The beatitudes are understood only starting from Christ because they speak of him, reveal his face, his lifestyle. Through the Beatitudes Christ tells us who he is, tells us what he has to say and to offer to the world. The nine beatitudes are nine features of the face of Jesus. In them he tells of his life, he tells of the new heart dreamed of by the prophets, he says that he is the poor, the meek, the peaceful, the hungry for justice.
it is He who has eyes so pure and limpid as to see traces of God everywhere and signs of goodness inside every sinner. And when Christ is risen, He has become the Consulate who knows how to console every person who suffers and feels the weight of life.
The Beatitudes are not just a synthetic autobiography of Christ
But they constitute the heart of Jesus’ message, the Magna Carta of the Kingdom announced by him. It is a message that the Lord addresses to his disciples and all men without distinction and in which he reveals to us that his heart and his cares are addressed in particular to the humble and poor in spirit (Matthew 5.2).
That is to those who experience their helplessness and have learned to expect everything from God. Like the prophets of the Old Testament, these poor in spirit and humble live righteously and obey the law of God. And because their relationships with God and with the brothers are marked by justice and its absolute needs, are persecuted (Matthew 5.10-11).
Although persecuted, Jesus declares them blessed. The reason for the beatitude is not the current situation, but the new condition that the blessed receive as a gift from God. Because theirs is the kingdom of heaven because they will be comforted because they will inherit the earth, and so on.
Jesus uses the passive future to indicate that the beatitudes are the way to achieve joy. Because in order to give himself to us, God often chooses unthinkable paths, perhaps those of our limits, of our tears, of our defeats.
Christ says Blessed are you – Who are these you? They are the ones who accepted the word of the Lord and became his disciples. With the Beatitudes, the Lord tells us that man is greater than the things he possesses.
Going after him means trusting him, accepting our condition as creatures, recognizing that we are fragile. And that we need to entrust ourselves not to material goods and our abilities, but to a greater mystery, to the mystery of the Lord’s goodness.
The Beatitudes force us to ask ourselves – What is the meaning of our life?
Where is he going?
What is really important and what is less important?
By giving us the Beatitudes, the Lord tells us that we must learn to look beyond and allow ourselves to be questioned. The nine Beatitudes also describe the features of the man’s face free from deception and violence.
Of the man who opened himself to friendship with God, to the forgiveness of sins, who rejected the injustice of the world in order to choose God’s justice.
We are happy to listen to them because they are good news. It is the announcement of the love of God, in Christ for all men. A reality that in its fullness will be realized beyond time. But it is already in progress, indeed it belongs to those who have welcomed Christ.
It is a courageous, provocative message. It goes against the tide of simply human logic. Anticipate the scandal and the madness of the cross. It is a message that only in Christ has its justification and only from him receives a value. The Beatitudes start from Christ and lead to Him.
Thank you