IV. The blessedness of mourning discussed

After the assertion of this most happy humility, the Lord has added, saying, Blessed are they which mourn, for they shall be comforted. This mourning, beloved, to which eternal comforting is promised, is not the same as the affliction of this world: nor do those laments which are poured out in the sorrowings of the whole human race make any one blessed. The reason for holy groanings, the cause of blessed tears, is very different. Religious grief mourns sin either that of others’ or one’s own: nor does it mourn for that which is wrought by God’s justice, but it laments over that which is committed by man’s iniquity, where he that does wrong is more to be deplored than he who suffers it, because the unjust man’s wrongdoing plunges him into punishment, but the just man’s endurance leads him on to glory.

V. The blessedness of the meek

Next the Lord says: blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the earth by inheritance. To the meek and gentle, to the humble and modest, and to those who are prepared to endure all injuries, the earth is promised for their possession. And this is not to be reckoned a small or cheap inheritance, as if it were distinct from our heavenly dwelling, since it is no other than these who are understood to enter the kingdom of heaven. The earth, then, which is promised to the meek, and is to be given to the gentle in possession, is the flesh of the saints, which in reward for their humility will be changed in a happy resurrection, and clothed with the glory of immortality, in nothing now to act contrary to the spirit, and to be in complete unity and agreement with the will of the soul. For then the outer man will be the peaceful and unblemished possession of the inner man: then the mind, engrossed in beholding God, will be hampered by no obstacles of human weakness nor will it any more have to be said The body which is corrupted, weighs upon the soul, and its earthly house presses down the sense which thinks many things: for the earth will not struggle against its tenant, and will not venture on any insubordination against the rule of its governor. For the meek shall possess it in perpetual peace, and nothing shall be taken from their rights, when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality: that their danger may turn into reward, and what was a burden become an honour.

VI. The blessedness of desiring righteousness

After this the Lord goes on to say: blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. It is nothing bodily, nothing earthly, that this hunger, this thirst seeks for: but it desires to be satiated with the good food of righteousness, and wants to be admitted to all the deepest mysteries, and be filled with the Lord Himself. Happy the mind that craves this food and is eager for such drink: which it certainly would not seek for if it had never tasted of its sweetness. But hearing the Prophet’s spirit saying to him: taste and see that the Lord is sweet; it has received some portion of sweetness from on high, and blazed out into love of the purest pleasure, so that spurning all things temporal, it is seized with the utmost eagerness for eating and drinking righteousness, and grasps the truth of that first commandment which says: You shall love the Lord your God out of all your heart, and out of all your mind, and out of all your strength: since to love God is nothing else but to love righteousness. In fine, as in that passage the care for one’s neighbour is joined to the love of God, so, too, here the virtue of mercy is linked to the desire for righteousness, and it is said:

VII. The blessedness of the merciful

Blessed are the merciful, for God shall have mercy on them. Recognize, Christian, the worth of your wisdom, and understand to what rewards you are called, and by what methods of discipline you must attain thereto. Mercy wishes you to be merciful, righteousness to be righteous, that the Creator may be seen in His creature, and the image of God may be reflected in the mirror of the human heart expressed by the lines of imitation. The faith of those who do good is free from anxiety: you shall have all your desires, and shall obtain without end what you love. And since through your almsgiving all things are pure to you, to that blessedness also you shall attain which is promised in consequence where the Lord says:

VIII. The blessedness of a pure heart

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Great is the happiness, beloved, of him for whom so great a reward is prepared. What, then, is it to have the heart pure, but to strive after those virtues which are mentioned above? And how great the blessedness of seeing God, what mind can conceive, what tongue declare? And yet this shall ensue when man’s nature is transformed, so that no longer in a mirror, nor in a riddle, but face to face it sees the very Godhead as He is, which no man could see; and through the unspeakable joy of eternal contemplation obtains that which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither has entered into the heart of man. Rightly is this blessedness promised to purity of heart. For the brightness of the true light will not be able to be seen by the unclean sight: and that which will be happiness to minds that are bright and clean, will be a punishment to those that are stained. Therefore, let the mists of earth’s vanities be shunned, and your inward eyes purged from all the filth of wickedness, that the sight may be free to feed on this great manifestation of God. For to the attainment of this we understand what follows to lead.

IX. The blessedness of peace-making

Blessed are the peace-makers, for they shall be called the sons of God. This blessedness, beloved, belongs not to any and every kind of agreement and harmony, but to that of which the Apostle speaks: have peace towards God; and of which the Prophet David speaks: Much peace have they that love Your law, and they have no cause of offenses. This peace even the closest ties of friendship and the most exact likeness of mind do not really gain, if they do not agree with God’s will. Similarity of bad desires, leagues in crimes, associations of vice, cannot merit this peace. The love of the world does not consort with the love of God, nor does he enter the alliance of the sons of God who will not separate himself from the children of this generation. Whereas they who are in mind always with God, giving diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, never dissent from the eternal law, uttering that prayer of faith, Your will be done as in heaven so on earth. These are the peacemakers, these are thoroughly of one mind, and fully harmonious, and are to be called sons of God and joint-heirs with Christ, because this shall be the record of the love of God and the love of our neighbour, that we shall suffer no calamities, be in fear of no offense, but all the strife of trial ended, rest in God’s most perfect peace, through our Lord, Who, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.