Naked in the beatitudes

This week I changed focus for the Lectio Divina to Matthew 5. Each day I will meditate on a particular beatitude. Yesterday was the poor in spirit. Each time I would read the passage, I found myself naturally slowing a bit. It was far and coming closer. What is the poor in spirit? As Jesus was talking, they would have known who they were. He's talking to us! We are connected in a way that excludes the non-poor. And as I was reading this, I realized I am really not part of the poor in spirit; but it's a blessing to know that I want to be, need to be, am in God's hand toward that.

My dear heavenly father,
I thank you that the kingdom
is not the way we think it should be.
I thank you for the identity you
have with the poor in spirit,
and that you tug on the hearts of
those who are not in this poverty.
Thank you for your kingdom.
I ask that it expand on earth as
it is in heaven.
May I be part of it, molded by it,
transformed by it, made poor by it.
I love you and give you this day.
In Jesus' name, amen, ...

Today was about mourning and blessing. Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted. To be comforted is a blessing. Miroslav Volf spoke of this blessing in sharing with the sufferings of Christ. That to suffer in this way is to experience his love and presence in a sense more tangibly than other aspects of our relationship to God. A communion that is precious. Perhaps those who mourn are blessed within the mourning itself. That to mourn in a healthiness is rare and yet pain is so prevalent in our lives. That many run from mourning and never allow for the blessing of temporalness to know we have limits and to allow those limits to shape us for love, allow for a life of peace, and to generally take action. Is there an innocence in mourning? It is true and perhaps requires us to deal with our sin and selfishness in honest ways. Mourning provides a boundary that we can taste. In our mourning is a dance of innocence; the victim becomes the avenger. Jesus understands. Perhaps mourning is that point in which all falseness is stripped and you are freely naked.


From the Augustine reading today.

And the happy life is this:
To rejoice in you.
To rejoice for you.
To rejoice because of you.
I say it again:
Life is joy in you,
who are the Truth,
O my God, the light of my soul,
the health of my body!