During my days as a young boy who regularly attended church and Sunday school, one of the biblical passages most frequently cited by pastors and catechists was the beatitudes. Perhaps, that’s why it has remained my most inspiring. And so, as a philosophic — rather than scriptural — Christian, I have regarded the beatitudes as Christ’s encapsulation of what it means to be a Christian.
When subsequently, I took a university course in religion and philosophy, I couldn’t help noticing that one of the textbooks, “The Psychology of Christian Personality,” was essentially an elaboration on the beatitudes. And that reinforced my adolescent judgment.
It has, therefore, been a matter of curiosity that the beatitudes are now rarely ever mentioned in sermons and other religious exhortations in churches, broadcasts and web posts. When, therefore, I read excerpts of Pope Francis’s just released third encyclical on what it means to be holy, I couldn’t help thinking that he is just as dismayed by the current relegation of the beatitudes. As transcribed from Latin, the Pope’s words very much echo the Sermon on the Mount, where Christ enunciated the beatitudes.
As reported by Matthew (Ch. 5), they are succinct enough to be reproduced here. I’ve excerpted from the King James version of the Bible, which I prefer because of its poetic cadence. Here are the eight beatitudes and the two immediate supportive verses:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
“Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
“Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
“Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
“Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
“Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
“Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
“Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.”
Jesus elaborated on these themes, in the rest of the sermon, to which Matthew devoted the next two chapters. In essence, He said that the Christian is one who is of steadfast character and kindly disposition.
In the encyclical released on Monday, Pope Francis gave these principles a 21-century illustration. The title, “Rejoice and be Glad” (as translated from Latin), is lifted directly from the second supportive verse after the beatitudes. Among other things, Pope Francis said there is holiness in:
Being a leader who refrains from corruption.
Advocating for the born just as for the unborn child.
Sacrificing for the welfare of one’s children.
Helping refugees and poor immigrants.
And, in general, helping people who are in need.
“Our defence of the innocent unborn, for example, needs to be clear, firm and passionate, for at stake is the dignity of a human life,” the Pope writes. “Equally sacred, however, are the lives of the poor, those already born, the destitute, the abandoned and the underprivileged, the vulnerable infirm and elderly exposed to covert euthanasia, the victims of human trafficking, new forms of slavery, and every form of rejection.”
The Pope also inveighed against involvement in the coarse polemics of social media, and in fact, its obsessive use. Or, for that matter, any form of corrosive communication. Yet to be holy, he said, is not to extract oneself from society in righteousness, but to engage with the society as an agent of good and a manifestation of holiness.
He ended the encyclical by excerpting Jesus’s admonition to his disciplines that goodness to the less privileged is goodness to God himself. In the passage in Matthew(25: 35), Jesus employed his characteristic method of making an important point, which was to give it substance with an intriguing narrative or parable. In this case, he posited a scenario in which God praised the righteous for what they don’t recall doing:
“I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.”
When in puzzlement they said they never did such things to Him, He responded, “Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me.”
In thus seeking to redirect Christianity toward the ideals of the beatitude, Pope Francis seems to be taking a swipe at two contemporary thrusts of Christianity. One is the doctrinal obsession with stopping practices such as abortion and premarital sex and distancing from “worldly” things. The other — you guessed it — is the prosperity gospel, the theology that faith — more accurately, religiosity — is the means for worldly comforts.
The Rev. Mark Morozowich, dean of the school of theology and religious studies at Catholic University of America, is among Catholics and theologians who applaud the Pope’s effort. “Oftentimes, when someone reads these papal encyclicals, they don’t understand how they apply to their lives,” the Washington Post quotes him as saying. “This was written very much to a common parishioner in the parish.”
And not just to Catholics, but all Christians. If it makes a difference in Nigeria, it will become a much better country.
Raiding Trump
Now an admittedly jarring jump to American politics. On the same day that Pope Francis issued his third encyclical, the FBI raided the home and office of President Donald Trump’s personal attorney Michael Cohen. They are investigating whether he illegally used campaign money to pay off women Trump had affairs with to buy their silence and whether there was criminal attempt to muzzle them. Answers to the questions may come from materials and documents the agents seized.
To be sure, the FBI is under the Department of Justice, which is directly under the president’s control. Trump is fuming, of course, but to no avail. How about that for a true democracy?
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