WHAT ARE THE BEATITUDES?

Also called the "Sermon on the Mount", Jesus gave a sermon to his 12 apostles and hundreds of his followers on a low, rocky hillside near Capernaum, the home base of Jesus during his ministry, not far from the Sea of Galilee. The nine beatitudes describe how you can be blessed by God, and they can be understood as the inner qualities that God wants to see in ALL of us, ie, the kinds of people He wants us to be, especially if we want to enter Heaven. Read below the Beatitudes of Jesus and my interpretation of their meanings.

Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.
The "poor in spirit" are those who painfully understand they are not spiritually close to God,
and that they are sinners and not good people.
They realize that they must free themselves from
their spiritual poverty if they are to be among the fortunate who enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

Blessed are they who mourn for they shall be comforted.
They who “mourn" are those who endure
and feel a disgust for themselves and
others who have sinned and committed
evil acts. They mourn that, instead of
sinning, they could have performed
positive, God-loving actions that would
have helped themselves and others to
earn even more treasure in heaven.

Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit
the earth.
The “meek" are those who bravely and fiercely fight against evil in others and within themselves. When faced with evil, they calmly and quietly work to resist the evil while at the same time struggling to overcome it and enhance the power and love of God.

Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy.
The “merciful” are those who show forgiveness to those who cause them pain, sorrow, loss of any kind, etc. God will pardon our sins only if we pardon those who’ve sinned against us.

Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God.

The “peacemakers" are those who always attempt to bring “good” and “peace” wherever they see evil. They seek to achieve concordance where there are disagreements or arguments, peace for war, love for hate. Most of all, they love others more than

themselves and this shows in their actions.

Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.
The “pure in heart" are those who seek to be as
spiritually perfect as possible. They love to conquer evil,
avoid lust and materialism, revile those seeking
riches, and all the other earthly ambitions of so many
others. All they want is to be as close to God as possible.

Blessed are they that hunger and thirst for justice for they shall be filled.
The “justice" represented in this quote refers to those who live according to the
will of God, not men, because our supreme God represents absolute, unequivocal perfection. A “just” person strives to free themselves from their "spiritual poverty"
so they can be among the chosen few who enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

Blessed are those who are persecuted because they

are my followers, for a great reward awaits you in heaven.
When evil, impure and unfaithful people falsely persecute and

say and do much evil against you because you follow Jesus,

rejoice and be happy! Their persecution and evil done to you vividly demonstrates your faithfulness to the one God and

the purity of your purpose.

Jesus

Sermon on

the Mount

Blessed are they who have been persecuted for justice’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they who accept with gladness the pain, suffering, torture, loss or freedom or even of life, from the unjust who are all around us.

If you are suffering all this terrible agony because you are trying to bring those who are inflicting the pain to the true and higher justice that