And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” Matthew 5:2, 3
The Beatitudes are like a series of monkey rings on a playground. The momentum of your swing on the first ring makes it possible for you to reach the second, the momentum of your swing on the second ring helps you to reach the third, and so on. Without momentum, the next ring would always be beyond your reach.
Someone says, “I can’t forgive—I want to—but it’s beyond me, I just can’t get there.” How do you get to forgiveness? Another person says, “There is so much impurity in my heart, I want to get rid of it, but I don’t know how.” How do you get to purity?
How do you become a forgiving person (the fifth Beatitude)? How do you become a person who is pure in heart (the sixth Beatitude)? There can only be one answer—start at the beginning, which is like starting on the first ring.
Everyone can do this because the beginning is to recognize you don’t have what it takes. “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” Blessing begins when you realize you don’t have what it takes.
Swing on this first ring and you will soon find that repentance comes within your reach. You will find that you begin to hate what you used to love and despise what you used to choose. You will eventually find that meekness, the ability to forgive, and purity, are within your grasp.
And when you get stuck, you have to go back to the beginning. If you don’t have the momentum to forgive or to be pure or to bring peace, then you have to let go of your ability and return to the first ring. This is how you live the Christian life, and how the Holy Spirit works in the sanctification of a Christian believer.
Where do you feel stuck right now? Are you struggling to forgive? Are you struggling with purity? Are you struggling with peace?
