The Beatitudes

From the mountainside, Jesus opened his preaching with eight blessings (Matt 5:3–12). The Beatitudes are the self-portrait of Christ and the charter of the Christian life. They do not replace the Ten Commandments but reveal their inner spirit: what the Decalogue demands, the Beatitudes transfigure into love.

They are paradoxes to the worldly mind — blessed are the poor, the mourning, the meek — but they describe the only happiness that does not pass. Every saint is a person in whom some beatitude has taken flesh.

The Eight Beatitudes

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

Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.

Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.

Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

— Matthew 5:3–10

A Map of the Christian Soul

The Beatitudes are not a ladder to be climbed in sequence but a chord that sounds together in every holy life. Poverty of spirit grounds the rest; the purity of heart that sees God is the flower of them all.

"The Beatitudes reveal the goal of human existence, the ultimate end of human acts: God calls us to his own beatitude." — CCC 1719

Pray with one Beatitude at a time. Ask which one Christ is inviting you to live today.