Friday 1 November 2024
All Saints
Apocalypse 7:2-4, 9-14. Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face – Psalm 23(24):1-6. 1 John 3:1-3. Matthew 5:1-12.
How happy are the poor in spirit
Most businesses and organisations have ethical standards. Sometimes the reason for the standards is not always just altruistic but a way of seeking a commercial advantage by claiming the ethical high ground. But it is the companies that frame their ethics as standards to reach rather than a list of don’ts that set the benchmark. The trouble with a proscriptive list is that it is possible to do something ethically murky but say the particular action was not on the list so it must be OK. Setting a standard that must always be reached does not leave any wiggle room. The laws given to Moses are a proscriptive list. In today’s Gospel Jesus gives us standards to reach – be poor in spirit, be gentle, mourn, hunger and thirst for what is right, be merciful, be pure in heart, be a peacemaker, work in the cause of right. Let us strive to always live the Gospel message.
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