BLESSEDNESS

 

 

“And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people….and His fame went throughout all Syria…..and there followed Him great multitudes of people…..and they brought unto him all sick people…and he healed them all….and seeing the multitude He went up into a mountain, and his disciples came unto him” (Matthew 4:23-25).

“It was a day of miracles. Those vexed with unclean spirits were healed; multitudes thronged near seeking merely to touch Him; faith was in every heart; He responded to their pleas…..It was in such a setting of miracles and healings and worship – that Jesus spoke the Sermon on the Mount both in Galilee and in the land Bountiful” (Bruce R. McConkie, The Mortal Messiah Book 2, p 120-1)

Unto such he preached the glories of the kingdom while rejection yet awaited Him and the unjust death idled on the Hill of Calvary waiting silently. How full His heart must have been with gratitude and compassion for those who sought Him and wanted to hear the words of salvation. How grateful He must have been for the believers who were spiritually attuned, who received the Beatitudes as they fell from His lips.

President Harold B. Lee taught that the Beatitudes embody the “constitution for a perfect life” (Decisions for Successful Living [1973], 57,60). Bruce R. McConkie stated that “beatitude is a state of utmost bliss, and the Beatitudes are our Lord’s declarations for the blessedness and eventual eternal glory of those who obey the various principles recited in them” (The Mortal Messiah Book 2, p 118).

The word ‘Beatitude’ comes from the Latin ‘beautus’, meaning to be fortunate, to be happy, to be blessed. Imagine if it was spelt with an extra ‘t’ and it read BeATTITUDE…..imagine if we always fostered such an attitude of being fortunate and happy and blessed for having been taught the path to eternal life….Imagine honouring our beloved Saviour by living in such an attitude of gratitude for the path to eternal life He has given us.

What Beatitude is the most important? This one: Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled with the Holy Ghost (3 Nephi 12:6): “As starving men crave a crust of bread, as choking men thirst for water, so do the righteous yearn for the Holy Ghost….. the greatest of all the gifts of God, as pertaining to this life; and those who enjoy that gift here and now, will inherit eternal life hereafter, which is the greatest of all the gifts of God in eternity” (Bruce R McConkie, The Mortal Messiah Book 2, p 122).

 I pledged my life into Thy hands

When by Thy words you taught me how;

You fed me truths I needed to know

And feed me still even now.

 

As I promised to obey,

You promised we’d never part;

I remember, I remember

And carry it all

In the shadow of my heart.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Compassion and Grace by Greg Collins)