I learned the Beatitudes, as given in the Sermon on the Mount in the Bible (see Matthew 5:3–12), by heart when I was a child in Sunday School, but it wasn’t until years later that I came to a profound realization about them: that the Beatitudes, when applied to our lives, transform our thinking so that we demonstrate “the mind of Christ” (I Corinthians 2:16). Each beatitude involves growth in grace and indicates, not a future reward, but an already present, God-supplied blessing.

Though some of these statements that Christ Jesus made to the multitudes could, at first glance, seem counterintuitive, I’ve found the opposite. The first beatitude says, “Blessed” (or as some translations put it, “How happy”) are they that are “poor in spirit.” This hardly seems a propitious condition! Yet the beatitude continues, “for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” It seems to me that Jesus’ saying points us to the recognition that when we are poor in spirit—feeling the dissatisfaction and emptiness of material existence—we are ready to consider and understand the present reality of spiritual existence and the joy it brings. In this way, man’s extremity truly becomes God’s opportunity. 

The next beatitude, “Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted,” shows us that lamenting what we lack and can’t find in matter—health, goodness, love—makes way in our thought for the perception that spirituality is the one treasure worth having. The Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, explains, “When the sick or the sinning awake to realize their need of what they have not, they will be receptive of divine Science, which gravitates towards Soul and away from material sense, removes thought from the body, and elevates even mortal mind to the contemplation of something better than disease or sin” (p. 323). Right in the midst of mourning we can find, through spiritual sense, our unbreakable connection with God, divine Love, who gives us health, goodness, and comfort, and that is a blessed thing!

The next beatitude states, “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.” To be meek is to be patient and not inclined to be angry or resentful. Meekness means that we are ready to let go of a merely material assessment of what is real and good, and to understand and inherit God’s spiritual kingdom, His harmony, which is where lasting and truly substantial goodness is found. When we humbly let go of our own strategies and plans to create or maintain goodness, we begin to lean wholly on God and to understand that goodness is part of His ever-present grace.

Righteousness is another important step in Christian development, as we read in the next beatitude, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.” Righteousness involves acting justly and from a moral basis, rather than from selfish interests—living one’s life in response to God’s unconditional goodness. Such a life yields fruit—the “fruit of the Spirit” which the writer of Galatians in the Bible describes as “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance” (5:22, 23). The image of “hungering and thirsting” implies a powerful, full-time desire, expressed in our efforts to embody more of divine goodness in our everyday life. 

“Blessed are the merciful,” says the next beatitude, “for they shall obtain mercy.” Mercy expresses the goodness of divine Love that “maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45). The blessing is built in—as we are merciful, we will see divine love and mercy flowing back to us. When we are unimpressed by evil’s claims to be personal and powerful, we are inclined to forgive others and love as we are loved by God. 

The next beatitude, “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God,” reveals what happens to those who are pure—who are free from anything that would draw their thought away from God. Such purity expresses the unconditional goodness of God, and the beatitude describes what it is like to be awake to the presence of His goodness reflected in everything as described in Genesis: “And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good” (Genesis 1:31). How blessed, or happy, we are to live consistently with this spiritual perception and understanding of God and His spiritual creation.

Spirituality is the one treasure worth having.

The next beatitude says, “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.” As peacemakers we contribute to greater good in our relationships and in the world because we look at others and see God’s man. We see others as good and pure instead of flawed and dishonest. We see them as whole instead of diseased. We see them as reflecting all of God’s good spiritual qualities, which brings healing and peace to them and to us, revealing our true identity as God’s children and demonstrating the power of divine Love to heal, as Jesus healed. 

The last two of Jesus’ blessings or proclamations deal with persecution: “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.” Again, the question arises, Where is the blessing? How could there be any happiness in being oppressed by ill-treatment and hostility?

The Beatitudes begin and end with the promise of the kingdom of heaven, full access to the here-and-now experience of divine rule. God’s law is always operative. It is everywhere, all the time. We can never really be cut off from it or lose our God-given connection to it. So, we are blessed—and we feel God’s blessing—when we return blessing for cursing. We have the ability to do this when we understand that our satisfaction comes not from how others treat us but from God alone, from the provision of Spirit and the understanding that divine Love meets all our needs and the needs of others.

When we bless and heal others through yielding to the Mind of Christ, we are not necessarily met with universal approbation. But if we are rejected or persecuted, these are not signs of failure and should not make us frustrated or put us into despair. Many may be unwilling to let go of the hold of materialism. In fact, the message of the final beatitudes seems to be that though we can count on coming up against resistance from the worldly or carnal mind, which clings to personal prejudices and materialistic habits, we still have present cause to rejoice. Even if others don’t recognize it, we (and even those who persecute us) are blessed by the divine good we are understanding and living and by our continued trust in the completeness of God’s loving government. 

As we embrace the Beatitudes, we will find ourselves developing a deeper spirituality with greater hope and faith in God, including the actual understanding and perception of God’s presence right where we are. Should we feel ourselves becoming complacent or contented with worldly comforts, or if the disappointments of mortal life threaten to overwhelm us, we can return to the blessings Jesus has given us in the Sermon on the Mount and remember our real need is for Spirit, God.

As we live these blessings in our lives, we find that they lead us away from an unsatisfied material sense to spiritual understanding. This understanding blesses us and will only deepen as we continue to discover new spiritual insights from the Beatitudes over and over again.