Reflections on the Beatitudes: The First Beatitude

The Beatitudes, and the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity and obedience which are derived from them, explain [Christ's] humility to us The Beatitudes are at the heart of our baptismal vows, which do not confer a result but commit us to our priesthood that is inextricable from our sacrifice. As priests we are committed to be caught in God's Gaze in solitude, to go, with Christ indwelling, to the heart of creation's pain, of suffering, of hell, to find new life, hope, and joy, to celebrate God's life in our own and convey it to the world.

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"How blest are those who know their need of God; the kingdom of heaven is theirs."

In the first beatitude we find the source from which all else proceeds. How blest we are when we understand the ways in which we fall from being, from co-creation with God. How blest we are when we allow the technology of control to fall from our grasp. How blest we are when we can give up the need to control, to fix up, to compete, to seek status and put down others, to be self-reflective and have all other eyes on us. How blest we are when we can stop running from death and simply look at God. How blest we are, for we know the glory of our wounds in that Gaze of Love by which we and the creation around us are transfigured by Christ's indwelling.

[Pillars of Flame, p. 137]