Jan. 4, 2007

Beatitudes:
Moving Beyond the Law

To be alive in Christ, we must obey His word (Cf. Mt 19:17). “If you love me,” Jesus tells us, “you will keep my commandments” (Jn 14:15). The commandments are not burdensome. Rather, they are precious gifts of truth, pointing the way to authentic freedom and love. Although usually stated in negative terms of “Thou shalt not,” they help us in positive ways to avoid what leads to spiritual death and to find the path to life. Nonetheless, to be perfect, we must go beyond merely obeying the law. We must enter into the adventure of holiness that is charted by the Beatitudes.

Fulfillment of the Law

No teaching of Jesus is better known than the Beatitudes that constitute the beginning of His famous “Sermon on the Mount” (Cf. Mt 5: 1-7:28). They are often called the “magna carta” of Gospel morality. In the Beatitudes, Jesus teaches what are the greatest blessings in life: “Blessed are the poor in spirit… Blessed are they who mourn… Blessed are the meek… Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness… Blessed are the merciful… Blessed are the clean of heart… Blessed are the peacemakers… Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness… Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you [falsely] because of me.”

The contrast in linguistic style between the Beatitudes and the Ten Commandments could not be more striking. The contrast, however, does not indicate contradiction but fulfillment. The great gift that God gave us through Moses, namely the Decalogue, does indeed stand in contrast with the far greater gift that God gives us in His only begotten Son, of whom the Beatitudes are a portrait. But the commandments of the moral life, revealed through Moses, were brought to completion through Jesus. In Him, the commandments are perfected.

While the Ten Commandments set the Chosen People of the Old Covenant apart from those who do not know what is just and right, the Beatitudes call for far more radical discipleship, even more at odds with the wisdom of the world. What lies behind each Beatitude, what constitutes the blessing above all these blessings is Jesus Himself, of whom Simeon said (Lk 2:34) “This child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted.” Nonetheless, He is the light of life for all nations, the desire of every human heart.

Moral life in Christ

In the Sermon on the Mount (Mt 5:17), Jesus says, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.”

Jesus links the Old and the New Testament. What was promised in the former comes to completion in Christ. “Christ is the end of the law” (Rm 10:4). Pope John Paul II writes in Veritatis Splendor (#15), “Jesus shows that the commandments must not be understood as a minimum limit not to be gone beyond, but rather as a path involving a moral and spiritual journey towards perfection, at the heart of which is love… Jesus Himself is the living ‘fulfillment’ of the Law inasmuch as He fulfills its authentic meaning by the total gift of Himself.”

‘Be Attitudes’

Who we are is even more important than what we do, although being and doing are both key components of human life. The primacy of being is reflected in the Beatitudes, which is why they are occasionally referred to as “Be Attitudes.” The moral life is more than just obedience to the law, although it includes that as well. It is the radical call to holiness and perfection in union with Christ.

Along this line, John Paul II writes (Idem, #16), “The Beatitudes are not specifically concerned with certain particular rules of behavior. Rather, they speak of basic attitudes and dispositions in life and therefore they do not coincide exactly with the commandments. On the other hand, there is no separation or opposition between the Beatitudes and the commandments: both refer to the good, to eternal life. The Sermon on the Mount begins with the proclamation of the Beatitudes, but also refers to the commandments (Cf. Mt 5:20-48). At the same time, the Sermon on the Mount demonstrates the openness of the commandments and their orientation toward the horizon of the perfection proper to the Beatitudes.”

Attitudes of being are shaped through relationships, none having a greater impact on us than our relationship with Christ. As our desire to follow Him grows, and as we enter into deeper friendship with Him, we seek to live according to the Beatitudes. No teaching of Jesus is more instructive for the moral life.

Over the next several issues of The Catholic Sun, therefore, I plan to explore these wondrous blessings, these attitudes of being, these invitations to communion of life with Christ, the Beatitudes. In this way, I hope to complement the teachings on the Ten Commandments that I just completed in the previous edition. I pray that this small effort will help us in our common effort to put on the mind and heart of Christ.

Copyright 2007 The Catholic Sun.