The Beatitutes' Blessings

Mt 5: 1-12: The Beatitudes: “Blessed are you, (your name), the Kingdom of heaven is yours when you realize your dependency upon me, when you know that you are my creation, my possession; when you realize your creatureliness and my transcendence, imminence and indwelling, when you are obedient to the directions of the Spirit that I whisper from within you and around you and through others. The Kingdom of heaven is yours when you assume a listening, respectful stance toward others and are sensitive to the feelings of others, the fragility of the esteem of another, the other’s need for affirmation and support. The Kingdom of heaven is yours when you do not lord it over others, are meek and humble of heart.    

Blessed are you, (your name) when you mourn when others are suffering loss: the loss of a loved one, the loss of valued possessions, the loss of dignity and respect, the loss of self-esteem and support, the loss of freedom.  Blessed are you, (your name),  when you mourn these  things and take steps to restore loss self-esteem, offer support to “weakened knees” raise up fallen heart and allow others to grieve their losses.

Blessed are you, (your name), when you are meek and humble of heart, you will inherit “solid land”; you will not sink into the “mud” of a disgruntled, angry, proud heart.

Blessed are you, (your name,) when you show mercy; mercy will be shown to you.

Blessed are you, (your name), who are pure of heart, when the purity of the Spirit within you transforms that about you that is less than what God intends it to be. As your heart grows in purity, so, too, do your eyes see more clearly where and when God is present or absent. Yes, you will see God at work when your heart is pure.

Blessed are you, (your name),  when you keep the peace by being peaceful within and without, when you seek to resolve conflict peacefully rather than avoiding it or pretending peace has not been compromised by your behavior or speech or negative attitudes. When you strive to restore peace peacefully, people will then call you a woman/a man of God.

Blessed are you, (your name), when, standing up for what is right, when acting justly, when showing mercy, when being forgiving, when acknowledging Me, you are persecuted, ridiculed, “stoned” with disparaging words, your reward in heaven for speaking the truth and doing what is right will be great.

Letting go of our illusions

In this morning’s meditation, I reflected upon “The Teaching of Disillusionment” from Oscar Chamber’s My Utmost to His Highest. I quote: 

 “Disillusionment means having no more misconceptions, false impressions, and false judgments in life; it means being free from those deceptions….[T]he disillusionment that comes from God brings us to the point where we see people as they really are, [including ourselves] yet without any cynicism or any stinging and bitter criticism.  Many of the things in life that inflict the greatest injury, grief, or pain, stem from the fact that we suffer from illusions.  We are not true to one another as facts, seeing each other as we really are; we are only true to our misconceived ideas of one another.  According to our thinking, everything is either delightful and good, or it is evil, malicious and cowardly [and we can easily apply this perception to ourselves, as well].

“Refusing to be disillusioned is the cause of much of the suffering of human life….There is only one Being who can completely satisfy to the absolute depth of the hurting human heart, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ…Our Lord trusted no one, and never placed His faith in people, yet He was never suspicious or bitter. Our Lord’s confidence in God, and in what God’s grace could do for anyone, was so perfect that He never despaired, never giving up hope for any person. If our trust is placed in human beings, we will end up despairing of everyone” [including ourselves] (My Utmost to His Highest, July 30).

May our confidence in God, “in what God’s grace could do for anyone” become so strong that we never, never despair  nor ever, ever give up “hope for any person,” never give up hope for ourselves.  God brings each and every one of us closer to Himself in the sufferings we endure, in the sufferings we bring to the foot of His Cross.