Session 02 - The Beatitudes

² And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:³ “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. ⁴ “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.⁵ “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.⁶ “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,for they shall be satisfied.⁷ “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.⁸ “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.⁹ “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.¹⁰ “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.¹¹ “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute youand utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.¹² Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven,for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

	Blessed are...	Condition	Choice
1	Poor in spirit	Speaks to our own condition	Situation we don't pursue, but are inevitable
2	Those who mourn
3	The meek		you can only be meek when you can accept not being the greatest, smartest, the best
4	Those who yern for Righteousness		Accept that you are not righteous
5	the merciful	Just like pattern in the Ten Commandments, speaks to our relationships with others	you are not, in any way, above others
6	The pure in heart		not to have any agenda
7	The peacemakers		brothers' keeper
8	Those who are persecuted for their righteousness or Jesus' account		Also undesirable, but beyond our control

According to HowStuffWorks, "Wishing someone well after they sneeze probably originated thousands of years ago. The Romans would say "Jupiter preserve you" or "Salve," which meant "good health to you," and the Greeks would wish each other "long life." The phrase "God bless you" is attributed to Pope Gregory the Great, who uttered it in the sixth century during a bubonic plague epidemic (sneezing is an obvious symptom of one form of the plague)." It then go on to show examples from around the world as well as how many actually based more on superstition than anything else.Regardless of how and why others does it, when people around me sneeze I want to say "bless you". Maybe it's a Canadian thing, maybe just out of instinct. When someone sneeze they feel like they have just exploded, a dose of blessings instead of a dirty look would just be the right thing to do.The desire to bless others is not a problem for me, but to condition myself to be blessed the way Jesus laid out in His Beatitudes...that is something else. It is not as much as a "they are impossible!" as they are not, but there is one I may struggle more than the others: "Blessed are those who are meek, for they shall inherit the earth."I don't mean that to be an "are you serious, Jesus?" moment, but more, "that is not going to be easy". I am not suggesting that I am such a proud person that I cannot be meek. My struggle is more, "if I am meek, will I appear to be weak and people will push me aside and give opportunities to those who are more assertive than me?"I guess you can say that is a trained thing. Growing up, I experienced people will take even inferior ideas if the person suggesting it is more assertive. Eventually, my frustration had taken over, and I have become more and more assertive and less and less meek.People of this day and age, myself included, are getting less and less patient and want to have things done quicker and with less decision making. Thus, the double standard of "meek" = "weakness"/"uncertainty" and should be ignored. It is very sad, and it is very hard to fight that temptation.Bare in mind, since I, literally, grew up in and around church, my experience is neither exclusive of churches. As a matter of fact, it is just as bad if not worst than out in the society. "Worse" is when "meek" is uncovered, you find passive aggressiveness.To be honest, I think out of all of the qualities, "meekness" is more challenging than facing persecution of any kind from any source. Those you can choose to ignore, or can tune out by focusing on God. Staying "meek" is something else. You are no longer fighting with external forces, spiritual or otherwise. You are now fighting yourself, also known as your greatest enemy.The interesting thing is that IF everyone choose "meekness", then "meekness" become easy. When everyone is meek, you no longer need to fight to "stand out". When you are meek, you listen to others and will not put them down even when you think it is a stupid idea. Why? May be you are the one who is stupid. A meek person will be okay with that.I wonder if Jesus purposefully put "meekness" right after "poor in spirit" and "those who mourn". Having a meek mind would give a person a foothold in having that ability to be the rest of the Beatitude.I am just saying.