Franciscan priest Father Richard Rohr, wrote the following in his book Falling Upwards: A Spirituality Through the Two Halves of Life: “I have always wondered why people never want to put a stone monument of the Eight Beatitudes on the courthouse lawn,” like they do for the Ten Commandments. Perhaps that is because the Beatitudes are not as straight forward as the Ten Commandments. They are not as easy to understand. The Beatitudes are supposed to be blessings, but how can it be a blessing to grieve or to be poor or to weep or to be hated? Then I think about how when we are thrown out our comfort zone or when we are challenged or pushed or stretched, those are often the times of the greatest growth and enrichment in our lives. Perhaps the beatitudes challenge those things that we assume to be the foundation of our culture and our values. Perhaps they challenge our safety and our security. Perhaps we don’t quite know what to make of the beatitudes, even though we have heard them again and again and again. Perhaps the wise elders that we have in society are the ones who exemplify the beatitudes to us. They are not the rich reality stars or sport stars that we see on TV who bring attention and accolades to themselves, who think that they speak for others and who think they have it all figured out. The beatitudes describe the humble, unassuming individuals who quietly go about living the values of the faith in their lives. They are not perfect. They go through their own sufferings and troubles. But blessed are they.
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