(Verse 20, 21, 22.) Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst now, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are those who weep now, for they shall laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you.
49. Only four beatitudes were placed by Saint Luke on the Lord's Day, but eight were placed by Saint Matthew (Matt. 5:3, et seq.): yet in those eight, the four are found, and in those four, the eight. For he embraced the four as cardinal virtues; that other writer reserved the mystic number in those eight. For the eighth, many psalms are written (Ps. 6:1, and 11:1), and you receive the command to give a part of those eight, perhaps in blessings (Eccles. 11:2); for just as the eighth is the perfection of our hope, so it is the highest virtue in the eighth.
But first, let us examine what is more important. Blessed are the poor; for yours is the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:3). Both evangelists placed this as the first blessing. For it is the first in order and is a parent and source of virtues: because whoever despises worldly things, he himself will merit eternal things; and nobody can attain the merit of the heavenly kingdom, who, being possessed by worldly desires, does not have the ability to emerge.
51. Second Blessing: Blessed are the meek, he says. Third, Blessed are those who mourn. Fourth, Blessed are those who hunger. Fifth, Blessed are the merciful. Sixth, Blessed are the pure in heart. Seventh, Blessed are the peacemakers (Ibid., 4-9). And indeed, the seventh is good; for on that day God rested from all the works of the world (Gen. II, 2); for it is a day of rest and peace. Eighth, Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake (Matth. V, 10).
52. Come, Lord Jesus, teach us the order of your beatitudes; for you did not speak without order, first the poor in spirit are blessed, second the meek are blessed, and third those who mourn. For although I know something, yet I know in part. For if Paul knew in part (1 Cor. 13:9), how much can I know? As much as life, as much also I am lower in word; for life demands and acquires word: but word without life is not the word of God. How much wiser than me is Paul! He boasts in dangers (2 Corinthians XII, 5 and 7), I in successes: he boasts because he is not lifted up by revelations; if any revelations were to happen to me, I would boast. But nevertheless, God can raise up men from stones, and bring forth a word from the closed, elicit a voice from the mute. If He opened the eyes of a donkey, so it could see an angel (Numbers XXII, 27); He is also capable of opening our eyes, so we can behold the mystery of God.
53. Blessed are the poor, he says. Not all the poor are blessed; for poverty is in the middle: both the good and the bad can be poor. Unless perhaps that poor person must be understood as blessed, whom the Prophet described, saying: For it is better to be a poor righteous person than a lying rich person (Prov. XIX, 1). Blessed is the poor person who cried out, and the Lord heard him: poor in crime, poor in vices, poor in whom the prince of the world found nothing: the poor person was envious of that poor person, who, although rich, became poor for our sake. Where Matthew fully revealed, saying: Blessed are the poor in spirit (Matt. V, 3); for the one who is poor in spirit is not inflated, is not exalted in his fleshly mind.
54. Therefore, the first blessing is this: when I have put away all sin, and stripped away all evil, and am content with simplicity, deprived of evil things, it remains that I also temper my character. For what good is it for me to abstain from worldly things, unless I am meek and gentle? For the one who follows the right path, surely follows him who says: Learn from me because I am meek and humble in heart (Matthew 11:29). Therefore, put aside what is wicked, rid yourself of vices according to good poverty, moderate your affection so that you do not become angry, or at least when you are angry, do not sin, according to what is written: Be angry, and do not sin (Psalm 4:5). For it is praiseworthy to control one's impulses with reason: it is considered no less virtuous to restrain anger and suppress indignation than to not become angry at all; often, the former is seen as more difficult but the latter as weaker.
55. When you do this, remember that you are a sinner; lament your sins, lament your offenses. And the third blessing is for those who weep over their sins; for it is the Trinity that forgives sins. Therefore, wash yourself with your tears, and cleanse yourself with your weeping. If you weep for yourself, no one else will weep for you; for if Saul had wept over his sins, Samuel would not have wept for him (I Samuel 15:35). Each person has their own dead to weep for. We are dead when we sin, when we fill ourselves with the bones of the dead. Bad speech is dead that comes out of the mouth; for it comes out of an evil sepulcher: But the sepulcher is open to their throat (Psalms 5:11). Therefore, the Apostle says: Be imitators of me (1 Corinthians 4:16). He wants us to remember our sins. Paul had nothing to mourn, since he believed in Christ, and yet he wept for the past, saying: For I am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God (1 Corinthians 15:9). Therefore, that sinner before faith, but we still sin after faith. Let the sinner weep and confess, so that he may become righteous: for the righteous is his own accuser (Prov. XVIII, 17).
56. Therefore, let us follow the order, for it is written: 'Order charity in me' (Song of Songs II, 4). I have abandoned sin, moderated my behavior, mourned my transgressions: now I begin to hunger and thirst for justice. For when a person is in serious illness, they do not hunger, because the pain of sickness excludes hunger. But what is this hunger for justice? Who are these loaves that the righteous hunger for? Lest perhaps those loaves are the ones of which it is said: 'I was young, and I have grown old, and I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed seeking bread' (Psalm XXXVI, 25). The one who is hungry certainly seeks an increase in strength. But what is a greater growth in virtue than the standard of justice?
57. Post these words: Blessed are the merciful, for mercy shall follow after justice. Hence it is said: He hath dispersed abroad, he hath given to the poor, his justice remaineth forever. But even he who shows mercy to others loses his reward unless he does it with a pure heart; for if he seeks vainglory, there is no fruit. Cleanse therefore the secrets of your heart; and if you diligently purify your inner self, have compassion on those who are attacked, and understand how many people, how many of your brethren, seek your help.
But unless you first cleanse your inner self from all stain of sin, so that dissensions and contentions may not arise from your own emotions, you cannot bring healing to others. Therefore, begin peace with yourself; so that when you yourself are peaceful, you may bring peace to others. For how can you cleanse the hearts of others, unless you have first cleansed your own?
Therefore, you have profited for others, you have provided help for many; hurry, strive towards the end. Although there were many outcomes in life, only one was fitting for the Lord; for what was born according to the flesh, it was necessary to die according to the flesh. He chose to suffer in order to die for us; and you say about all that the Lord has repaid you: 'I will take the cup of salvation, and I will call upon the name of the Lord' (Psalm 115:13), that is, suffering. Therefore, he also said to those who desired to sit at his right or left hand: 'Can you drink the cup that I am about to drink?' (Matthew 20:22). It leads you all the way to the end, it follows you all the way to martyrdom, and it establishes the palm of happiness.
60. Therefore, see the order. It is necessary for you to become poor in spirit; for humility of spirit is the riches of virtues. Unless you are poor, you cannot be meek. He who is meek can lament present things; he who laments lower things can desire better things; he who seeks higher things avoids lower things; so that he may also be helped by higher things; he who has mercy cleanses his heart. For what is it to cleanse the soul, if not to remove the filth of death? For almsgiving delivers from death (Tob. IV, 11); but patience is the perfection of charity. But whoever suffers persecution, being tested in the final struggle, is crowned when he has competed lawfully. Some consider these to be the steps of virtues, by which we can ascend from the lowest to the highest.
61. Finally, just as there are increments in virtues, there are also increments in rewards; for it is greater to be the Son of God than to possess the earth and merit consolation. But because the first reward is the kingdom of heaven, and the last reward is the kingdom of heaven, is the reward equal for beginners and the perfect? Perhaps we are being taught mystically that the first kingdom of heaven is that apostolic saying: To be dissolved and to be with Christ (Philip. I, 23). You have the first kingdom, when the saints are taken up in the clouds to meet Christ in the air; for many of the sleeping will rise; these to eternal life, those to disgrace. Therefore, the first kingdom of heaven is proposed to the saints in the forgiveness of the body; the second kingdom of heaven is to be with Christ after the resurrection. When you are in the kingdom of heaven, then there is a progression of mansions; although it is one kingdom, there are different merits in the kingdom of heaven. After the resurrection, you will begin to possess your land, freed from death. For he to whom it is said, 'You are dust, and to dust you shall return' (Gen. III, 19), does not possess his land; for one cannot be a possessor who does not reap fruit. Therefore, being freed through the Lord's cross (if, indeed, you are found within the yoke of the Lord), you will find consolation in that very possession: consolation is followed by delight, and divine mercy follows delight. But he who the Lord pities and calls; who is called, sees the one calling; he who sees God is assumed into the right of divine generation: and then finally, as if a son of God, he delights in the riches of the heavenly kingdom. Therefore, he begins, here he is filled. For even within this world, there are many in the Roman Empire; but those who are closer to the emperor obtain greater favor of the empire.
62. Now let us speak about how in the four blessings, Saint Luke included eight blessings. And indeed, we know that there are four cardinal virtues: temperance, justice, prudence, and fortitude. Whoever is poor in spirit is not greedy. Whoever weeps does not boast; instead, they are gentle and peaceful. Whoever mourns is humbled. Whoever is just does not withhold what they know is given to everyone for common use. Whoever shows mercy gives from their own resources. He who gives his own, does not seek others', nor does he plot deceit against his neighbor.
Therefore, virtues are connected and intertwined with each other; so that one who possesses one seems to possess many: and one virtue is fitting for the holy ones, but a more abundant virtue has a more abundant reward. How great is Abraham's hospitality! How great is his humility! How great is his sanctity, that he would save his brother's son from his enemy! And how great is his abstinence, that he would not seek anything from the spoils! But because he displayed faith, he merited the leadership in faith above all others. Therefore, there are more rewards for each person, because there are more incentives for virtues; but what is more abundant in merit, is also more abundant in reward.
64. Blessed are the poor in spirit. You have temperance, which abstains from sin, treads upon the world, and does not seek earthly pleasures.
65. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst; for he who hungers, has compassion on the hungry, by showing compassion he gives, by giving he becomes just; for his Justice endures forever (Psalm 111, 9). Therefore, in Matthew, we understand hunger and thirst as spiritual, in which the food of justice is desired or the drink; because virtue is like a certain matter of virtues, that the just one excels himself to the inferiors, excludes deceit, and seeks the truth.
Blessed are you who now weep, for you will laugh. You have the wisdom to weep for things that pass away, and to seek those things that are eternal; to mourn for worldly things that contradict themselves: to seek the God of peace, who chooses foolish things of the world, to confound the wise; and who destroys things that are not, so that those that are, may obtain.
67. (Verse 23.) Blessed are you when people hate you. You have strength, but not the kind that is bought with hatred from crime; rather, endure persecution for the sake of faith; for in this way the crown of suffering is attained, if you disregard the favor of men and follow the divine. Finally, in order for you to know that the consummation of strength is passion: According to this, he says, their fathers did to the prophets; for the Jews persecuted the prophets even to the death of the body. It is also to conquer the anger of fortitude and to restrain indignation; and through this, fortitude strengthens the mind and body, and does not allow them to be disturbed by any fear or pain; which, like perverse interpreters, we are often overcome by.
Therefore, temperance has the cleanliness of the heart and mind, justice has mercy, prudence has peace, and fortitude has gentleness.
(Vers. 24.)
(Verse 24) Woe to you rich, who have your consolation!
69. Although there are many temptations of vice in monetary wealth, most are also incentives for virtues. Although virtue does not require support and the giving of a poor person is more commendable than the generosity of a rich person, it is not those who have wealth but those who do not know how to use it that are condemned by the authority of divine judgment. For just as that poor person is more praiseworthy who gives with a ready affection and is not hindered by the obstacles of impending poverty, and does not consider himself poor because he has what is enough for nature, so this rich person is more criminal who should have expressed gratitude to God for what he received and should not hide the income given for common use and should not bury it in hoarded treasures. Therefore, it is not the census but the intention behind the crime that matters. And although throughout their whole lives, those who are under custody seek to guard their ill-gotten wealth with anxious fear, since there is no graver punishment than losing the gains of their successors, nevertheless, because the desires and cravings of greed are nourished by a certain empty pleasure: those who have found solace in the present life have lost eternal reward.
Yet here we can understand the rich people of the Jews, or heretics, or certainly the philosophers of the world, who, delighted with the abundance of words and a certain inheritance of ambitious eloquence, surpassed the simplicity of true faith and accumulated useless treasures. Doesn't it seem to you that someone is a heretic, when you hear him disputing about the generation of the Lord according to the usage of the world, rich in words, but poor in strength? He thinks that he has riches in this present time, but in the future he will recognize the poverty of his faith; and he will know that the food of his unfaithfulness, which he has belched forth in this present age, will be punished with eternal fasting of faith, and he will understand the cause of such great punishment. And there will come a time when those who now laugh at our words will mourn. To these, it will be said well: