“Seek the Lord, all you humble of the earth, who have observed his law; seek justice, seek humility.” – Zephaniah 2:3
St. Augustine said, “We all want to live happily.” He’s right, of course. Who doesn’t want to be happy? God has placed the desire for happiness in each and every human heart (cf CCC 1725). The Catechism teaches that the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-12) “shed light on the actions and attitudes characteristic of the Christian life” (CCC 1712). The Beatitudes are seem completely backwards: to be happy, we must put aside money, power, pleasure, and honor (all things the world says is the path to happiness) in order to receive the promised gifts that come as a result of accepting poverty, powerlessness, discomfort, and humiliation with grace, even seeing those things as good for us. They are what the Catechism calls “paradoxical promises” (CCC 1717).
“The Beatitudes are the essence of Jesus. His way of life; and they are the path to true happiness, which we, too, can travel with the grace that Jesus gives us.” – Pope Francis, Happiness in This Life
The Beatitudes are a list of the virtuous attitudes and behaviors that God has created us for as our vocation lived out through the Holy Spirit (cf CCC 1699 and 1717). God knows that living these virtues each day in small and large ways will help us have truly happy hearts:
- Humility, or poverty of spirit (Matthew 5:3)
- Tenderness of heart marked by sympathy, empathy, and compassion (Matthew 5:4)
- Meekness and gentleness (Matthew 5:5)
- Justice marked by hunger and thirst for what is right (Matthew 5:6)
- Mercy and forgiveness (Matthew 5:7)
- Purity of mind, body, and spirit (Matthew 5:8)
- Peacefulness (Matthew 5:9)
- Courage in the face of persecution (Matthew 5:10-12)
“The Beatitudes depict the countenance of Jesus Christ and portray his charity” (CCC 1717). They are the ways of acting and thinking that help us put on “the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16), helping us to live as He would live in this world. Simultaneously, this way of life brings us happiness in this life and will be the cause for our blessed reward in the next. We can pray to ask God for the grace to grow in these virtues. In his book Happiness in This Life, Pope Francis encouraged people to read the Beatitudes each day as a way to remind ourselves of how to live a truly Christian and happy life. What is one Beatitude you could focus on living out this week?
Jesus, please give me the grace of wisdom and the fortitude I need to see as You see, think as You think, act as You would act, and love as You love.