Radicalism for Our Culture: The Beatitudes

Not  sure  about you, but I always had a difficult time gathering in the true meaning of the Beatitudes [Matthew 5: 3-12].  That is until I found Father Jeffrey Kirby’s Kingdom of Happiness: Living the Beatitudes in Everyday Life. And it also includes Father Robert Spitzer’s practical guide to prayer for active people in Five Pillars of the Spiritual Life.

Upon baptism, we are called to reject the world, reject the flesh and reject the devil.  We affirm our faith and commitment to God, and open to the Holy Spirit for eternity.   A tough calling and difficult as it may be, Christ had a message on how to accomplish this in His Sermon on the Mount.    His calling is truly radical in our loud, egocentric and prideful culture.  Accepting martyrdom   is the ultimate part of worldly persecution.   In the Christian sense, martyrdom is exaggerated suffering whereby someone publicly expresses their faith in the face   of   punishment.      It   is   the   utmost   in witnessing for God, all for the cause of His glory and the church, the people of God.    Who are some of the more noted Martyrs in Christian history?  St. Thomas More, St. Charles Lwanga, St. Maximilian Kolbe, St. Theresa Benedicta of the Cross, Blessed Oscar Romero, are but a few holy men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice.  [Kirby, 2017:  148]

 “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”

Pride is a form of rebellion against God so as to serve ourselves. Our way, not His way.   In this   manner   of   being, we   are   no   longer dependent on   God, but rather we put ourselves first.  The awe and reverence for God dissipates and how can we become His adopted sons and daughters to share His glory. We limit Him.  To be poor in spirit and rely on Him only is to assure   our    entrance   into   the    Kingdom   of Heaven.    We    are asked to surrender to our need for God. [Kirby, 2017: 12-13]

When poor in spirit, we put before our own needs, the   needs   of   others.   We    sacrifice   for   our families, our friends, our church and make a positive difference to others.  To Father Spitzer [Spitzer, 2008: 42-44] it is keeping an eye on others whom we are serving.     We   become responsible to  the community God wants us to help. Unfortunately, the temptation that follows is   to elevate our egos. Father Spitzer calls for the contemplative life of prayer allowing us  to  be humble about it all and not let pride sneak in.

 “Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted.”

In our competitive culture men envy men and women envy women.    It has to do with power, wealth and status.     Envy is a harsh deadly sin.  Whole nations can be ruined for it. Communist   revolutions   are   based   on   envy. Russia, China, Cuba and now the United States are the most noted.     People, however, do not recognize that envy and jealousy are a part of their sinful nature.    And for that reason, not accepting   the self-knowledge   of   our   sinful nature we continue to desire what belongs to others, a misery of self-murmuring and pride since we lose hope for ourselves.  It becomes a matter of social comparison and then depression.  A murmuring and depressive spirit as we say. How do we remove ourselves from this spirit?  None other than a spiritual awakening - a knowledge of self, sin, Him and Him crucified.   It is being mournful for our sins toward God.   It frees us from this deadly sin and we shall be comforted.   The reality of our position and purpose is clarified and hope returns.  Sorrow and mourning bring consolation.  [Kirby, 2017: 33]

So rather than envy and jealousy, we trust in God’s care.  Our path to salvation is in that mourning and sorrow asking God for forgiveness and help.  We then are diligent in our efforts to nurture hope for ourselves and others instead.

 “Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth”

“Oh most sacred heart of Jesus, thy kingdom come; oh most holy heart of Jesus, thy will be done.”     This is a prayer I say to myself every day, and a few times at that.   Thy will not my will.   Meekness is a disposition of soul, levelheadedness and mindfulness in relation to others.  It gives a person patience, and a gentler demeanor.     It keeps us from reacting negatively to a rude driver, allows us to take more   time in helping our children, keeps us from expressing unnecessary anger in public.

Holding     down     our     anger, showing kindness toward others, and knowing the care of God upon us is instilled within us.  Fr. Kirby calls that piety and justice.    Consequently, it makes it easier for God to mold us into the kind of persons we should be.   The humble hearted and   gentle   hearted, they   inherit   the   earth. [Kirby, 2017:   50]   God works through desire and prayer for partaking in His mission.     It makes no difference if young or old.

 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”

It takes   courage to hunger   and thirst for righteousness. A father working two jobs, yet attentive to family and friends.     A wealthy corporate executive still has time to work for the poor at a food distribution center.   People come to realize they need to attend mass weekly and not just   Christmas   and Easter. Retirees continue to ask God in how they can continue to contribute to the body of Christ. These are examples of courage and fortitude and it cancels any latent sloth   and laziness. [Kirby, 2017:  65-67

 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” 

Forgiveness   can   be   difficult   at   times.  Holding grudges can feel good inside.    The more we are able to forgive and the more we become aware of others’ temporal needs, the more we will engage with those we recognize as such.      We seek mercy for them and receive mercy in return.   At times when I am overwhelmed with work and my students at the same time, I will cancel an assignment.  I’ll jokingly tell them, “If I have mercy on you, God will have mercy on me.” They laugh and more importantly, are glad to be reprieved from yet another assignment. But the more significant engagement in order to facilitate   mercy   would   be   with   the   lonely, marginalized, homeless, ill, and poor. Responding to the   needs of others is to be merciful.   Forgiveness and  mercy helps build our own    compassion toward others and tempers our own self-centeredness and even greed. [Spitzer, 2008:  54] 

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” 

The heart of Jesus is pure.  Have you ever seen Jesus?   I have.   Was it  in my head?   So, what!  “Better is He that is in me than he that is in the world.”  To me it was the Spirit of God in me that allowed me to see.  It was a sign of hope catapulting me away from the   previous years, somewhat lost and sinful.   A new stage of life and personal transformation was beginning and hopeful it was.   Oh, a holy heart is difficult   to maintain and persevere in this secular and licentious world for it fights against lust, but trusting in God always wins out  in the  end. [Kirby, 2017: 115]

A former student found a paper bag full of $100 bills totaling   $50,000 on the steps of Chase Bank in Miami.     He returned it to the bank.  He knew he could not live  with it.  My neighbor praised God though in the midst of a serious illness.  A friend took time out to buy a homeless fellow a Whopper and fries at Burger King, even though he was on his way to work.  A pure   heart    led   these    individuals   to    more virtuous actions.

“Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called sons of God.”

 As I see it, attempts to eliminate pride, envy, and anger, the   building   of   courage, forgiveness, and faith all leads to personal peace of heart and peacemaking.  With peace of heart we work to safeguard our brothers and sisters by helping maintain order and tranquility and upholding personal dignity through justice and fraternity. [Compendium, 2017]

Besides inner peace, peace is achieved by standing up when necessary.   It may be on behalf of the   powerless, the persecuted, the least among us, the disenfranchised.   We can pray before and abortion clinic, mediate conflict between family members, or coworkers, protect a bullied friend.

John 16:  33 “I have said this to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

“Blessed are the persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

 Persecution is required for the sake of the kingdom.  It is both a blessing and an opportunity.  We see Christian persecuted violently in Africa by radical Muslims and in the U. S. for their stances on abortion, marriage, sexual morality.  In China and Europe, Christians are persecuted for putting Christ and the church before the administrative state.  It will get worse.

As Jesus is our model, he showed us how to live and through him we see a reflection of our own humanity in this struggle.  We are called in spite of persecution to love the Lord and love our neighbor as He did.  We shall be rewarded.

To reflect and live the beatitudes can only help transform us by prayer because God never fails. Fr. Spitzer [2008, 64] says we can best live the   beatitudes   through   the   five   pillars    of spiritual life: The Holy Eucharist, spontaneous prayer, reflections on the beatitudes, partnership with   the  Holy Spirit,   and   the contemplative life.  

Source:

Compendium Catechism of the Catholic     Church. Washington, D. C.:  Liberia, Editrice Vaticana, 2017.

Kirby, Fr. Jeffrey. Kingdom of Happiness: Living the Beatitudes in Everyday Life.   Charlotte, NC.:  St. Benedict Press, 2017.

Spitzer, Fr. Robert.  Five Pillars of the Spiritual Life.  San Francisco:  Ignatius, 2008.