4 Sunday Ordinary Time, 30 January 2011, Matthew 5:1-12

Graduation is a great day. It's a great and proud day for parents, for the graduands and for the whole institution. It is also one of the only days when academic dress is worn. Lecturers and Professors, President and Registrar, and for the first time, many graduates wear the distinctive academic dress. It is an indicator to everyone who looks on that something has changed. The distinctive black academic gown accompanied by a coloured hood lets everyone know that the wearer has achieved a particular degree of education, that they have 'arrived'. So important was this process that, for many years, pictures would be published in local papers of the new graduate, wearing their academic gown.

This Sunday, Jesus all but puts on an academic gown. The simple action of sitting down tells that Jesus is about to teach. And this is no ordinary teacher; the gospel tells us that Jesus 'went up the hill.' This compares Jesus to Moses coming down off the mountain with the ten commandments.

Jesus the teacher is an image that we can identify with fairly easily, because many of the images we have of Jesus show him wearing a robe of some kind or another. They indicate to us that Jesus is no ordinary individual. He is presented to us as the wisest of teachers.

Of course, the clothes do not make the teacher, it is rather his wisdom.

Last Sunday, we heard that Jesus began his preaching with the words: 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is close at hand.' This Sunday we hear the nine-fold teaching of the beatitudes. Preaching and teaching go hand in hand. The beatitudes begin a process of teaching in Matthew's gospel that is at the root of our Christian understanding of the world.

It is in this teaching that Jesus makes clear to us that what is needed is not so much a minimalist following of the rules, but rather a conversion of the heart.

It is good to live our lives by the law, but it is better to live our lives by the heart, when our hearts have been formed by God's Word.

Today we begin Catholic Schools Week. This is an opportunity for us to give thanks for the dedication of teachers, boards of management, trustees and parent organisations.

We celebrate the passing on of wisdom that Jesus calls us to listen to.

And we open our minds and hearts to the truth about our world and about life that is to be found all around us.