Five Minutes With Francis
The Beatitudes are one of the topics studied in Fourth Grade. So last year when I moved up to 4th grade I had the joy of teaching them daily during religion. This was, I have to admit, my first time for truly delving into the Beatitudes. Thoroughly attracted to them even in our simple 4th grade form I wanted to dig deeper and they became the focus of my summer reflection and mini retreat. You got a hint of that already when I offered them as alternate reading in the Magis Center write-up under Keeping Up With Your Faith.
Though we are all familiar with the Beatitudes (here I speak mostly of Matthew’s Gospel), why is so much importance, focus placed on them? They are quite simply, as Saint Pope John Paul II termed them, “the Magna Carta of Christianity.”
As followers, and not merely admirers, of Jesus they give us a course of action for discipleship, a way modeled and lived first by our Lord. They also “present a sort of veiled interior biography of Jesus, a kind of portrait of his figure,” Pope Benedict XVI wrote in his book, Jesus of Nazareth.
The beauty of this “identity card of the Christian,” as Pope Francis termed the Beatitudes in his 9 June 2014 morning meditation, is that they right order our desires so that we can attain the true happiness we long for, are made for. It is only by walking with Christ, living our life in Christ, that we can achieve true joy and peace.
Our culture holds out happiness to us through wealth, a barrage of pleasant sensations, accumulation of material things, and the like, but as we know from pursing these, they ultimately leave us empty and dissatisfied when we become overly focused and attached to this approach. Trying to fulfill lasting happiness through these avenues can even lead to addictions and other unhealthy results, moving us further from Jesus and quietude. Living the Beatitudes is the counter to all that and brings about what they promise because they are from God and God is always faithful to his word; “I tell you all this that my joy may be yours and your joy may be complete” (John 15:11).
That said, being able to live the Beatitudes fully is not easy by any stretch of the imagination. Many of us are quickly rankled and recoil at the idea of letting go to our attachments of what the world holds out to us as ideal. We fail, at first, to see their paltriness compared to what is offered by Jesus. The Beatitudes are “a program ‘so simple yet so difficult,’” Pope Francis admitted in his morning meditation. If, however, we study intensely and reflect on the Beatitudes we will begin to understand, see the beauty of true freedom, and thereby put them into action with ever greater desire and ease. With that in mind the pope is giving us a Beatitude to reflect on each year, beginning with the first Beatitude, for the next three years in preparation for World Youth Day. Though aimed in particular at the youth it is fitting for all of us to reflect on the Beatitudes during this time.
“The Beatitudes are the transportation of Cross and Resurrection into discipleship,” said Pope Benedict XVI. If, like me, you need some help in breaking open the Beatitudes so you can indeed be transported into the life of Christ you can refer to Pope Francis’ 13 April 2014 World Youth Day message or his morning meditation mentioned above, both available on the Vatican website. John Paul’s World Youth Day welcoming speech in Toronto 25 July 2002 focused on the Beatitudes and is also accessible on the Vatican website. In addition to Pope Benedict’s book listed above I also enjoyed reading our own Father Bob Miller’s book (with Gerard P. Weber) Breaking Open the Gospel of Matthew – The Sermon on the Mount (out of print), and Catholicism, A Journey to the Heart of the Faith by Father Robert Barron - see chapter 2 for a walk through the Beatitudes. Catholicism is also available as a DVD series, which we have shown at the parish several times. If you would like to watch the DVD, rich with imagery, I can borrow it from Karen until I get my copy for my birthday next month, and we’ll find a spot to watch it. Each episode is about an hour long.
Whatever way you choose to delve into and reflect on the Beatitudes you will definitely find yourself being increasingly blessed as you live them out more and more. The Beatitudes are life-sustaining revolutionary.