Blessed are they…-Matthew 5:1-12
The Beatitudes are a rule of life that can help us live a life that is truly happy and holy. It’s a picture of a life lived virtuously, full of faith in the Lord, confident hope in His promises, and love of God and neighbor. Following the Beatitudes is like a blueprint for conforming our hearts to Christ’s Sacred Heart.
Christ is the exemplary image of each one of the Beatitudes. Through them, He has shown us how to follow and imitate Him in order to be genuinely happy. God has placed the desire for happiness in each and every human heart (cf CCC 1725). In the Beatitudes, Jesus shows us how to have a truly happy heart.
Those who are meek and poor in spirit have gentle, humble hearts like Christ (Matthew 11:29-30). Their yoke will be like His: easy and light.
Those who mourn have soft hearts who love freely, even to the point of breaking. Their hearts are like Jesus’s heart, who broke and wept when His friend Lazarus died (cf John 11:35).
Those whose hearts desire righteousness are like Jesus, the “king of righteousness” (Hebrews 7:2; Jeremiah 23:5).
Those who have merciful hearts are like Jesus’s heart, the source of Divine Mercy.
The clean of heart are pure, like Jesus, the spotless Lamb of God (cf 1 Peter 1:19).
Those who make peace with others extend the peace that originates in Christ’s heart to others. It’s a peace the world cannot give (cf John 14:27).
Those who are persecuted have hearts that have been pierced, like Christ’s on the cross (John 19:34).
In truth, the Sacred Heart of Christ, which bleeds and burns for love, is the source of all the Beatitudes. Indeed, His Heart is the source of all happiness in this life and eternally.
Jesus, make my heart like unto Thine. Make it meek and humble, loving and merciful, clean and peaceful. May it desire what is right and just. May it be pierced and burn brightly with love for God and others. May I imitate You in every way.