The Beatitudes

Jesus begins his first great sermon not with a command but with a blessing. Eight times he says "Blessed are…", and each time he names someone the world would hardly call fortunate: the poor, the grieving, the persecuted. These sayings, the Beatitudes (from the Latin beatus, happy or blessed), sit at the heart of his preaching and of the Christian moral life (CCC 1716).

Where the Beatitudes are found

Matthew gives eight Beatitudes at the opening of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:3–10), followed by a ninth, more personal word to the disciples about being reviled for his sake (Matthew 5:11–12). Luke records a shorter set of four in the Sermon on the Plain, paired with four warnings, or "woes", to the rich and comfortable (Luke 6:20–26). Luke's version is blunter, blessing those who are poor and hungry here and now. Matthew's draws out the inner attitude. The two belong together: the Beatitudes concern both our circumstances and our hearts.

The eight, one by one

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

— Matthew 5:3

1. The poor in spirit. Those who know they depend on God for everything and do not cling to wealth, status or self-sufficiency. Their emptiness leaves room for the Kingdom.
2. Those who mourn. Not only those who grieve a loss, but those who weep over sin and the suffering of the world. God himself will comfort them.
3. The meek. Not the weak, but the strong who are gentle: those who do not grab or retaliate. Jesus promises that they "shall inherit the earth" (Matthew 5:5).
4. Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. People who want holiness and justice as badly as food and drink. They will be satisfied.
5. The merciful. Those who forgive and show compassion to the needy. They will receive mercy, the theme Jesus returns to in the Our Father (Matthew 6:12).
6. The pure in heart. Those whose love is undivided and whose gaze is clean, who seek God without hidden motives. "They shall see God" (Matthew 5:8), the greatest promise of all.
7. The peacemakers. Not only those who avoid conflict, but those who actively heal it. They will be called children of God, because they do what God does.
8. Those persecuted for righteousness' sake. People who suffer because they do what is right. The Kingdom of heaven is already theirs.

Notice the shape. The first and last share the same promise, "the kingdom of heaven", which frames the whole list. And the promises are partly present and partly future: we taste them now and receive them fully in heaven (CCC 1717).

A portrait of Christ

The Catechism says the Beatitudes depict the very face of Jesus Christ and describe his love (CCC 1717). Read the list again with him in mind. He was poor, born in a stable and with nowhere to lay his head. He wept over Jerusalem and at the tomb of Lazarus. He called himself "gentle and lowly in heart" (Matthew 11:29). He hungered to do his Father's will, forgave sinners, saw the Father as no one else could, made peace by the blood of his Cross, and was persecuted to death.

So the Beatitudes are not a set of hurdles. They are what Jesus is like, and what his disciples become as they share his life. They also describe the vocation of all the faithful, joined to the glory of his Passion and Resurrection (CCC 1717).

The answer to our desire for happiness

Every human being wants to be happy. The Church does not treat this as selfish; it sees it as a desire God himself placed in the human heart in order to draw us to himself, since only God can satisfy it (CCC 1718).

The Beatitudes answer that desire in a surprising way. They tell us that true happiness is not found in riches, fame, power or any created thing, however good, but in God alone (CCC 1723). They promise the Kingdom, the vision of God, a share in the divine nature and eternal life (CCC 1720–1721). And they purify our hearts, teaching us to love God above all things (CCC 1723). Happiness, on this account, is not something we grab but something we receive.

Fulfilling the Commandments, not replacing them

Are the Beatitudes a gentle replacement for the stern Ten Commandments? Jesus rules that out:

Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfil them.

— Matthew 5:17

The Church calls the teaching of Jesus the New Law, or the Law of the Gospel (CCC 1965). It does not add new outward precepts so much as reform the heart, the root of human acts (CCC 1968). The Commandment says "You shall not kill"; Jesus goes to the anger that leads to killing (Matthew 5:21–22). The Commandment says "You shall not commit adultery"; Jesus goes to the lustful look (Matthew 5:27–28). The Sermon on the Mount is the charter of this New Law (CCC 1966–1968). It is lived through prayer, fasting and almsgiving done in secret, for the Father who sees (CCC 1969; Matthew 6:1–18), and it is summed up in the Golden Rule (CCC 1970; Matthew 7:12).

Praying with the Beatitudes

A simple way to begin: take one Beatitude each day for eight days. Read it slowly, ask where you see it in Jesus, then ask where it is asking something of you today. Many people also use the Beatitudes as an examination of conscience before confession, alongside the Commandments.

Going deeper

• The Ten Commandments: the Law the Beatitudes fulfil.
• Jesus Christ: the one the Beatitudes portray.
• The Life of the World to Come: the happiness they promise.
• Read next in the Catechism: CCC 1716–1729 and 1965–1974.