June 8: Beatitudes / Bienaventuranzas

In St. Matthew’s account of the Beatitudes ((5, 1-12), he says “After Jesus sat down....” Although it might not seem like it, this is a significant detail. Rabbis would assume any posture to their liking as they discussed matters with their students, but when it came to teaching officially – expounding on the Law, for example – they always sat down. In saying that Jesus “sat down,” the Gospel is telling us that what follows is no small-talk or ordinary teaching, but the heart of the matter. The Beatitudes are the heart of the Sermon on the Mount, in the same way that the Sermon on the Mount is the heart of the whole Gospel.

We are familiar with the formula: “Blessed are....” But notice that we can be blessed without knowing it. We can also be blessed without appreciating it. “You are blessed with good health,” someone says; but we don’t feel blessed at all, we feel just normal. It is only when we fall ill that we appreciate health. Someone once said, “When you have a toothache, you realize how wonderful it is not to have a toothache.”

Some worthy homework for this week is remembering that “happiness” is a passing state of “feeling” – and feelings, like the weather, come and go and are constantly changing. Mediaeval theologians used the word “beatitudo” when translating Matthew 5, 1-12 to indicate the objective state of being “rightly aligned in one’s life.” Try reading the Beatitudes this week with that in mind: like, “Rightly aligned or made right by God are those who are merciful ... pure of heart ... peacemakers....”

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A los discípulos de Jesús nos llaman “bienaventurados,” es decir dichosos, si estamos tan abiertos a Dios que le permitimos llenarnos con algo de su propia bendición y felicidad. Para ello tenemos que ser pobres, vacíos de nosotros mismos. Entonces obtendremos la alegría del Reino de Dios como un saboreo anticipado de la alegría celestial. Pongámonos en las manos de Dios y pidámosle que nos bendiga.

Oremos. “Señor Dios nuestro, cuando tu Hijo proclamó su Buena Noticia a los pobres y ciegos, ellos le entendieron, porque sabían bien lo que significa no estar satisfechos de la vida y no poder ver. Desde el Evangelio, concédenos sentirnos pobres con los hambrientos, andar a tientas con los ciegos, sentirnos impotentes con los indefensos, y pequeños con los que supuestamente no cuentan – para que experimentemos bien adentro el mensaje de tu Palabra y lo compartamos como buena noticia con todos los que nos rodean, en el nombre de Jesucristo tu Hijo. Amén.”