The Beatitudes

by Deacon Lorna Goodison on January 26, 2023

The conversation ends and one person says, “have a blessed day!” Feeling the goodwill offered, the other person courteously responds, “thanks, and you as well.”  The word “blessed” is often interpreted as “happy.”  To bless someone is more deeply interpreted as invoking the spiritual well-being of either an individual or a community. Blessings call forth God’s loving kindness, God’s protection, God’s consolation, God’s bountifulness. In the Old Testament, we read of a landmark moment when God summoned Abraham to leave his father’s house and venture into a new land. In return for his obedience, God promised Abraham that “I will bless you and make your name great……in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12:3)

       We joyfully receive God’s promise to Abraham and see ourselves embraced in God’s loving promise. Yet, when Jesus, the Incarnate Son of God begins His earthly teaching with a discourse on blessings (Matthew 5:1-12) we are amazed. Jesus’ Beatitudes expose the upside-down nature of our world and challenge us to rethink our values and outlook. Our world places great value on wealth, power, fame, intellect, and social standing, Jesus’ teaching disrupts these values and offers blessings that affirm the meek, the poor in spirit, the merciful, and the mourner. In our world where violence and weaponry are often the means of domination, Jesus’ voice pronounces blessings on those who hunger or thirst for righteousness, those who are pure in heart, those who are peacemakers, and those persecuted for living righteously. Those whom Jesus called blessed, the world would call foolish or the least valuable in society.

       Being poor in spirit, we have no spiritual power of our own, nothing to offer us comfort and consolation. We enjoy no personal greatness, yet Jesus declares that the poor in spirit is the receiver of God’s ultimate blessing; theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Likewise, those whom the world ridicules, insults, and persecutes for living in the right relationship with God, they too receive the ultimate blessing of the kingdom. Mourners bearing the sorrows of the world will be comforted by the Great Comforter. The merciful who lovingly take upon themselves the needs of the sick, the outcast, and the downtrodden will themselves be embraced in God’s arms of mercy. God sees and lifts up the lowly and asks us to see ourselves as lowly.

      Jesus’ teachings on the Beatitudes follow His proclamation that “The kingdom of God has come near”.  In His kingdom, God’s blessings bind us together in communion with Him and each other. But entry into the kingdom requires humble detachment from the world’s values and a radical turning to Christ’s revealed ways. Jesus Christ came to proclaim the kingdom and to teach us how to live into the right side up the kingdom of humility, meekness, dependence on God, merciful kindness, peace, justice, and love.

Prayer: Merciful God, you are our true righteousness. Help us to humbly rely on your loving care as we turn to you for you are the wellspring of life today, tomorrow, and forever. Amen

Tags: beatitudes, promise, joyful, thanks, blessed, bountifulness

About the Author
Deacon Lorna Goodison

Reverend Lorna Goodison was ordained to the Diaconate on April 29, 2007. After discerning a call to ordained ministry, Deacon Lorna completed a process of spiritual discernment and pursued three years of study at the Diocesan School for Christian Studies. She also completed three units of hospice care training through Vitas and for a short while she was a volunteer Chaplain. Highlights of her continuing education activities include a guided visit to Israel and attending the Festival of Homiletics in Boulder, Colorado.

Soon after her ordination, Deacon Lorna was called to serve as Deacon at St. Mary Magdalene. She initiated an outreach ministry to the homeless at St. Laurence Chapel, obtaining the support and involvement of most members of the congregation. This ministry remained a vibrant outreach of the Church until the Chapel closed in 2019.  Other outreach ministries formed include an informal group of members who stay in touch with members who are ill and shut-in. Deacon Lorna remains committed to both the in-reach and outreach ministries of the Church. She has led quiet day reflections for groups within and outside of St. Mary Magdalene. She has often led Deacon’s Masses at small churches without a priest. Of all the ministries in which Deacon Lorna participates, she is most humbled and grateful to be involved in the ministry of praying with congregants facing life’s challenges.

Deacon Lorna serves the Diocese of Southeast Florida as a member of the Disciplinary Committee. She also serves on the Board of Deacons.   

Professionally, Deacon Lorna worked for some years in Human Resource Departments as a Training Manager, but most of her working years were spent in Social Work. She worked with at-risk teenagers counselling them and guiding them to resources to build a meaningful future. The last twenty years of her profession, were spent working with Seniors, guiding them to the resources needed to maintain their safety and independence. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Social Work and a master’s degree in Adult Education. She is now retired, cherishes some alone time for prayer and reflection, but divides her time between the Church and her family which consists of two daughters, their husbands and three grandchildren.

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