Matthew 5:3–10.
Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Yes, despite our power, palaces and limousines, our service staff and our expensive vestments, our in-vestments and our public relations expenses, we remain poor in spirit. But many do not understand the true meaning of “poor.” Some, those liberation “theologians,” fomenters of the material poor, were in league with Communists. We had to stop troublemakers like Boff and Gutiérrez and their divisive talk of a “preferential option for the poor.” We set the record straight, discreetly in our Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, threatening, humiliating, censoring and silencing.
Blessed are the meek: for they shall possess the earth.
The meek will always be with us, that is why we need hierarchies, and that is why one so meek as we must remain on top, why our legions of appointees have closed ranks around us. Those who pretend meekness — American nuns defending healthcare, nursing, teaching — should remain truly meek and silent. We remain “the servant of the servants of God”: the meekest of the meek.
Blessed are they who mourn: for they shall be comforted.
Technically that is true, except that many pretend to mourn. Take the so-called victims of abuse. Media attention is what they crave. After all these years they should really just move on. We all mourn the tattered unity of Holy Church, the challenges to our meekness. To borrow a phrase from the States: “We are the Church.” How dare they? As Padre Cantalamessa mourned: it’s a new Holocaust.
Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice: for they shall have their fill.
Same for their greedy, conniving lawyers and others puffed-up by the media. Justice is a complicated term. In terms of the canon law of the Church, we define it. Justice is often conflated with peace, but only by Communists. Peace is calming, justice ensures that everyone stays in his place. Thus we do hunger and thirst after justice. A reminder: we claim immunity from the justice of this world.
Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
Yes: those poor members of the clergy and hierarchy, abused by the media and insatiable lawyers. We cannot show them enough mercy. Nor can we show enough mercy to those poor priests even we suspect of abusing children in their charge. We cannot move them often and far enough away from the merciless spotlight of godless media inquisition.
Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
Yes the Church, like the State, must remain pure. The heart also plays a role. Yet we mustn’t be lead by emotion but by theological reflection, from which minor human concerns often distract us. Purity in the Church means that we must eliminate impurities. That is why we meekly accepted our role as grand inquisitor. We must remain pure of dissent, of unorthodox thinking and opinion, of impure lives. Homosexuals cannot be pure. As we said in our Letter…on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons (1986), one should not be surprised if attacks on homosexuals increased with their heightened profile. Impurity invites cleansing.
Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
Franz Jaegerstaetter was childlike. Hardly the material for an advanced degree in dogmatic theology from a major German university. In 1943 this simple farmer defied the Nazi state, on the flimsiest premises, a childlike understanding of the Gospels, “let us love our enemies, bless those who curse us.” There are many interpretations of that trope. We were drafted ourselves in 1943 and we did not resist the Nazis. We did not question the reasons of state used to justify Franz’s condemnation and execution. Even his parish priest and the prosecuting attorney begged him to recant. He remained childlike and died needlessly. We survived to make peace later.
Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
1943 again? We Nazi Youth knew nothing of the White Rose, that Sophie Scholl and other students were arrested distributing literature at the University of Munich, defying the Nazis, condemning our war and our persecution of the Jews. Everyone involved begged them to recant: they were children of influential people. They invited persecution. Justice was swift. They didn’t suffer persecution all that long: they were guillotined the day of their trial. We attended that university a few years later. We do not recall them.
