Episode 2505: Blessed Are Those Who Mourn - Morning Episode

"Blessed Are Those Who Mourn: The Mystery of God’s Love and Sorrow"
Welcome to today’s episode, where we will dive deep into the mysteries of suffering, mourning, and the boundless love of God from a traditional Catholic perspective. We often grapple with the idea of suffering and its place in our spiritual lives. How does mourning fit into the vision of Christian blessedness that Christ speaks of in the Beatitudes? How can God’s infinite love for us coexist with the reality of sorrow in this world?
To explore these questions, we'll reflect on the wisdom of great Catholic saints and spiritual writers. We'll meditate on the words of St. Catherine of Genoa, who speaks of God's perfect love and His hatred for sin, and on the reflections of Mother Mary Francis on the third Beatitude “Blessed are they who mourn.” Finally, we’ll look to Psalm 119 to see how Scripture invites us to cling to God in the midst of sorrow, asking Him for the strength to persevere.
Let's begin by opening our hearts to the wisdom of the saints, and let the truth of God’s Word deepen our understanding of the purpose behind suffering in our lives.
St. Catherine of Genoa writes, "I see clearly with the interior eye, that the sweet God loves with a pure love the creature that He has created, and has a hatred for nothing but sin, which is more opposed to Him than can be thought or imagined." This simple yet profound statement reveals the paradox that lies at the heart of Christian suffering: God’s love for us is so perfect, so pure, that He wills nothing but our ultimate good. He does not hate us, nor does He desire our suffering. The only thing God truly despises is sin, for it separates us from Him and distorts the goodness He placed within us.
Yet, despite His pure love, we live in a world marked by sorrow, loss, and mourning. How can this be? This question is central to the Christian experience, and the Beatitudes offer us a powerful, albeit challenging, answer. Jesus Himself tells us, “Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted” (Matthew 5:4). At first glance, this seems contradictory. How can we, who are called to rejoice in God's love, also be blessed in our mourning?
Mother Mary Francis addresses this paradox in her reflection: "We might well have written the third Beatitude like this: Blessed are they who enjoy the comfort of not having anything to mourn about. But then we run up against the hard fact that this is just not what Christ said." The world would have us believe that blessedness lies in the absence of suffering, in the comfort of a life without trials or pain. Yet Christ says the opposite. He tells us that mourning this state of loss, grief, and even sorrow is not outside of blessedness. Instead, it is a necessary part of it.
To understand this more fully, we must reflect on what it means to mourn. Mourning is not simply an expression of sadness, but a recognition that the world is not as it should be. Mourning is our response to sin and its effects death, pain, suffering, and separation from God. When we mourn, we are aligning ourselves with God’s hatred for sin and His desire for redemption. We are acknowledging that we live in a world that is broken, but at the same time, we are turning toward God with hope for His healing and restoration.
Psalm 119 gives us a beautiful model for how to approach mourning from a place of faith. The psalmist cries out: "My soul melts away for sorrow; strengthen me according to thy word!" (Psalm 119:28). Here, we see the vulnerability of the human soul in the face of grief, but also a deep reliance on God. Mourning does not mean we despair. It means we place our trust in the Lord, asking Him to strengthen us, to teach us His ways, and to give us the grace to persevere in faith. In this way, mourning becomes a path to greater intimacy with God, who comforts us with His presence and promises us eternal joy.
Thus, we see that mourning, paradoxically, is a blessed state because it calls us closer to God. It strips away our illusions of self-sufficiency and drives us into the arms of our loving Father. In mourning, we come to realize that our true comfort comes not from avoiding suffering but from allowing Christ to enter into it with us. As we mourn, we encounter the God who, in His infinite love, sent His Son to suffer and die for us. And it is in this shared suffering that we find the promise of resurrection.
Conclusion:
As we reflect on the words of St. Catherine of Genoa, Mother Mary Francis, and the psalmist, we begin to see that suffering and mourning are not curses, but pathways to deeper union with God. They remind us that sin is not the final word, and that in our sorrow, we are never alone. Christ, who has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, walks with us every step of the way, offering us His comfort and His strength.
Let us embrace the mystery of the Beatitudes and trust that even in our darkest moments of mourning, we are blessed, for we are being drawn ever closer to the heart of God.
Closing Prayer:
Heavenly Father,
We come before You with hearts that often mourn and grieve the brokenness of this world. Help us to trust in Your perfect love, and to find comfort in Your presence. Strengthen us according to Your Word, and give us the grace to walk faithfully in the path You have laid before us. May we, like St. Catherine of Genoa, learn to see with the interior eye, recognizing that You love us with a pure love and desire only to draw us closer to Yourself. Teach us to embrace the mystery of suffering with hope, knowing that in You, all sorrow will one day be transformed into joy.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.