Solemnity of All Saints

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven." - Matthew 5:3

The Beatitudes get read at funerals and framed on walls until a man stops hearing them as instructions at all. Tonight, brother, read them as a job description instead. Poor in spirit. Mourning. Meek. Hungry for righteousness. Merciful. Clean of heart. Peacemaking. Persecuted, and glad of it. Eight lines, and not one of them describes a man who has it handled.

Ask which one is hardest for you to actually want, not just admire from a safe distance. Most men can respect meekness in someone else and still organize their whole week around never being caught in it themselves. The same goes for mourning, for poverty of spirit, for being persecuted without a rebuttal ready. Christ is not describing a mood. He is describing a life that has stopped defending itself.

John's letter says plainly what all of this is aimed at: we are God's children now, and what we shall be has not yet been revealed. The great multitude in Revelation, more than anyone could count, from every nation, are the ones this whole examen has been walking toward since October's vineyard opened. They are not remembered for what they built. They are remembered for whose they were.

A steward's whole life is measured against this list, not against what he produced. Tonight, before anything else, name the one beatitude you find hardest to want, and ask God honestly for it.

Read all eight Beatitudes aloud tonight, slowly, one at a time. After each one, say only this: "Lord, give me this, even if I don't want it yet." Do not skip the ones that make you uncomfortable.

Lord, you did not call the comfortable blessed. Give me the one beatitude I have spent my life avoiding. Amen.