The Eight Beatitudes

The solemn blessings (beatitudines, benedictiones) which mark the opening of the Sermon on the Mount, the very first of Our Lord's sermons in the Gospel of St. Matthew (v, 3-10). Four of them occur again in a slightly different form in the Gospel of St. Luke (vi, 22), likewise at the beginning of a sermon, and running parallel to Matthew, 5-7, if not another version of the same. And here they are illustrated by the opposition of the four curses (24-26). The fuller account and the more prominent place given the Beatitudes in St. Matthew are quite in accordance with the scope and the tendency of the First Gospel, in which the spiritual character of the Messianic kingdom -- the paramount idea of the Beatitudes -- is consistently put forward, in sharp contrast with Jewish prejudices. The very peculiar form in which Our Lord proposed His blessings make them, perhaps, the only example of His sayings that may be styled poetical -- the parallelism of thought and expression, which is the most striking feature of Biblical poetry, being unmistakably clear.

As regards textual criticism, the passage offers no serious difficulty. Only in verse 9, the Vulgate and many other ancient authorities omit the pronoun autoi, ipsi; probably a merely accidental ommission. There is room, too, for serious critical doubt, whether verse 5 should not be placed before verse 4. Only the etymological connection, which in the original is supposed to have existed between the "poor" and the "meek", makes us prefer the order of the Vulgate.

The word poor seems to represent an Aramaic `ányâ (Hebr. `anî), bent down, afflicted, miserable, poor; while meek is rather a synonym from the same root, `ánwan (Hebr. `ánaw), bending oneself down, humble, meek, gentle. Some scholars would attach to the former word also the sense of humility; others think of "beggars before God" humbly acknowledging their need of Divine help. But the opposition of "rich" (Luke, vi, 24) points especially to the common and obvious meaning, which, however, ought not to be confined to economical need and distress, but may comprehend the whole of the painful condition of the poor: their low estate, their social dependence, their defenceless exposure to injustice from the rich and the mighty. Besides the Lord's blessing, the promise of the heavenly kingdom is not bestowed on the actual external condition of such poverty. The blessed ones are the poor "in spirit", who by their free will are ready to bear for God's sake this painful and humble condition, even though at present they be actually rich and happy; while on the other hand, the really poor man may fall short of this poverty "in spirit".

Inasmuch as poverty is a state of humble subjection, the "poor in spirit", come near to the "meek", the subject of the second blessing. The anawim, they who humbly and meekly bend themselves down before God and man, shall "inherit the land" and posses their inheritance in peace. This is a phrase taken from Ps. xxxvi (Hebr., xxxvii), 11, where it refers to the Promised Land of Israel, but here in the words of Christ, it is of course but a symbol of the Kingdom of Heaven, the spiritual realm of the Messiah. Not a few interpreters, however, understand "the earth". But they overlook the original meaning of Ps. xxxvi, 11, and unless, by a far-fetched expedient, they take the earth also to be a symbol of the Messianic kingdom, it will be hard to explain the possession of the earth in a satisfactory way.

The "mourning" in the Third Beatitude is in Luke (vi, 25) opposed to laughter and similar frivolous worldly joy. Motives of mourning are not to be drawn from the miseries of a life of poverty, abjection, and subjection, which are the very blessings of verse 3, but rather from those miseries from which the pious man is suffering in himself and in others, and most of all the tremendous might of evil throughout the world. To such mourners the Lord Jesus carries the comfort of the heavenly kindgom, "the consolation of Israel" (Luke, ii, 25) foretold by the prophets, and especially by the Book of Consolation of Isaias (xi-lxvi). Even the later Jews knew the Messiah by the name of Menahhem, Consoler. These three blessings, poverty, abjection, and subjection are a commendation of what nowadays are called the passive virtues: abstinence and endurace, and the Eighth Beatitude (verse 10) leads us back again to the teaching.

The others, however, demand a more active behaviour. First of all, "hunger and thirst" after justice: a strong and continuous desire of progress in religious and moral perfection, the reward of which will be the very fulfilment of the desire, the continuous growth in holiness.

From this interior desire a further step should be taken to acting to the works of "mercy", corporal and spiritual. Through these the merciful will obtain the Divine mercy of the Messianic kingdom, in this life and in the final judgment. The wonderful fertility of the Church in works and institutions of corporal and spiritual mercy of every kind shows the prophetical sense, not to say the creative poer, of this simple word of the Divine Teacher.

According to biblical terminology, "cleanness of heart" (verse 8) cannot exclusively be found in interior chastity, nor even, as many scholars propose, in a genral purity of conscience, as opposed to the Levitical, or legal, purity required by the Scribes and Pharisees. At least the proper place of such a blessing does not seem to be between mercy (verse 7) and peacemaking (verse 9), nor after the apparently more far-reaching virtue of hunger and thirst after justice. But frequently in the Old and New Testaments (Gen., xx, 5; Job, xxxiii, 3; Pss., xxiii (Hebr., xxiv), 4; lxxii (Hebr., lxxiii), 1; I Tim,i.5; II Tim, ii, 22) the "pure heart" is the simple and sincere good intention, the "single eye" of Matt., vi, 22, and thus opposed to the unavowed by-ends of the Pharisees (Matt., vi, 1-6, 16-18; vii, 15; xxiii, 5-7, 14) This "single eye" or "pure heart" is most of all required in the works of mercy (verse 7) and zeal (verse 9) in behalf of one's neighbor. And it stands to reason that the blessing, promised to this continuous looking for God's glory, should consist of the supernatural "seeing" of God Himself, the last aim and end of the heavely kingdom in its completion.

The "peacemakers" (verse 9) are those who not only live in peace with others but moreover do their best to preserve peace and friendship among mankind and between God and man, and to restore it when it has been disturbed. It is on account of this godly work, "an imitating of God's love of man" as St. Gregory of Nyssa styles it, that they shall be called the sons of god, "children of your Father who is in heaven" (Matt., v, 45).

When after all this the pious disciples of Christ are repaid with ingratitude and even "persecution" (verse 10) it will be but a new blessing, "for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

So, by an inclusion, not uncommon in biblical poetry, the last blessing goes back to the first and the second. The pious, whose sentiments and desires whose works and sufferings are held up before us, shall be blessed and happy by their share in the Messianic kingdom, here and hereafter. And viewed in the intermediate verses seem to express, in partial images of the one endless beatitude, the same possession of the Messianic salvation. The eight conditions required constitute the fundamental law of the kingdom, the very pith and marrow of Christian perfection. For its depth and breadth of thought, and its practical bearing on Christian life, the passage may be put on a level with the Decalogue in the Old, and the Lord's Prayer in the New Testament, and it surpassed both in its poetical beauty of structure.

Besides the commentaries on St. Matthew and St. Luke, and the monographs on the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes are treated in eight homilies of ST. GREGORY OF NYSSA, P.G., XLIV, 1193-1302, and in one other of ST. CHROMATIUS, P.L., XX, 323-328. Different partristical sermons on single beatitudes are noticed in P.L.., CXXI (Index IV) 23 sqq.

Matthew
Chapter 5

1: ¹ When he saw the crowds, ² he went up the mountain, and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him.
2: He began to teach them, saying:
3: ³ "Blessed are the poor in spirit, ⁴ for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4: ⁵ Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted.
5: ⁶ Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land.
6: Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, ⁷ for they will be satisfied.
7: Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
8: ⁸ Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God.
9: Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
10: Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, ⁹ for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11: Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you (falsely) because of me.
12: ¹⁰ Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven. Thus they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
13

I taught fourth grade Catechism last year and the Beatitudes was one thing the students were required to learn.

Reading them is a blessing in and of itself, as with each reading I examine my life and see where I fall short. Knowing that God has set out rewards for those who suffer soothes my soul, yet I wonder most of us here in America know what suffering is. I've had problems in my life, have lost loved ones, and have failed to live up to my Christian obligations over and over; knowing that God has given us the Sacrament of Reconciliation eases my heart because knowing God will forgive me helps me forgive myself, and others.

But it is the last Beatitude that really hits home. I think of Father Elijah and other Christians in countries that persecute Christians, and while I fear for their safety, I know deep down that God has a special place in the kingdom of Heaven for defenders of the faith in the most mortal sense. These are people taking the Word to all nations, and often being killed because of it! May God bless them and protect them!

I often wonder if I could be so strong in my faith and spirit that I would willingly die a painful death to stand up for the Jesus Christ. I don't know. It bothers me that I don't know. In America we are fat and secure, even those without a lot of wealth. Are we meek? Humble? Poor in spirit? Are we truly merciful? Am I merciful?

I know that I am prideful, that I hold grudges even when I try to forget past wrongs, and I secretly enjoy the fall of bad people, or people who have wronged me or my family. These are things I regularly need to confess and pray on because they don't go away.

The beatitudes are the best examination of conscience, and how have we in our lives attempted to live up to them.

Anyway, I'm rambling, but this was an incredibly thought-provoking post.

2 Peter
Chapter 1

1: ¹Symeon Peter, a slave and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have received a faith of equal value to ours through the righteousness of our God and savior Jesus Christ:
2: may grace and peace be yours in abundance through knowledge ² of God and of Jesus our Lord.
3: ³ ⁴ His divine power has bestowed on us everything that makes for life and devotion, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and power.
4: Through these, he has bestowed on us the precious and very great promises, so that through them you may come to share in the divinenature, after escaping from the corruption that is in the world because of evil desire.
5: ⁵ For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, virtue with knowledge,
6: knowledge with self-control, self-control with endurance, endurance with devotion,
7: devotion with mutual affection, mutual affection with love.
8: If these are yours and increase in abundance, they will keep you from being idle or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9: Anyone who lacks them is blind and shortsighted, forgetful of the cleansing of his past sins.
10: ⁶ Therefore, brothers, be all the more eager to make your calland election firm, for, in doing so, you will never stumble.
11: For, in this way, entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ will be richly provided for you.
12: ⁷ Therefore, I will always remind you of these things, even though you already know them and are established in the truth you have.
13: I think it right, as long as I am in this "tent," ⁸ to stir you up by a reminder,
14: since I know that I will soon have to put it aside, as indeed our Lord Jesus Christ has shown me.
15: I shall also make every effort to enable you always to remember these things after my departure.
16: We did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming ⁹ of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty.
17: For he received honor and glory from God the Father ¹⁰ when that unique declaration came to him from the majestic glory, "This is my Son, my beloved, with whom I am well pleased."
18: We ¹¹ourselves heard this voice come from heaven while we were with him on the holy mountain.
19: Moreover, we possess the prophetic message that is altogether reliable. You will do well to be attentive to it, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.
20: ¹² Know this first of all, that there is no prophecy of scripture that is a matter of personal interpretation,
21: for no prophecy ever came through human will; but rather human beings moved by the holy Spirit spoke under the influence of God.

Thank you for that reference!

What about the good priests in America, who for so long, took for granted the freedoms we enjoy in America -- especially the freedom of speech. They are ambushed now on the street by people whom they do not even know. It is very painful for them because they are suffering verbal and monetary (for their parishes) persecution for justice's sake.

God bless each and every one of these righteous priests who are seeking to serve us with a true heart full of love and devotion for Jesus Christ, our Savior.

Saturday, July 20, 2002

Meditation
Matthew 12:14-21

Over the centuries, countless believers have followed Jesus’ pattern of doing the work of the Lord with great courage, all the time trying not to offend his detractors. Each person’s story reflects another facet of the Messiah, who “will not break a bruised reed” (Matthew 12:20), but who also will not rest until he sees the justice of God established on the earth. One such person is Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, a twentieth-century Italian from Turin.

Born into a prestigious and aristocratic family, Pier Giorgio might easily have become the type of person you would expect to trample on bruised reeds. Handsome, athletic, popular, a practical joker, and a hardworking engineering student—this young man had it all. Yet he was also touched by the needs around him, so he set privilege aside and committed himself to working for the marginalized.

Pier Giorgio had a special love for the poor and sick. He sought them out in the slums to bring them food, medicine, clothing, and money. “Jesus comes to me every morning in Holy Communion,” he would say, “and I repay him in my very small way by visiting the poor.” He was always looking to put money aside for his charities—choosing to walk instead of taking the bus, to ride the train in third class rather than first. He brought friends to church and told them, “Approach the Communion table as often as you can. Feed on this bread of angels. There you’ll draw the energy you need to fight inner battles.” Pier Giorgio was just twenty-four when he died suddenly of polio—which doctors suspected he caught while visiting the sick.

Pope John Paul II called Pier Giorgio a “man of the Beatitudes” when he beatified him in 1990. “The power of the Spirit of Truth, united to Christ, made Pier Giorgio Frassati a modern witness to the hope which springs from the gospel and to the grace of salvation which works in human hearts. . . . By his example he proclaims that a life lived in Christ’s Spirit—the Spirit of the Beatitudes—is ‘blessed,’ and that only the person who becomes a ‘man or woman of the Beatitudes’ can succeed in communicating love and peace to others.”

“Lord, raise up many men and women of the Beatitudes! Help us to love everyone with your justice—one that is tempered with mercy and compassion.”

Beatitude Bump!

Gospel for 9-11-02 -- Could not be a better choice! May God bless America!

Gospel
Lk 6:20-26

Raising his eyes toward his disciples Jesus said:
"Blessed are you who are poor,
for the Kingdom of God is yours.
Blessed are you who are now hungry,
for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who are now weeping,
for you will laugh.
Blessed are you when people hate you,
and when they exclude and insult you,
and denounce your name as evil
on account of the Son of Man.

Rejoice and leap for joy on that day!
Behold, your reward will be great in heaven.
For their ancestors treated the prophets
in the same way.

But woe to you who are rich,
for you have received your consolation.
But woe to you who are filled now,
for you will be hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now,
for you will grieve and weep.
Woe to you when all speak well of you,
for their ancestors treated the false
prophets in this way."

From The Word Among Us

Wednesday, September 11, 2002

Meditation
Luke 6:20-26

Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. (Luke 6:21)

One year ago today, the World Trade Center in New York was destroyed by terrorists, the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. was struck by an airplane, and another highjacked jet crash landed in a field in western Pennsylvania. In the face of violent hatred and monstrous evil, the world witnessed untold displays of faith and courage as firefighters rushed to the rescue and everyday people reached out to survivors.

Undoubtedly, many opinions will be offered today on the lessons of last September 11. Some will be very insightful and helpful, others will be less so. But whatever the commentators say, whatever the lessons are, one thing is certain: God will never leave us. His love always has the power to cast out fear. It is always capable of freeing us to forgive and to return good for evil.

None of us can escape times of pain, suffering, or sickness. But in the Beatitudes, Jesus offers a way of happiness that transcends whatever grief we may experience. Jesus’ disciples had chosen to leave everything to follow him. Surely they missed their homes and the comfort of the familiar at times. Surely there were times when they suffered over the insults and threats leveled at them and their master. But Jesus promised that the experience of sharing in God’s life would far surpass and make up for any suffering involved in following him.

This is one of the greatest paradoxes of Christianity. In dying, we find life; in giving, we receive; in forgiving, we are forgiven. Jesus promises that we really can find happiness in the midst of poverty, hunger, mourning—even terrorism. How? By allowing ourselves to be emptied of all that is opposed to God so that we can be filled to overflowing with his divine life.

God wants to give us a peace that surpasses understanding, a security in him that enables us to forgive and love even when we are attacked. He promises that all who have left the old life behind them, as the disciples did, will be filled with hope. They will know the joy of heaven, even here on earth. And that joy will far outweigh every disaster and trial we will ever know.

“Lord Jesus, you are my hope. Fill my heart—and every heart—with your peace and joy.”

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