Originally published at Ignatian Spirituality
This post is based on Week Six of An Ignatian Prayer Adventure.
For all of my life as I have heard the Beatitudes read, my first reaction has been: “Which one am I? I am definitely not the poor in spirit. Am I the peacemaker? Am I the one who hungers for righteousness?”
Essentially I saw the teaching as who I needed to be to be “in” with Jesus. So after 40-plus years of trying to find myself in the Beatitudes, I experienced a bit of a revelation through the Ignatian Prayer Adventure to find that the Beatitudes are less about who I am and more about how I see everyone else. They are about seeing others through the eyes of Christ.
The Beatitudes appear in the Gospel of Matthew and are shared shortly after the call of the disciples. If I put myself in the scene as St. Ignatius instructs, I’m the one with the Hermione Granger hand shooting up in a panic to be called on, “Oh, pick me! Pick me!” even though I have no idea what exactly Jesus was seeking in the call of his disciples. Instead, he walks on up the mountainside, and I am
