Hi everyone. Welcome back to daily gospel exegesis. Today, we have a really important passage to look at and there's a lot to say about this one so we'll get straight into it. We're looking today at Matthew chapter 5, verses 1 to 12, seeing the crowds, Jesus went up the hill, there, he sat down and was joined by his disciples. Then he began to speak. This is what he taught them. How happy are the poor in spirit? Theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.
Happy the gentle they shall have the Earth for their heritage. Happy are those who mourn? They shall be comforted. Happy. Those who hunger and thirst for what is right? They shall be satisfied. Happy the merciful they shall have mercy shown to them. Happy the pure in heart. They shall see God. Happy the peacemakers they shall be called sons of God. Happy? Those who are persecuted in the cause of right. Theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Happy, are you when people abuse you, and persecute you and speak all kinds of calumny against you on my account rejoice, and be glad for your reward will be great in heaven. This Is How They persecuted the prophets before you. So really, really important passage one. That's probably familiar to many of you and there's lots of different angles that we can approach this from and there's lots of really interesting things about this.
Passage. So firstly, what's the context we're in Matthew Chapter 5 and in chapters 1 to 4, he's already begun his ministry in Galilee. He's been teaching in various synagogues, particularly in chapter 4 and Performing. Lots of local healings by this time, his gathered followers from All over Israel. The section we have here at the start of chapter 5, begins The Sermon on the Mount, which goes
for three chapters. We're looking today at What's called the introduction to The Sermon, on the Mount. The Sermon on the Mount is one of five discourses in the gospel of Matthew. This is the first one. And we need to make a few comments about The Sermon on the Mount and what it's all about. If you read chapters 5 to 7 and I do recommend reading it in one block. If you can, the basic point of The Sermon on the Mount is, he's telling his followers. What it means to live under
God's reign. He's going to teach his disciples what it means to have God as their father. What it means to have Jesus as their Lord and Master. He's going to teach them what it means to love one another, and he's going to teach them how to love others, even their enemies. So he's telling his disciples what their standard of life should be his teaching them and it's a very high standard as we know he says be perfect. Just as your heavenly father is perfect. That's later in chapter 5.
But we shouldn't just say The Sermon on the Mount is just a discourse on how to live or about ethics or something. Jesus also, says, some things here that carry profound claims about his own identity and authority. And we'll look at these in the coming days as we move through chapters five to seven. There's a lot we could say about
the structure of the sermon. Some have suggested that it's deliberately structured on the three pillars of Judaism, which are the Torah worship and Good Deeds. They're To be the three Essentials of the faith. So some have said, maybe it's deliberately been done so that chapter 5 is all about the Torah. Chapter 6 is all about worship and chapter 7 is all about Good Deeds. That's one possibility. Certainly the Our father is Central, that's right in the middle of The Sermon on the Mount.
And this is a quote from one Bible scholar. Thus The Sermon on the Mount takes its readers along a way that leads them from God's radical demands into the interior of Faith where they experience the father's nearness in prayer, then it leads them back into the Praxis of renouncing possessions and of love. And with the Sermon on the Mount. It's possible that this didn't all happen on the one occasion.
Maybe Jesus said these things at different times in his ministry, and Matthew has collected them and put them all at the same point because they're about a similar thing. And in that sense, maybe Matthew is deliberately crafting a kingdom, Manifesto of all the great things Jesus says about the Kingdom, so that Matthews readers will have it all in one place that's possible. Although we shouldn't rule out that Jesus may have said all of this. In one go and certainly that's quite possible.
So verse 1, we're starting at today, it says, seeing the crowds so by now, we know that there's these huge crowds following Jesus, he went up the hill or more literally Mountain. That's what it says there. So why would he go up a mountain? Probably because he plans to teach the crowds and we know that the mountains in Galilee a really good for amplifying sound, you can stand at the top and people all the way down the bottom can hear your teaching
with any. Don't have to yell, you can go there today and try it with a tour group and it's Really cool. One person gets up there and says something quietly but everyone down the bottom of the mountain can hear it, but there might be another reason why Jesus went up the mountain and why Matthew highlights, the fact that Jesus went up the mountain, perhaps it's to set up a parallel with Moses.
Remember, Moses goes up the mountain to present the teachings or in fact to receive the teachings of the old Covenant. And now Jesus goes up the mountain here to announce the teachings of the New Covenant. And in particular, the Fulfillment of the Mosaic law. So Jesus is being presented as a new Moses.
That's certainly a possibility but there is a key difference though between The Sermon on the Mount and Moses going up the mountain which is that Jesus Takes people with him up the mountain here, whereas Moses went up by himself. But it is true that all throughout the Old Testament, the phrase Moses went up. The mountain is very common to when the Jews are reflecting on when Moses received the Ten Commandments. And so the same phrase is used
here. Jesus went up the mountain now, we're not sure exactly which mountain it was. But there is a traditional site of where Jesus did this sermon, it's called The Church of the Beatitudes. That's where it's believed to have occurred and you can go there today. So Jesus goes up the mountain there, he sat down and was joined by his disciples, so Jesus sits down and that's the posture of a rabbi teaching. Now there is a bit of a question here, about what's the audience
of Jesus? His disciples are, who is mentioned here, but we also know that there's crowds following him and listening to him EC intending this message for the crowd or for his disciples. Certainly the content of what he says here would only really make sense to disciples. So perhaps the best solution is to say that the Sermon on the Mount is directed at the crowd, but most of the crowd, are his disciples already. They're one in the same or at least they want to be his disciples.
So there isn't really a conflict there. Verse two, then he began to speak, this is what he taught them or more literally and he opened his mouth and taught them. So we're going to hear quite a solemn. Hear from Jesus and Jesus is going to preach in our passage today. Verse 12. 12, what has come to be known as the eight Beatitudes and the word Beatitudes needs a bit of unpacking.
Essentially it means blessings. The word blessed which is or our lectionary translation, renders it as happy the Greek word there is makarios Jesus says that you are makarios. If this happens to you you are makarios. If this happens to you basically, happy is an okay translation but the basic meaning is favored. It doesn't refer to a happy positive emotional state.
It's not an emotional thing, makarios means being in a fortunate situation and it's the same basic idea when the angel Gabriel appears to, Mary and says, highly favored, you are all blessed you are. It's the same sort of basic Jewish idea of having favor in God's sight. Now, what about the word Beatitudes? You've probably heard that word, lots of times before and assume that it was just a label that was attached to this particular
sermon. Actually, it was a key part of Jewish tradition, even before Jesus. And in fact, other parts of the ancient world had this word Beatitudes as well. A beatitude was a way of speaking. It was almost like a greeting and it particularly involved, the form.
Blessed is the one who does X. If you ever had a teacher There was in that format was called a beatitude we find that several times in the Psalms and then the wisdom literature, if you've ever heard the Psalms proclaimed that say something like blessed is the one who does God's Commandments or blessed? Is the one who walks in the ways of the Lord. That is a beatitude because it's in the form of blessed is the
one. So to in the Jewish World, a beatitude either, commended those who take a certain path in life or it promises future consolations to those in a fictions. Now we see both elements in what Jesus says here. Jesus is going to teach his disciples about certain groups, of people who are fortunate. And he's also going to tell us why they're fortunate. So these are Jesus Beatitudes. Basically, the ones that he
unpacks for his disciples. Most Old Testament, texts referred to be attitudes as imparting blessings in the present life. But there are some later ones that focus on eschatological blessings where they promised. Relation to the faithful who are afflicted. When God ultimately vindicates. The just so we do have these promises about blessed is the one who perseveres blessed is the one who remains on Judgment Day. Some key texts here, which are well worth looking at.
Because these are probably in the background of Jesus thinking here, tobert 13:14 and Jan, Daniel 12:12. Both have this idea of people receiving blessings at the end of time, if they persevere in doing. God's will. What we're about to see is one of the hardest parts of the Gospel of Matthew to interpret. There's so much that could be said about it. You've probably heard lots of sermons preached about it. Usually, you'll probably hear sermons preached about spiritual
senses of this text. We want to discern the literal sense of the text, and that's what our podcast is all about helping. You understand what the author and what Jesus intended on the most fundamental level? It's not an easy text to do that for. So I'm going to do my best but there might be some things that I don't get. Quite right. On the most basic level in general here.
For each of the eight Beatitudes, Jesus is teaching his disciples of the ones who are truly blessed are not those who the world sees, as blessed or even what conventional wisdom, or what the Pharisees taught about. Who is blessed, he's saying that all of those Notions that incorrect. He's turning the world standards for happiness and blessedness upside down.
So on a fundamental level what Jesus is teaching here is that those who are Ian is disadvantaged by the world are actually in a very favorable position. When his followers live by God's standards, they will be in a truly fortunate state of life, no matter what their circumstances may be. Because they bring a glimmer of the joy and hope of the Heavenly Kingdom into the afflictions of the present world. So that's the overall, big picture of what we're going to see here in the Beatitudes,
that's the general meaning. However there's also some specific promises to each of the types of people. We can't ignore the promises that Jesus gives. Perhaps the best way to interpret, what we're about to see here is that all of the promises in the coming verses refer to basically the same thing, which is entering the kingdom of heaven and that is certainly a key theme in the gospel of Matthew. So all of eight Beatitudes, the reward is the same entering the kingdom of heaven.
Once we've established that though, there's still a further question about the Beatitudes is Jesus, promising them things in the future, or is he telling them things that they already have? In virtue of already being in the Kingdom of Heaven? Is it a present tense thing or is he telling them? What will they will receive on Judgement Day? When the Kingdom of Heaven comes in its fullness. So there's two options if he's
referring to present things. That his disciples are already experiencing because they're already in the kingdom of God, then. Jesus is saying here that they are already happy or blessed. So when he says blessed are you he's just saying it. Like it is your blessed already because you're already in the kingdom of God but if he's referring to Future things, they're going to inherit on Judgement Day. When the kingdom of God comes in
its fullness. Then Jesus is telling his disciples that they should consider themselves happy or blessed because of what they're going to receive one day. He's telling them that ultimately They will receive these amazing things and therefore they should consider them. Blessed that I think is the best interpretation that he's talking about future promises mostly because Jesus is mostly using the word shall in these coming versus so that implies a future fulfillment.
That's not to say they can't experience some of these promises in the present, but it's mostly Jesus telling them what awaits them in the future in the future Kingdom of Heaven. At the End of Time. Verse 3, he His first one. How happy are the poor in spirit? What does it mean to be poor in spirit? Well, it probably means those who recognize that they are powerless in and of themselves and those who realize that God is the only one who can help them.
So they find their security in the Lord rather than in material wealth. Maybe that's meant to contrast with the Pharisees who are quite self-sufficient, but that's the basic idea. It's those who are who recognize their need for the Lord. Now, Luke's version of this passage of this beatitude is he just says, blessed are the poor now. That has quite a different meaning from blessed, are the poor in spirit.
So many, many essays have been written by biblical Scholars about, which is the right version. Blessed are the poor and blessed, the poor in spirit because they do have quite different meanings.
It's not Just a simple variation in language, there's a question about which was the original, which author wrote first and which, which of the author's borrowed and modified, it it's not easy to solve may be part of the solution here, is that in the Old Testament, the word poor didn't just refer to those who are in economic hardship, but it had also come to refer to those who are part of the oppressed people of God in general. So, we see that in some 30 Seven in Isaiah, chapter 10 and in
other places in Isaiah as well. That would make sense. I think, because Matthew is assuming his readers, know, the Old Testament, quite well. So I think that's the best way of harmonizing. The two is that, when Luke says, blessed are the poor, he doesn't just mean economically poor. He has a broader notion of poor, which basically corresponds to poor in spirit. Now, of course it could be that Luke's version which is sometimes called the sermon on
the plain. Maybe this is an entirely different speech and that is quite possible because Jesus would have given similar teachings on different occasions and in that case we don't have a problem. So blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Of course, the Kingdom of Heaven is a key theme all through the gospel of Matthew.
And basically, it means it's where God's will on Heaven is carried out on Earth. The Kingdom of Heaven, According To Jesus begins during his own Ministry. It continues afterwards through the work of the Holy Spirit, and it will one day be consummated when God sets up, his final Kingdom on Earth. So Jesus here, teaches that, the poor in spirit will be part of this Kingdom of Heaven. That's one group who gets to be in the Kingdom.
Now, we're about to see what we have is verse for most translations of the Bible have verse 4 and 5 swapped around compared to what we see in the lectionary. I'm not sure. Sure why the lectionary has put blessed, are the meek before? Happy are those who mourn? Usually it's the other way around. It could just be a typo in the lectionary so if you studying the Bible, most Bibles will have happy are those who mourn next but our lectionary has happy the gentle so we'll look at happy.
The gentle first. And another word for gentle is Meek. Lots of discussion about meekness. As I'm sure you've heard those different explanations of meekness. I think the best way to understand meekness is that it's those who understand their place before God, and who do not overstep their boundaries. It probably does have some sort of relationship to anger and aggression.
The the meek of those who patiently, wait on the Lord, amid their afflictions, and they refrain from responding in anger, or with Force against those who wronged them. I do think that makes sense in context of other things. Matthew says, in The Sermon, on the Mount here. He does talk about what to do when you're Afflicted. That's kind of what the whole thing is about. So I think a good explanation here of meekness is those who patiently, wait. On the Lord rather than
retaliating. So, in other words, they rely on God, not their own strength to set things, right? That is a Meek person. Meekness is in the Bible, the meekest person according to the Bible in the Old Testament is Moses. It actually says, Moses was the meekest person on Earth. That's in number 12, numbers 12 verse 3, and then Jesus himself. Of course, says that he is Meek
in 11:29. This same basic teaching, Jesus is going to amplify shortly in The Sermon on the Mount when he says turn the other cheek, that's basically what it means to be meek is to not retaliate, but to submit ourselves to On Happy the gentle or the meek for they shall have the Earth for their Heritage or more literally, they shall inherit the earth. Now, this is a quote from Psalm 37:11. In fact, it says pretty much this. In Psalm 37, the meek shall
inherit the earth. Now in context of the psalm, the Earth there is about the promised land. It's a promise that those who are virtuous in the Old Testament and to wait on God, if they're patient, They will receive the promised. And Jesus here. Modifies that a bit to refer to the Future coming of the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. So their hopes about the promised land Jesus says, that's going to be fulfilled in a greater way in the, coming Kingdom of Heaven.
So, Jesus says that those who are Meek and do not aggressively seek an honorable position, they will inherit the Kingdom. That will be quite a radical teaching since the conventional wisdom of the time. If you think about it, was that those with the biggest and most powerful Army would be those who inherit the earth, that was how the Roman World worked. So, Jesus turns that on his head verse 5, happy those who mourn. Now, that seems like an oxymoron.
Happy those, who mourn morning. He refers particularly to the Jewish conception of morning. Any particular it's thinking of those who grieve over wickedness, like Daniel and Ezra in the Old Testament. They were said to mourn and grieve over wickedness. Jesus says, happy those who mourn they shall be comforted. So in context here, Jesus basically saying that those who suffer and mourn, as a result of wickedness will one day be comforted by God.
It doesn't mean that everyone who is sad will get to heaven. Often you'll see this quoted at funerals. Happy those who mourn. They will be. Added. Perhaps there is an application there on the spiritual level of the text, but on the literal level. It's talking about those who grieve over wickedness. So here Jesus is encouraging his disciples to mourn about wickedness.
He's telling them that it's a good thing to do that and when they do that, they should have hope that God will vindicate them because they will be comforted verse 6. Happy those who hunger and thirst for what is right, or a better translation there is for righteousness. Now, is in the Jewish mind, meant following God's Commandments. That's what righteousness was to be a righteous man was to follow God's commandments.
So here Jesus is talking about those who hunger and thirst which means to seek something with your whole heart. So, just hunger and thirst for righteousness. It means someone who is totally devoted to doing God's will. Jesus says these people are happy and he says, they shall be satisfied. So, those who long to see God's will followed on Earth, will see it happen in the final kingdom of heaven and this should be a question for all of us.
Do we long to follow God's Will and see it done on Earth and interesting here. Jesus uses satisfied and that sort of completes the Metaphor. He started about hunger and thirst, they hunger and thirst, but they will be satisfied. In the final Kingdom of Heaven verse 7, happy the merciful they shall have mercy shown to them. Mercy is essentially showing kindness to those in need and that, teaching comes up a few
times in the gospels. Remember Jesus often says things like the measure you use will be the measure which is used for you. All through the New Testament, there's this idea that God will show mercy and forgiveness to us only to the extent that we show mercy and forgiveness to others. Same basic teaching here, happy the merciful they shall have mercy shown to them. Perhaps Jesus here is contrasting with the Pharisees because the Pharisees in the
other Jewish leaders. Probably they weren't particularly merciful and the implication would be that God will not show Mercy to them. Verse 8, happy are the pure in heart. Now, when we hear the word heart, we might think of emotions. But in the Bible heart was the seat of reason and will, as well as the emotions it was considered to be the deepest part of man. And we might almost equivocate it to brain today or mind. So this teaching is not about
having nice emotions. Happy the pure in heart doesn't mean being a nice person. Jesus teaching here is Is about those who have a pure undivided dedication to following God. Their whole reason will and emotions dedicated to God with the out Mixed motives, this is an important reminder for Jesus disciples that truly entering God's promises requires, not only external Purity, which is what the temple rules said.
But Jesus reminds them that there's also a requirement to have an internal disposition of a pure heart and that is taught in Psalm 23. Versus 325 happy. The pure in heart for they shall see God. What does it mean to see God? This is almost certainly a reference to this state of being, which Catholic theology
calls the beatific vision. Those who have purify themselves from all sin according to Catholic teaching will enter the glory of heaven and they will behold God as he is revelation, 22 verse 4 and it says here, they shall see God. And I think that's what it means. Is that one day they'll get to behold God. And that's something we have to look forward to if we remain pure in heart, if we remain undivided dedication to God.
Verse 9, happy the peacemakers. So people who encourage peace rather than conflict, that's who Jesus is thinking of keep in mind that for the Jews piece, didn't just mean the absence of hostility for the Jews piece. Was almost a way of life that you wanted to strive forward Shalom. It referred to well-being, and rightly ordered personal relationships and society. When the Jews dwelled in peace in society, it was considered to be the ultimate shell on.
So Jesus here. Is probably telling his disciples to make peace in their life, as far as they can, in their own circles. It's probably not a political kind of piece that he's thinking of here, and we're all called to do that. It's hard, isn't it to make peace with everyone in our lives, but that's the clear teaching of Jesus. Here, happy or blessed are those who make a peace, they shall be called sons of God.
Now, that would be groundbreaking, we can talk more about sons of God as we go through The Sermon on the Mount. But it implies deep intimacy with the father and that was a very radical concept for the Jews. They did not consider themselves to literally be God's Sons but Jesus, he says that if you follow his Commandments then in a sense he can become his son and it's an adopted son ship where God chooses to bring people into his family and to partake of his kingdom out of God's Own.
Love he chooses to adopt sons and daughters and that's an incredible thing. That's well worth Reflecting on. So here Jesus says the peacemakers will get to be sons of God but as we go through The Sermon on the Mount will see that other people can also be added to the category of sons of God verse 10, happy those who are persecuted in the cause of, right? Or literally, for righteousness
sake. So Jesus here is talking about people who are persecuted for following God's will Jesus knows that many of his followers are going to be heavily Secured by the Jewish authorities in the coming years. And of course, we see that in the book of Acts, he knows that that's coming for them. So that's why he tells them blessed, are you when you were persecuted for righteousness sake, now, that might seem counterintuitive, why would that make you happy or blessed to be persecuted?
Well, well, Jesus says, theirs is the kingdom of heaven, and probably that means those who persecute them won't get into the kingdom. Jesus nail develops. This last beatitude a bit more in verse 11. He says, happy are you when people abuse you and persecute you and speak all kinds of calumny against you on my account. This is pretty similar to the previous verse except now he directs it directly at his Apostles. Notice he's using the word you now, rather than that. Happy are you.
So maybe, at this point has turned to his closest followers who were nearby as he says these words, perhaps Jesus tells his followers here that when they're persecuted for following him and he knows that they're going to be they should be encouraged rather than disappointed. And he tells them a great reward
is waiting for them. When they're persecuted for his sake, notice how extravagant and radical this claim is Jesus, explicitly Ashok Associates being persecuted for righteousness sake, with being persecuted, for my sake. So, Jesus, he says that obedience to God's law. And righteousness now means obedience to Christ himself other. Rabbis at that time, would never say anything like that. They would encourage persecution for the sake of God or the Torah Jesus.
He says they're going to be persecuted because of him. Jesus is claiming an authority that no Prophet or Rabbi in Israel would ever claim to possess and it's actually a Blasphemous claim. If he's not really the son of God, he's saying that you're blessed to be persecuted for my
sake. And this underscores how the Beatitudes that we've been looking at and not merely ethical principles, they were about Jesus, they statements about the unique authority of Jesus and what it means for Christians to orient their lives around him. So living the Beatitudes in a sense is actually imitating. Christ's life. Jesus was persecuted. His humble all the things that are said here. Do apply to Jesus as our model and we get to share in his
sufferings and persecution. Verse 12, the final verse rejoice and be glad for your reward will be great in heaven. So this is attached to the previous one. About those who are persecuted for his sake, notice the future tense here, your reward will be great in heaven. Jesus tells his followers that when persecution comes on his account and they should Rejoice since they have a reward in heaven. Now this verse might imply possibly because he says your reward will be great in heaven.
Perhaps that implies that some people are going to have more rewards than others in heaven. That's a legitimate interpretation and Catholic teaching although it's not explicit there. It does tend to lend tend to lean in that direction that there are different Levels of reward. That's not the only interpretation of this passage though. Because you could just say your reward in heaven will be getting into heaven. That is the reward that not
everyone gets Jesus continues. This Is How They persecuted the prophets before you, if, you know, your Bible all throughout Jewish history. Profits appeared in Israel who are doing God's will? However, their message was usually rejected by the Jewish leadership and they were persecuted and sometimes killed as a result.
Jesus, now tells his followers that they're going to face a similar situation, they're going to follow God's Will and they're going to try to Proclaim his truth and particularly they're going to Proclaim that Jesus is the messiah. Yeah, but the Jewish leadership is going to reject them and persecute them in a similar way, to the way the Jewish leadership has done to the prophets in the past. So those are the eight Beatitudes as you can see.
There's a lot in them, there's so much that could be said about them, but I think that gives you a decent sense of what is going on in the literal sense. In terms of it being promises about the future Kingdom of Heaven. Now there's still a future question here that Scholars raised about what's the point in Jesus saying this when he speaking to the crowd, You see encouraging them by saying that they're already blessed. That's one interpretation.
He's saying that this is you, you're you're in the good books, you're being blessed, or is he telling the crowd of what they need to do in order to become blessed? So some Scholars really think that we shouldn't say that Jesus would be, is being prescriptive here. He's not saying this is what you should be like rather, what he's doing is he's just being descriptive, so he's making a contrast. Between his true disciples and he's describing what his true disciples are like already and
his contrasting. That with the self-righteousness of the Pharisees that I think is a reasonable interpretation. Because a lot of The Sermon on the Mount is contrasting false righteousness with true righteousness, still though, even if we're saying, if we want to say that Jesus is being descriptive, telling it like it is at his present time rather than telling them what they have to do. Even if If we go with that, the message for us is still the
same. The message for us is that for us to get into the kingdom of heaven, we need to be like, what Jesus is describing at that particular time. So the message for us is the same regardless. Now The Sermon on the Mount continues over the next couple of chapters and we're look at that in the coming days as part of the weekday cycle. So the next part will be read on Tuesday of week, 10 in ordinary time.
Now, as you can imagine there's a lots of places or lots of really, really interesting places in the catechism where the Beatitudes get reference quite explicitly, there's sections in the catechism about poverty of heart which is based on what we see here. There's Sections there about Christine Beatitudes about what it means to be pure in heart.
It gets summarized as part of the fifth commandment, and it's linked to what Jesus says here about be a peacemaker and there's all sorts of really interesting ones but in the interest of time because I know this is a long episode, I'll just read out paragraph 17 16 and 17 17 which is all about this passage. It's a commentary on the Beatitudes. So here's what the Catholic Church teaches. Is about the Beatitudes that we've heard today. The Beatitudes are the Heart of
Jesus preaching. They take up the promises made to the chosen people since Abraham. The Beatitudes fulfill the Promises by ordering them no longer merely to the possession of a territory, but to the kingdom of heaven and then it goes on to list all the Beatitudes And then it finishes by saying the Beatitudes depict, the countenance of Jesus Christ and portray his charity. They express the vocation of the faithful associated with the
glory of his passion. And Resurrection, they shed light on the actions and attitudes characteristic of the Christian Life. They are the paradoxical promises that sustain hope in the midst of tribulations. They proclaim the blessings and rewards already secured however, dimly for Christ's disciples. They have begun in the lives of the Virgin Mary and all the saints. So that's paragraph. 17, 16 and 17 17.
I'll include all the paragraphs and they're well worth reading all include those in the show notes. Hopefully you learned something new today I certainly did as I Was preparing this there's a lot of richness in the entire Sermon on the Mount. If you think there's people in your life, who would benefit from hearing this exegesis of the literal sense of the Beatitudes, then please share it with them. I would love it. If you could do that more and more people could hear about the
podcast. Thank you. And we'll continue tomorrow.