The Fathers of the Church said a great deal about the Beatitudes. Fortunately, St. Thomas Aquinas has already sifted through much of what they said. In a work entitled the Catena Aurea (i.e. “golden chain”), he collected in a chain of quotes what he thought were the very finest points the Fathers made about the Beatitudes.
Humble Faith Is the First Step
Among their many points, one in particular is intriguing. Just as human life develops in stages — infancy, childhood, adolescence, and adulthood — so too life in the Spirit develops in stages. The Beatitudes, according to St. Augustine and St. Maximus the Confessor, present the developmental stages of life in the Spirit. To see their point, I here present some reflections on Matthew’s Beatitudes — reflections drawn mostly from the Catena Aurea, but mingled with my own.
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Broken, weak, frail, lacking, dependent, vulnerable, self-insufficient, humble: these are the characteristics of the poor in spirit — the anawim or the little ones. The little ones have nothing of their own. And they know it. They do not live as if they are in control of everything. They do not live as if they are in control of their own lives, their own things, or even their own bodies. Their poverty of spirit makes faith easy. Humble faith is the first step in life in the Spirit. The reward of faith is to dwell in the Kingdom of Heaven. The Kingdom of Heaven is “righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom 14:17). By the power of the Spirit dwelling in our hearts by faith, hope, and charity, Christ the King rules the lives of His faithful little ones. He rules their bodies, their minds, their passions, their desires, and their possessions. He rules not by force of threat, but by His love working within the soul. He directs one’s steps and carves one’s being into something awesome — a living image of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It all begins here: “the sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise” (Ps 51:17).
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. After giving in to being poor in spirit, and receiving Christ in faith, after entering into the Kingdom, the Spirit goes to work like a refiner’s fire. Sin, destructive attachments, destructive relationships, destructive attitudes — whatever is unbecoming a human being is stripped away. Once viewed as essential to one’s happiness, these destructive things have become customary parts of our lives. Now they are taken away. So there results an initial mourning, the sadness of asking, “How can I live without these things?” The person weeps for his sins, and weeps upon recognizing the many inroads that sin has carved into the soul. But God demands nothing that He does not also give the grace to accomplish. The Spirit forges within us new desires for the things of Christ. And so as our desire for old comforts passes away, our sadness at their loss also passes away. Thus we find comfort. Throughout our trials of loss, as well, Christ comforts us with the consolation that things are being made new (Rv 21:5). Christ consoles us with a sense of His kindness, compassion, presence, and closeness to us. St. Augustine describes this moment of consolation well. Once he decided to let go of the pleasant toxin of sin, he says “suddenly it had become sweet to me to be without the sweets of folly. What I once feared to lose was now a delight to dismiss” (Confessions, Bk. IX, ch.1).
The Attitude of Mercy
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. The meek are those who do not resist wrongs. The meek do not give in to returning sin for sin. The meek overcome evil by doing good. The meek do not seek the destruction but the true happiness of their enemies. They stand firm in goodness in the face of threats and attack. Christ says “learn of Me for I am meek and humble of heart” (Mt 11:29). The Passion is the ultimate display of meekness. Despite all the hostility of His persecutors, Jesus seeks their good and their welfare. The reward of such meekness is to inherit the earth. Christ inherited the earth at His Ascension when He sat down at the right hand of the Father in glory. In this life, the earth we inherit is a rightly disposed soul, free of internal conflicts and disordered passions. In the next life, we inherit heaven.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. After learning meekness, the Spirit expands our desires. The hunger for Christ, who is the source of all righteousness, becomes even deeper and even more intense. The soul longs for perfect righteousness — both in oneself and in others. Great expectations grow, and God satisfies them. In this life, He satiates our hunger for Christ with the Eucharist. He slakes our thirst for justice and righteousness with His Spirit — who makes our souls and our lives just and righteous. Thus we are satisfied, but hopefully not self-satisfied. There is lurking here the danger of the self-satisfaction of the self-righteous. The antidote is in the next stage.
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. The desire for righteousness matures into a disposition to show mercy. “Mercy” actually means sadness of heart over the miseries of others. The merciful are those who count the afflictions of others as their own, and actively seek to alleviate others from their misery. Mercy is love healing people’s afflictions. To heal people’s afflictions precisely because of personal love for Jesus is the activity peculiar to Christians. From the attitude of mercy flow the many works of mercy. The loving kindness, the mercy of God, is made real to others through our merciful works. God rewards our mercy towards others with His mercy towards us. He alleviates our misery: casts out ignorance with His truth, drives out loneliness with His friendship, mends our broken minds with His peace, and fills us with a love that takes joy in the truth.
Pure, Peaceable, Persecuted
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Because God shows His mercy towards us, our hearts are purified. To be pure in heart is to have singleness of purpose, i.e. to do all that one does for one reason alone — for the love of the Holy Trinity. The attraction of the many finite goods of this world loses its grip on us as the infinite goodness of God captivates our souls with an all-consuming thirst for Him. The Spirit draws us from concern for many things into concern for only one thing — to love God perfectly. The reward of such purity is to see Trinitarian love. To see Trinitarian love is to know a love that surpasses everything. In this life, we see this Love with the eyes of the heart. In the next life we see Him face to face.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Having developed such single-mindedness in our purpose, such purity, the Spirit moves us to build up peace. Peace is the tranquility that results when everything is in the right order, and the work of the peacemaker is to put things in their right order. The peacemakers strive first to establish the right order of things within their own souls, and then to establish right order between others — to reconcile enemies to one another, and to cultivate the right relationships between people. God rewards our efforts by making us sons of God. Just as a son is the likeness of his Father, so too, as adopted children of the Father, we become likenesses of the Father. We become agents of a higher and more profound peace — the peace that consists of reconciliation with the Father. To be reconciled with the Father through Christ is the only true peace in this life. And where there is God and the sons of God, there must be a family. Those who set their hearts upon Christ dwell in brotherly love.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on My account, for your reward will be great in heaven. Finally, after having become poor, meek, hungry, merciful, pure, and peacemaking, the Spirit leads us to sacrifice everything to the Father — just as Christ did. There are two sorts of martyrdom — red and white. Red martyrdom is bloody, and the Spirit gives this gift to a few. White martyrdom is unbloody, and takes the form of insult, mockery, slander, lies, rejection, suspicion, criticism, and a thousand forms of contempt for the name of Christ. Only by the Spirit working within us, moving us through the path of the Beatitudes, could we ever live through being persecuted for Christ without losing the love we have in our hearts, without losing the joy that comes from the presence of Christ within us. But the Spirit leads us to and through persecution, and empowers us to sacrifice everything with loving joy and joyful love for Christ.
© Copyright 2006 Catholic Exchange
Br. James Brent, O.P. is a Dominican Friar living at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, DC. He is a student brother in formation for the priesthood and is a member of the Province of St. Joseph (Eastern Province). Please visit the Dominican Student Brothers' website at www.dominicanstudents.org.
