Much of our life is shaped by the people we meet. They affect us in all sorts of ways, but how they affect us depends partly on our attitude to them. Are you someone who makes a judgement about people quite quickly, or are you patient, curious and open enough to listen to them? I don’t mean listening to what they say, but listening to their actions and how they touch the lives of other people? If I’m honest, I often react to people impatiently, especially if I’m trying to get something done or get somewhere quickly. Very often, I think people are in my way, especially if I’m driving somewhere or in a queue in a supermarket. I see myself as the centre of things, and other people as inconveniences or obstacles to achieving what I want when I come across them. If I get over that and give myself time to notice how they affect me or other people, I begin to appreciate the surprisingly positive influence some people have. But I’ll never notice that, unless I learn to be patient and simply observe them, rather than judge them.

I believe Jesus is talking about people who have a positive effect on others and on the world around them in the Beatitudes, today’s reading from Matthew’s Gospel. On the surface, he’s talking about the kinds of people who populate heaven, but he’s also talking about their behaviour when they lived on earth. I imagine heaven is full of people who were poor in spirit, people who knew how to mourn, meek people, people who were hungry and thirsty for righteousness, merciful people, people with pure hearts, peacemakers, people who were persecuted or insulted for their faith in Jesus. Matthew insists that people who are like this on earth can look forward to a great reward in heaven.

For years I heard the Scriptures proclaimed in an English translation which told us that the pure in spirit, people who mourn, the meek and so on are ‘happy’; but, like a lot of other people, I eventually became frustrated that a key Greek word had not been translated properly. The word makarios (µακαριος) can mean happy, but its real meaning is ‘blessed’, and I’ve come to believe that blessedness is the key to what Matthew’s Gospel is telling us.

Many people who have pondered what human life is about over the centuries have come to the conclusion that we’re ‘designed’ to live a blessed life. ‘Beatitude’ is a word we’ve inherited from Latin and it means ‘blessedness’. What the great thinkers are sure we really want in life is exactly that – blessedness. And the beatitudes listed in the Gospel we’ve just heard are different forms of blessedness. I’m convinced that the Beatitudes are blessings, in other words gifts from God. It is a good thing to be merciful, of course, but what Matthew is telling us is that it’s a gift to be merciful – in the end, it’s not down to us, but to God.

The wonderful teachers I had at the parish schools I attended told us that, if we wanted that reward in heaven, we had to be pure in heart; we had to know how to mourn; we had to be meek and so on; we had to behave in a certain way. They were presenting us with extra commandments by stealth! I don’t believe them now. If ever I manage to be pure in heart, it’s a gift from God, and I’m grateful for it; if I have a heart that cares enough about people that I mourn for them when they pass away, that’s a gift, too, and I thank God for it. The Beatitudes are all ways of living a life blessed by God. They’re not my achievements, but God’s gifts. They’re God’s grace working in us.

The world looks different when you meet people who live the Beatitudes. If you know someone who’s merciful, it’s a blessing. That person is a blessing. Just think what a blessing a peacemaker is! When people around us live the Beatitudes, thank God for blessing them with gifts that have amazing effects on us, too. We remember the effect people like that have on the world and we thank God for them, which is exactly what today’s feast is about. In Christian tradition, people who’ve lived the Beatitudes are called holy or ‘saints’. It’s a wise tradition to read and learn about the lives of the saints, to look for God’s Spirit at work in other people, and to thank God for all of them, for all the saints – precisely what God’s free gift of Beatitude can make us, too.