THE BEATITUDES ARE REVOLUTIONARY

THE BEATITUDES ARE REVOLUTIONARY

Visiting the Church of the Beatitudes in Israel near Capernaum one steps outside and looks at a hill shown in the photo at the left. We are told that it is possible this is the hill where Jesus met with a crowd to reveal the beatitudes. This weekend, we hear the beatitudes read as our gospel reading.
Because the beatitudes have been understood to be the broad principles and values upon which Jesus based all his teaching and ministry, I thought I would research them for this column. I discovered the beatitudes are revolutionary. Platitudes the beatitudes are not.
How are the beatitudes revolutionary? They are revolutionary because they are opposite of the beliefs of our way of life and culture. Start with the first beatitude: “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of God.” What does it mean to be poor in spirit? It means being a homeless person, for example, so poor that he/she cannot have any concept of self. The person’s spirit is devastated. Do we generally value that extremely poor person in our culture? Not really. Yet Jesus says they are blest.
Consider the beatitude, “Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness.” Hunger and thirst are powerful words. Can I hunger and thirst for what is right? I do believe in what is right. I want to work for justice. But I do not “hunger” and “thirst” for righteousness. On the other hand, the homeless, the sick without health care, the single mothers below the poverty level, the innocents caught in a war; now they truly “hunger” and “thirst” for righteousness, for justice.
The promised blessings of the beatitudes confront us with decisive moral choices and invite us to purify ourselves. They teach us that true riches cannot be found in any human achievement. (Catechism 1723) What? Any human achievement? That thought is revolutionarily different than the worldly view in which we see ourselves as the source of all our benefits.
The lessons of the beatitudes can further be understood by the second reading this weekend in our liturgy. Paul says “God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise, and God chose the lowly and despised of the world, those who count for nothing to reduce to nothing those who are something so that no human being might boast before God.” Paul then lets us know we need not despair if we aren’t one of these lowliest. He assures us, “It is due to him (God) that you are in Christ Jesus who became for us wisdom from God as well as righteousness, sanctification and redemption.” So Jesus became for us righteousness and redeemed and sanctified us.
I know, living in this world, I’m not able to give up all my pride, my money, and my worldly values. The saints manage this. However, as I understand St. Paul and our faith, Jesus has taken what I lack in myself upon himself and saved me. Now I can freely return the love Jesus has given me, not to earn points, but to love God, to show my appreciation by trying to purify myself from worldly values and to help those he values, the lowly outcasts of our society.