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Beatitudes Index
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Father John A. Hardon, S.J. Archives |
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Beatitudes Index |
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Beatitudes: Generosity and Happiness We have native tendencies in us-the passions-that tend to tyrannize us. What we talk about as the Seven Capital Sins, I like to call our seven basic tendencies as fallen human beings. We also know that to ignore the fact that we must war against ourselves and against the seductions of evil all around us would be folly. On the other hand, we are also to practice virtue. Our focus here is on that aspect-what we sometimes call the positive side of the Gospel ethic. |
| Poverty in the Modern World Certainly, the Gospels were meant to be lived not only in first century Palestine, but in twentieth century North America. The crucial question is how. The following are some directives. While referring directly to poverty, their underlying principles apply equally to the practice of Christian chastity and charity. Along with poverty, they form the triad of virtues that are mainly on trial in the affluent, sexual and self-preoccupied societies of our times. |
| The Second Beatitude: Blessed are the Meek or Gentle for They Shall Inherit the Earth Who are meek people? Meek people are those people who control their anger. We all have a temper. I tell people you’ve got a temper, when necessary use it but never loose it. Keep it in control. Meekness is therefore the virtue which controls irascibility. |
| Meekness It is indispensable to restrain our anger and to practice meekness. So too it is humility of heart that will make us gentle in our dealings with others. Only God can see the human heart. We can only see the exterior of other people. And they can only see us externally. Gentleness is love made manifest. Gentleness is charity shown. Gentleness is sincere love shown by the kindness that we manifest. |
| Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius: The Beatitudes As you know the beatitudes are the beginning of Christ’s Sermon on the Mount, which is chapters five, six, and seven of the Gospel of St. Matthew. In our next conference we shall take the Lord’s prayer. Between the beatitudes and the Lord’s prayer, we have a synthesis of all that Jesus wanted to teach us in His Sermon on the Mount. What our Lord did in the beatitudes is give us not just a synthesis but what I might call an ocean of Christian spirituality. |
| Beatitudes: The New Testament Decalogue We ask ourselves: How are the beatitudes given to us by Christ a compendium of what we may call the New Testament Decalogue? Keep in mind that Jesus insisted that He had not come to abolish the law of the prophets, on the contrary He came to fulfill. We ask ourselves how are the beatitudes the fulfillment of the Ten Commandments? |
| Blessed Are They Who Mourn for They Shall Be Comforted Talk about a paradox: Blessed or happy are those who are not happy. "Now Lord, we know you can speak mysteriously but what does this mean?" Is Christ telling us there is blessedness and happiness if we mourn? YES. In other words, is it sinful to mourn? No, provided we mourn over the right things and we mourn in the right way. |
| Gentleness In the spirit of the Gospel we have just read from St. Matthew and in the context of so much that our Savior has been teaching us we should reflect on the virtue of gentleness. As Isaiah foretold of the Savior, He will not break the bruised reed He will not condemn, He will not cry out. Gentleness is written on almost every page of the Gospels describing the Savior. Yet there are certain virtues that are as we might expect popular in certain times. No doubt because they conform with the spirit of those times. |
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