Blessed Are They

During our Lord’s most well-known sermon, the Sermon on the Mount, he gave to his disciples an eight-fold list of what is required from the Church Militant in order to gain the everlasting bliss of heaven.  In other words, these Eight Beatitudes lay out what we need to do if we too want to be a saint.  And who amongst us does not wish for that highest of all rewards, to spend a blissful and glorious eternity in union with God?  Even those folks who have trouble envisaging such a state, and have therefore less incentive to follow these eight beatitudes here on earth, are often inspired by the occasional thought of what the only other alternative would be.  Heaven and hell are two kingdoms that could not be further apart, and no one will escape the judgment that places us in one or the other.  Our peace of mind is shattered, if we have any faith at all, by committing a single mortal sin, and the Sacrament of Penance is beloved by all good Christians as the most effective way, in many cases the only way, of restoring that peace.  It is better, however, rather than to spend our life on the roller coaster between sinning and being absolved, to abide in the peaceful state of holiness throughout.  And there is nothing more assured to help us do that than these Eight Beatitudes that our blessed Lord has laid out in his Sermon on the Mount and which form today’s Gospel.

As we read through this list of things designed to bring us the blessedness of heaven, we realize that some of them are quite involuntary.  We have no choice, for example, but to mourn when someone we love is taken from us.  If we could choose, very few would choose the terrible loss of bereavement and the heartbreak that goes with it.  But God chooses who will go and who will stay, and blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.  If we want to find God in heaven, we must learn to detach ourselves from the comforts of earthly bonds.  It’s all part of God’s plan, and when a loved one is taken from us, it is for us to suffer the pain that follows.  It is a terrible cross, and like all crosses it is to be endured.  Not enjoyed certainly, but endured.  It is not placed on our shoulders to punish us, but to test us, to see how much we are prepared to suffer for love of God.  A hard lesson but an effective one, and one which we shall all at some point learn.

There are other examples in the Beatitudes of ways by which we are made blessed through no choice of our own.  But for the sake of being concise, we’ll pass on to a different kind of beatitude, one where we are called upon to choose ourselves, deliberately and voluntarily.  As we are approaching an important national election on which much depends, both for our nation and in our own lives, we are filled with anxiety.  Fear is not the only emotion we feel as we observe the depths to which man’s depravity has fallen.  We are also filled with a righteous anger against those who seek to destroy our culture, our civilization, our moral code and our faith.  Our emotions border sometimes on a desire for violence, a wish that God would intervene in some kind of genocidal wrath that would wipe out his and our enemies.  Our Lord reminds us today of another way, a better way.  “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.”  Much as it might go against our irascible temperament, we are told that peace is a higher cause than victory in war, that the conversion of sinners is far preferable to their death and damnation.  This particular beatitude requires us to set aside our emotions in order to rationalize and then act upon what God wants.

All eight of the beatitudes require something of us.  God’s will is behind them all, and our quest to discover and then submit to that divine will is our ultimate goal in following in the path of the saints in heaven.  They, like us, were given this same path to success, and so we, like them, can attain the same result, namely the beatific vision of God for all eternity.

To paraphrase the Venerable St. Bede, “Today we keep holy-day, with one great cry of joy, in memory of all the Saints, whose presence is a gladness to heaven; whose prayers are a blessing to earth.”  St. Bede reminds us that the glory of these saints is in direct proportion to the agony which was endured in the quest for that glory.  “For the greater the torment,” he says, “the richer the reward; and the fiercer the battle, the brighter the glory of the fighters whose triumph in martyrdom was in this wise adorned with more sufferings.”  “The Catholic Church has learned from Christ Jesus her Head, to fear neither shame nor cross nor death, but to increase in strength by enduring suffering rather than by resisting it.”

When you have time try to take a good look at these Eight Beatitudes.  For those over which we have control, we need to apply each one in our own lives, reminding ourselves that whatever time and effort and, yes, suffering, we put into working and wrestling in this life, it is nothing compared to the life to come, but is, as it were, only for a moment.  For those acts of blessedness that we cannot control, we need to learn the lesson of our involuntary suffering in this life and make it work unto our own sanctification and peace.  The work is soon over, but the wage is paid for ever.  “And when the night of this world is ended,” reminds St. Bede, “the Saints see the clearness of the essential light, and receive a blessedness outweighing the pangs of any torment.”

Finally, if we’re brave enough, let’s surrender to God’s will and leave in his hands the initial result and potential aftermath of next week’s election.  Whatever happens, let’s work for the real peace and unity of our nation that only the conversion of sinners can bring about, for blessed are the peacemakers.  Let us be meek if we want to inherit the earth.  And for our own sake, let us pray for that very special blessedness of martyrdom, whether it be through death or a more prolonged type of suffering imposed upon us.  For it is in persecution that the greatest blessedness is to be found: “Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.  Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven.”