Most of us would say that the Beatitudes are well known and greatly loved by Christian people. They are beautiful. They dance and sing on the lips of those who say them. They have an unparalleled syntax that only the Jewish mind can capture and express. They are immortal. Hymns, anthems, songs, prayers, and liturgy have reflected upon their meaning and beauty.

Although we read them in our personal devotion because of their beauty, most of us do not get very excited about poverty of spirit, mourning, meekness, hunger and thirst for righteousness, mercifulness, purity of heart, peacemaking, and persecution for righteousness' sake. These are not the things that excite us. We become enthusiastic about qualities and values quite different from those expressed in the Beatitudes. We read the Bea…