Ancient Anglican

Being merciful means to (1) take pleasure in forgiving others of their sins and faults and (2) doing works of compassion for those in need.

Jesus says that his “food is to do the will of him who sent me.”  Therefore, our hunger, like Jesus’, is satisfied by doing the Divine Will.

Throughout Scripture, “righteousness” arises not simply in the negative of doing no harm, but includes the affirmative duties to “show mercy and compassion on the outcast, the oppressed, the weak, the orphan, and the widow” and “to have a burning compassion for the oppressed.”

For Gregory of Nyssa, in this Beatitude Christ promises that it is the humble and reasonable man who obtains reentry into the perfect spiritual state found in the land of the Garden of Eden.

For Aristotle, the virtue of meekness is “the man who is angry at the right things and with the right people, and, further, as he ought, when he ought, and as long as he ought, is praised.”

Now the comfort comes through participating in the Comforter. For the gift of comforting is the special operation of the Spirit, of which may we made worthy, through Jesus Christ. – St. Gregory of Nyssa

We mourn not over the loss of the things of this world but over the loss of our godly nature occasioned by sin.  For only within our poverty of spirit than we can mourn. 

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven

From the earliest churches in the Roman Empire, who cared for the poor and diseased, through innumerable charitable works today, the church has always cared for the disadvantaged.  But what of those who seek relief but aren’t in need? 

If God first so loved you to call you to be his own, then whatever may occur, God will always not only be there – even in persecution and death – but will always be working to restore his image in you.

Paul tells us the end result of the final judgment is not a rapture or an entrance into heaven.  Rather, our purposeful end is 1) when God makes us worthy of his calling, 2) when every good work is resolved and fulfilled, and 3) when Jesus Christ is glorified within you.