In today’s Gospel from St. Matthew, we get the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount – Jesus’ teaching of the Beatitudes. How confusing some of this must have sounded to the crowds!
Yet, embracing and living the Beatitudes is central to our lives a Christian disciples. Several years ago, during a fall reflection series at UST Law School, I gave a talk on Developing the Beatitudes in Our Lives. My talk focused on how we might discern what the Beatitudes mean for our lives, how they direct our lives of discipleship. I shared with the participants Pope Benedict’s view of the Beatitudes as both a “veiled interior biography” of Jesus and a set of directions for his disciples and offered some thoughts on each of the beatitudes.
You can find the recording of that talk here . (The podcast runs for 19:27.) In the event you want to spend some time praying with the Beatitudes, you can find some prayer matieral here .
Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the land.
Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the clean of heart,
for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness,
for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you
and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me.
Rejoice and be glad,
for your reward will be great in heaven.
Thus they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Creo en Dios! 