Blessedness was a topic that even the ancient Greek philosophers used to debate about. To seek blessedness, is to seek our highest human good—to seek the best way to live—to become our best selves. Many in our modern culture say there is no such thing, that we can’t make such judgments: “my way is just as good as your way.” But, the ancient greeks would say that is foolish, because it’s quite evident to anyone paying attention that some decisions help us to pursue human flourishment and some do not. Sitting around doing drugs and playing video games 18 hours a day is not human flourishment. Letting your intellectual gifts go to waste, becoming addicted to food or drink or pursuing wealth at the expense of other people, using your body in ways that bring you shame—these things are far from human flourishing; certain human choices are filthy, obscene, perverted and corrupt, morally unbefitting.
And so the the philosophers were really serious about pursing wisdom they loved wisdom, that’s what philosophy means, philo-sophia, the love of wisdom. Because it is wisdom enables you to pursue blessedness—our highest good.
The ancient Greek Philosopher Aristotle loved to make distinctions, and Aristotle differentiated between two different types of blessedness. The first type of blessedness was the Greek word eudaimonia: an earthly well-being that comes through living a virtuous life, a life where the passions are brought under control, where happiness is the fruit of putting your life in order. But there is something missing here. Eudaimonia seems like it is obtained through human effort. Well, what about grace, what about God? What about the blessedness that belongs to God?
Well, Aristotle used another word for that— “makarios”—the blessedness of the God, the blessedness of the gods enjoying divine life up on Mt. Olympus. Because of their divinity, the gods don’t experience hunger, suffering, or depression, they enjoy a fullness of existence because of their divinity…a blessedness beyond human experience.
But at the very end of Aristotle’s writings on the virtuous life—his Nicomachean Ethics, he also hints at the possibility of humans seeking “makarios”, the blessedness of the gods.
Well guess what word St. Matthew uses in his original Greek Gospel? Makarios, when Jesus promises beatitude—blessedness to his followers, it’s not simply that first kind of blessedness—contentment from having your life in order. The Greek of Matthew’s Gospel has that second type-- “markarios”—on the lips of our Lord. The blessedness of heaven—the blessedness of God can be yours, Jesus promises, if you are poor in spirit, pure of heart, if you hunger and thirst for righteousness, if you suffer for his name.
Eudaimonia and Makarios become linked in the Christian life. We do grow in happiness, contentment, a joy, when our life becomes ordered in pursuing the highest pursuits. But the highest pursuits are not pleasure, wealth, and power, or even perfect athleticism, oratorical skill, or strategic ability. The highest pursuit is the pursuit of God—to seek first the kingdom of God, to seek first the life that God wants for each of us.
And unlike Aristotle and Plato and every human philosopher, Jesus isn’t a mere preacher of the blessed life. He doesn’t just tell us about blessedness, he says follow me, imitate me, do as I do, and you will be blessed.
The greatest homily Jesus ever preached was not the Sermon on the Mount overlooking the Sea of Galilee. His greatest Sermon was his whole sinless life in obedience to the Father, which culminated in his mounting the pulpit of the Cross.
So, let's consider all the ways Our Lord Himself fulfills each of the beatitudes and teaches us to follow Him in practicing the beatitudes in each of our lives.
First, Jesus was poor in spirit, so poor he didn’t even have a place to lay his head (Lk 9:58). He treasured God the Father and his kingdom as his greatest gift. We become blessed when we value and pursue the things of heaven over the things of earth.
Secondly, Jesus mourned. He wept over Jerusalem for its near wholesale failure of recognizing that He is the Way which leads to true peace. He likewise wept over the death of Lazarus, when the powers of death overcame his dear friend. We become blessed when we repent, when we mourn those times when we turned away from the path of Christ and mourn when sin and death have sway in us and others.
Thirdly, Jesus was meek. To be meek is to have strength and power, but keep it appropriately bridled. He set his face with determination toward Jerusalem, he accepted the chalice of God’s will, knowing the suffering it would entail, he carried the cross through the streets of Jerusalem, laying down his life willingly for others. As sovereign of heaven, he could have called down the might of legions of angels to slay his enemies, but rather he freely lays down his life. We become blessed when we exert our strength, our energy, our time, talent, and treasure for the sake of the Kingdom--to use our strength not to oppress, but to lift up.
Fourthly, Jesus hungered and thirsted for righteousness, saying that his very hunger, his very “food [was] to do the will” of his heavenly Father, which was to make us righteous. We become blessed when we labor to help others achieve the righteousness for which they were made.
Fifthly, Jesus was merciful. He is the very face of mercy: extending mercy to the outcast, the adulterous, the untouchable leper, the grieving parent, the paralyzed friend. We become blessed when we extend mercy—engaging in the spiritual and corporal works of mercy.
Next, Jesus was pure in heart. Sin had no place in his mind our heart. We are blessed when we make no place for evil, perversion, corruption, greed, wrath, lust, pride, envy or sloth, to dwell in our minds and hearts
Next, Jesus was a peacemaker. He established the definitive peace treaty between God and man and signed it in his own blood. We become blessed when we accept the mission to announce God’s peace to the world.
Lastly, Jesus was persecuted for the sake of righteousness. From the scribes and Pharisees, to the scoffing passersby, to the false witnesses at his trial, to the Roman soldiers, to Herod, to Pilate, to the thief on his left, so many reviled him, persecuted him and uttered all kinds of evil against him falsely. We become blessed when we, like him, speak the truth in charity and stand up for what is right even when that means suffering for it.
How are you being called by God to pursue blessedness? What does it mean for you to allow the blessedness of Christ to grow in you and animate you, to become the driving force in your life, in your family’s life? I encourage everyone here to spend time with the Beatitudes this week. Mathew’s Gospel, chapter 5. Go Line by line, word for word. What does it mean in the concrete details of your life, to be poor in spirit, pure of heart, merciful. How might God be calling you to willingly embrace persecution for the sake of righteousness?
Ask the Holy Spirit to help you understand this teaching, and learn from Jesus’ example, so that you may follow him more closely and inherit the promise of blessedness God wants for you, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
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