Living the Beatitudes

The Beatitudes are for people who have their hearts set on the reign of God.
Theyare a way of life designed for those who want their lives to be a blessing.
Beatitude-people are kingdom-people. They have a kingdom on their minds that
won’t let them rest until the world is just and holy and single-hearted.
They call us forth from the comfortable ruts of daily living
and urge us on toward the reign of God.
They tell us that the kingdom is already in our midst
if we can bless the world with Beatitude-living.
The Beatitudes are values that come straight from the mind of Christ.”
Macrina Wiederkehr, Contemporary Writer

These attitudes, as recorded in the Gospel according to Matthew, were the values that inspired Jeanne Chézard de Matel, and which inspire us today. They provide us with the way to live, which underlies what we do. In her Treatise on the Beatitudes, Jeanne Chézard de Matel re-orders the beatitudes slightly from Matthew’s version to indicate her priorities, and she reflects on each of them, including the following excerpts.
“PEACE is God’s dwelling place. Let us strive to maintain this peace with others and to promote it, if they do not possess it.”

“Through GENTLENESS, we will possess Jesus…Who loves to be welcomed by gentle people.”

“We must surrender everything and be truly POOR to possess the reign of heaven within ourselves…the truly poor obey perfectly and unreservedly, since nothing holds them back.”

“Let us strive to possess PURITY OF HEART, which is the eye of our soul. God’s eyes are on the just because it pleases God to look at them. But there is another marvel; that, through those same eyes, the just will see God.”

“We know that God…loves mercy so much that He represents it as the highest of all His works. For by little acts of MERCY which we practice, we will receive acts that are eternal and great.”

“Oh, blessed is the one who sheds tears of SORROW and love at Jesus’ feet! That person is and will be consoled by the Divine Majesty Who looks upon them with delight.”

“Our all-loving Incarnate Word…will cause the manna of thousands of blessings to fall if we possess justice. Whoever HUNGERS AND THIRSTS FOR JUSTICE finds it difficult to endure the injustices of the world.”

“Happy will we be if human beings regard us as foolish for love of You. Let us struggle, and God will strengthen us by a loving glance. May the stones of PERSECUTION not take us by surprise.”

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