
The Sermon opens with a gift and not a demand. The Kingdom belongs to those who know they cannot buy it.
““Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” (5:8)
A pure heart is an undivided one (Psalm 24:4). Hebrews spoke of those who seek God; here is what they find.
““Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (5:10)
Verses 11–12 say “on my account”. Jesus puts himself where righteousness stood. Only someone with a very high claim speaks like this.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism says that the Beatitudes are at the heart of Jesus' preaching and that they depict the countenance of Jesus Christ (CCC 1716–1717); it also explains poverty of spirit (CCC 2546). St Gregory of Nyssa preached on them as steps in a climb towards God, and St Augustine, in his work on the Sermon on the Mount, reads them as a ladder of growth from humility to wisdom (both in substance). They describe Christ first, and then whoever is being formed in his likeness.
The Church remembers today the Prophet Malachi, who promised that “the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings” (Malachi 4:2), and St Kuriakose Elias Chavara (1805–1871), a priest of Kerala's Syro-Malabar Church, founder of religious communities and promoter of schools, whom Pope Francis canonised in 2014. He is a saint of our own soil, and he shows what the Beatitudes look like in everyday work.