Matthew 5:1–9 with St. Leo the Great
“Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”
Like many ancient and medieval Christian interpreters, Pope St. Leo the Great saw the beatitudes as laying out a program of spiritual growth. Poverty in spirit, therefore, means detachment from worldly things. This “magnanimous poverty” frees us to be generous to others and so, St. Leo asks, “What is richer than this poverty?” Since the poor in spirit have this heavenly perspective, they do not “mourn” over earthly setbacks, but over their own and others’ sin. But Leo’s focus on heaven is not a rejection of bodily things, as is clear from the way he interprets the fourth beatitude: the “earth” that the meek shall inherit “is the very flesh of the saints.” He explains further that in the resurrection, our bodies will enjoy “the harmony of perfect unity with the will of the soul.”
The next two beatitudes refer to “righteousness” and “mercy.” Here Leo draws on the fact that God himself is supreme righteousness (or “justice”) and mercy. These beatitudes thus call us to reflect God in ourselves: “Mercy wants you to be merciful; justice wants you to be just. In this way the Creator will appear in his own creature, and ‘the image of God’ [Gen. 1:27], expressed through the paths of imitation, may shine in the mirror of the human heart.” When our hearts have been made “pure” by imitating God, reflecting the divine goodness, we in turn will come to “see God.” This loving union with God, finally, spills out into love for and unity with others, making us “peacemakers” and true children of God.[1]
[1] Summary by John Sehorn with the use of Leo the Great, Sermon 95 in Sermons, trans. Jane Patricia Freeland, C.S.J.B., and Agnes Josephine Conway, S.S.J., Fathers of the Church 93 (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 1996), 394–400.
