Spirituality of the Beatitudes

Overview

The Beatitudes from Jesus's Sermon on the Mount offer a succinct summary of his essential teaching for Christians. In probing the meaning of these eight verses, Michael Crosby cuts to the heart of Matthew's Gospel: a spiritual message that is at once personal and deeply social.

Fr. Crosby posits that Matthew's Gospel was written for a more affluent church community. As such, his Gospel offers a particularly telling challenge to Christians of the deeloped countries of the West, the "First World". To pray in the spirit of the Beatitudes is to answer a radical call to conversion: to begin a journey into God's Reign of peace, justice, mercy, and renewal.

Michael H. Crosby (1940-2017) was a Capuchin Franciscan whose preaching and writing on contemporary biblical discipleship took him around the world. He authored seventeen books, including Finding Francis, Following Christ (Orbis, 2005), Repair My House (Orbis, 2008), and Fruit of the Spirit (Orbis, 2015).