The Agape-Beatitudes Positive Examination of Conscience

This essay aims to construct a positive Examination of Conscience Guide, for occasional use. “Positive” means that it helps us not so much for the sacrament of Confession, but more in our daily drive to perfection. To do that, here we explore the meaning of the Greatest Commandment, which was spoken to the world by the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, in spring 30 AD, days and hours before His crucifixion.

At that critical time, Jesus chose to speak two interlocking directives.

(1) Days before:

Mark 12: 29-31 “The first commandment of all is, Hear, O Israel: the Lord thy God is one God. And thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the first commandment. And the second is like to it: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is no other commandment greater than these.”

(2) Hours before:

John 14: 15 “If you love me, keep my commandments.”

The verb “love” of course is overloaded with many meanings in English, especially these days, by social media, literature, movies and religious leaders alike. The word repeatedly used by Christ is agape love, which is distinct from the many described in the Greek. Some of the many words for love include:

• friendship/brotherly (phileo)
• sexual/romantic/desire (eros)
• familial (stonge)
• playful/flirting/casual (ludus)
• dutiful/practical (pragma)
• self-love (philautia).
   

These are all strong emotions, critical to life and happiness, some more than others. All can be used to excess, on occasion. These are most often used for good, but can sometimes be used for evil.

One type of love is always good, and can never be too excessive: the love critical to eternal life, the love of which Christ and the Apostles speak: agape.

The definition of agape love is not as precise and prescriptive as we would like, but we need it to strive incrementally toward perfection. The New Law that Christ brought us to live by and to imitate Him by is like that.

God apparently needed it this way, to help perfect and complete the Old Law. As Ferdinand Prat notes in his biography of Jesus, Moses’ law had three major faults:

(1) The happiness of one must be “subordinated” to the best for the entire people, given the rewards of the Old Law only bore fruit here on earth; this leads to “the end justifies the means,” an all-too-common slippery slope to evil today

(2) The external act was paramount; little in the inner disposition counted

(3) One need not be perfect; as long as one did the minimum, one was considered to be doing God’s will well enough

 Over centuries, these three faults triggered the blinding errors of the Pharisees, with their excessive focus on detailed external acts, rather than the formation of holy souls. The hubris of these lawgivers also cascaded into oligarchy and a Gnostic-like despotism, as they became the exclusive set of experts on spiritual knowledge and rules.

Christ’s New Law, built on the error-free original foundation of the Old, is universal, internal, sometimes amorphous, maybe different for one person than another, in different degrees, depending on one’s gifts or dispositions or circumstances. So we ask, given its monumental implications, can we get any closer to defining this agape love that we are commanded to fulfill? 

Paul narrows down the definition in 1 Corinthians 13, that set of verses seemingly selected for reading at every Christian wedding. He gives us fifteen redundant and overlapping terms, in both the negative and the positive. In this essay, we’re looking for only positive descriptors, for a positive Examination of Conscience, given how easy it is to state what agape is not (see the Greek words above). Negative terms certainly help root out specific ways we’ve run afoul of God’s will. But agape is a positive term, so to live and feel agape, we need to better define its positive meanings.

Below are Paul’s terms. If needed, instead of a “shalt not,” I suggested a positive word or two, in brackets.

1 Corinthians 13: 4-7 (New American Bible, from https://bible.usccb.org)

Love is…

• patient
• kind
• not jealous [praising/thankful]
• not pompous [humble/quiet]
• not inflated [humble/subdued]
• not rude [respectful]
• does not seek its own interests [deferential/obedient]
• not quick-tempered [peaceful]
• does not brood over injury (note: “not resentful” in Ignatius Bible) [forgiving]
• does not rejoice over wrongdoing [pure]
• rejoices with the truth
• bears all things
• believes all things
• hopes all things
• endures all things

That which is defined here, divinely inspired within Paul, expresses not commands, but the states of our souls and hearts (humility, purity, joy, etc.), which find their way into our actions and outward expressions (praise, forgiveness, respect, obedience, perseverance, etc.)

If here we turn Paul’s agape definition into positive characteristics and manners of action, emotions, and living, they fall rather neatly into the typical definitions for each of the eight Beatitudes. Thus they trace their way back to the words Christ speaks roughly twenty months before he gave us the Greatest Commandment, as He sat on the grass on the Mount, overlooking the Sea of Galilee about two miles from Capernaum, on that beautiful morning in July 28 AD.

Like Paul’s words, the words Jesus uses, expressed in Matthew 5:1-8, are not commands, but the state of our hearts:

• “The Beatitudes… are not ideals; they are hard facts and realities inseparable from the Cross of Calvary.” (Fulton Sheen, Life of Christ)
• “Its dominant idea… is that of the Kingdom of Heaven, in its essence and principles, and in the conditions required of those who wish to belong to it, in a word, in the holiness that ought to shine forth in each of its members.” (L.C. Fillion, The Life of Christ)

Here are some common definitions and interpretations of those who are “blessed”. 

The poor in spirit

• Those who are powerless; reliant on and obedient to God, especially for forgiveness; those who are obedient to others; those who separate themselves from earthly honor and riches, inside and out (so this state does not necessarily require physical poverty, but that is often the result here).

Those who mourn

• Those who, inside and out, lament the evil, suffering, and misfortunes of earthly life (including death), but accept them as the will of Almighty God; they yearn for and accept the consolation Christ brings.

The meek

• Those who, as most see them, are small and downtrodden, but who in humility are deferent to the will of others, and praising; those who are stronger than the most worldly successful, through an accepting resolve, inside.

Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness/justice

• Those who, inside and outside, seek to fulfill God’s will and live according to His commandments; “righteousness” here means God’s kingdom, not only a moral uprightness; “justice” here means holiness and perfection, not only a natural world fairness.

The merciful

• Those who help those in need, with all types of works of mercy, not only through alms and service, but with inner empathy.

The pure of heart

• Those who avoid evil, including the evil in inner thoughts of gluttony, lust, and all other inordinate, excessive material desires, in order to use the faculties to better see God (“Nothing darkens the vision of heavenly things more, or puts a thicker veil between God and ourselves, than the surrender of the soul to carnal pleasures.” Ferdinand Prat, Jesus Christ: His Life, His Teaching, and His Work).

The peacemakers

• Those who seek to bridge differences between people; those who share Christ’s peace with others, not necessarily as direct overtures and evangelizing (although that is critical), but also as an outer emanation of what’s inside.

The persecuted

• Those who inevitably are abused and punished for being dedicated to Christ and His Church.

The Beatitudes, when mapped to one or more of the fifteen attributes put forth by St. Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians, provide as complete a definition of agape love as ever could be expressed. So the Beatitudes guide us in how to define that love commanded us by Christ; that is, the agape that we are called to feel, radiate, imitate, contemplate, and supply back to the Holy Trinity, and to other souls.

Thus, Christ’s most prolific Sermon, spoken by Jesus about 20 months before His death and resurrection, projects forward to His Greatest Commandment, spoken days and hours before His Passion. The Beatitudes hone in on how the Holy Trinity wants us to love others and to love God back. Below the Beatitudes are mapped to the Agape definitions.

The most helpful notion here is to build one's own mapping - think about Paul's and Christ's words, research the meanings and interpretations, write them down, and then examine. The results are a basis for a positive Examination of Conscience, which here ponders not what we did wrong, but how and why we could be perfect, in our daily relationship with the Holy Trinity and our neighbors. 

Summary: Mapping Paul’s Agape to The Beatitudes

patient

• The peacemakers

kind

• The merciful

praising/thankful

• The peacemakers
• The meek

humble/quiet

• The meek

humble/subdued

• The poor in spirit

respectful

• The merciful

deferential/obedient

• The poor in spirit
• The meek

peaceful

• The peacemakers

forgiving

• The merciful

pure

• The pure of heart

rejoices with the right

• Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness/justice
• The pure of heart

bears all things

• The persecuted
• Those who mourn

believes all things

• Those who mourn

hopes all things

• Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness/justice
• Those who mourn

endures all things

• The persecuted

Summary: Mapping the Beatitudes to Paul’s Agape

The poor in spirit – humble/subdued, deferential/obedient

• Those who are powerless; reliant on and obedient to God, especially for forgiveness; those who are obedient to others; those who separate themselves from earthly honor and riches, inside and out (so this state does not necessarily require physical poverty, but that is often the result here).

Those who mourn - bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things

• Those who, inside and out, lament the evil, suffering, and misfortunes of earthly life (including death), but accept them as the will of Almighty God; they yearn for and accept the consolation Christ brings.

The meek - praising/thankful, humble/quiet, deferential/obedient

• Those who, as most see them, are small and downtrodden, but who in humility are deferent to the will of others, and praising; those who are stronger than the most worldly successful, through an accepting resolve, inside.

Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness/justice - rejoices with the right, hopes all things

• Those who, inside and outside, seek to fulfill God’s will and live according to His commandments; “righteousness” here means God’s kingdom, not only a moral uprightness; “justice” here means holiness and perfection, not only a natural world fairness.

The merciful – kind, respectful, forgiving

• Those who help those in need, with all types of works of mercy, not only through alms and service, but with inner empathy.

The pure of heart – pure, rejoices with the right

• Those who avoid evil, including the evil in inner thoughts of gluttony, lust, and all other inordinate, excessive material desires, in order to use the faculties to better see God.

The peacemakers – patient, praising/thankful, peaceful

• Those who seek to bridge differences between people; those who share Christ’s peace with others, not necessarily as direct overtures and evangelizing (although that is critical), but also as an outer emanation of what’s inside.

The persecuted - bears all things, endures all things

• Those who inevitably are abused and punished for being dedicated to Christ and His Church.