“Blessed are you …” (Luke 6:20).
There is a moment when I thought filling a glass with water drop by drop that the water crests at the lip of the glass and then overflows with the next drop. It is full.
The Beatitudes describe a life lived at the point of fullness right before overflowing. Faith is poised there, still incomplete, still expectant, but already at the edge where earth and heaven meet. Jesus called his disciples to live in that moment, blessed in their want, their hunger, their tears, when the world ridiculed and rejected them as dreamers and troublemakers: “Rejoice, leap for joy on that day! Behold, your reward will be great in heaven.”
Likewise, those who were content with what this world offers, satisfied, applauded for being worldly wise, wary of prophets. Woe to them for settling for happy when they might have had joy.
The Beatitudes are on the other side of the limits we set to protect our lives from exuberance and compassion. Each time we risk going beyond ourselves, we deepen the blessing that is always there where earth meets heaven, where life overflows and love is replenished faster than we can give it away. Blessed are those who learn this early and practice it daily, for they already live in the presence of God.
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