The Beatitudes

THE BEATITUDES

The word Beatitude comes from the Latin word beatus, meaning “happy, fortunate, or blissful.” The beatitudes were not originally spoken in Greek, but in Aramaic and recorded by Saint Matthew probably sometime between A.D. 50 and 60. It is in Saint Matthew’s gospel that we find the beatitudes. The beatitudes are taken from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. The sermon is called the Sermon on the Mount because Jesus gave it on a hillside near Capernaum. In the Sermon on the Mount, three of the most popular chapters in the New Testament (Matthew 5-7), Jesus gave His followers a pattern for behavior, a spiritual lifestyle that far surpassed the pattern of Judaism. At that time Jesus’ words were innovative because they challenged the ordinary standards of Judaism by transcending outward behavior; they penetrated inner motives and attitudes. His listeners were both challenged and commanded to change their thinking about the Kingdom of God. Jesus wanted everyone...