THEY WHO HAVE BEEN PERSECUTED FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS SAKE

BLESSED ARE THEY WHO HAVE BEEN PERSECUTED FOR THE  SAKE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS: FOR THEIRS IS THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN

 

 

I send you out to found this Kingdom, the Kingdom of Heaven, of that higher righteousness which is love, of that fatherly goodness whose name is God; I send you out therefore to fight against those who uphold unrighteousness, the servants of materialism, the proselytes of the Adversary. They will defend themselves when attacked, and to defend themselves they will attack you. You will be tortured in body, crucified in soul, deprived of liberty and perhaps of life; but if you accept this suffering cheerfully to carry to others that righteousness which makes you suffer, this persecution will be for you an incontestable title to enter into the Kingdom which you have founded as far as was in your power.

“BLESSED ARE YE WHEN MEN SHALL REPROACH YOU AND PERSECUTE YOU AND SAY ALL MANNER OF EVIL AGAINST YOU FALSELY FOR MY SAKE. REJOICE AND BE EXCEEDING GLAD: FOR GREAT IS YOUR REWARD IN HEAVEN:
FOR SO PERSECUTED THEY THE PROPHETS
WHICH WERE BEFORE YOU.”  Matt. 5:11-12

Persecution is a material attack through physical, legal and political means. The persecutors can take away your funds, and the clear light of the sun, and divine liberty; they may break your bones, but you must endure more than mere per­secution. You must expect insult and slander. They will condemn you because you wish to change foul men into saints. Wallowing in the foulness of their animalistic behavior, they de­test the idea of leaving their filth. But they will not be satis­fied to strike only at your body, they will strike also at your soul. They will accuse you of all crimes, they will stone you with slander and political incorrectness. Hogs will say that you are filthy, asses will swear that you are ignorant, ravens will ac­cuse you of eating flesh, rams will drive you away as ill-smelling, the dissolute will cry out upon the scandal of your corruptness and thieves will denounce you for theft. But you must always rejoice because the insult of evil men is the con­secration of your own goodness, and the mud thrown at you by the impure is the pledge of your purity. This is, as St. Francis says, "the perfect joy." Beyond all the graces which Christ gives to His friends is the grace of conquering oneself and willingly enduring injury, contempt, pains, discomforts. All the other gifts of God are not ours to glory in, because they come not from us, but from God; but in tribulation and in affliction we can glory because that is ours. All the prophets who have ever spoken upon the earth were insulted by men, and men will insult those who are to come. We can recognize prophets by this, that smeared with mud and covered with shame, they pass among men, bright-faced, speaking out what is in their hearts. No mud can close the lips of those who must speak. Even if the obstinate prophet is killed, they can­not silence him. His voice multiplied by the echoes of his death will be heard in all languages and through all the centuries.

This promise brings the beatitudes to their end.
By means of the beatitudes, Christ fully explains who are fit to be the citizens of His new Kingdom. Those citizens are henceforth found and sealed; everyone can recognize them. The unwilling are warned, the uncertain are reassured. The rich, the proud, the satisfied, the violent, the unjust, the war­like, those who mock, those who do not hunger after perfec­tion, those who persecute and outrage, can never enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.* They cannot enter there until they are altogether conquered and changed, and have become the opposite of what they are now.* Those who live happily ac­cording to the world, those whom the world envies, imitates and admires, are infinitely further from true happiness than those others whom the world scorns and hates. In this exult­ing beginning Jesus has turned upside down the human hier­archy; now as He goes on He will turn upside down the values of life, and no other revaluation will ever be as divinely para­doxical as His.

Blessed or Born-Again

God indwelt and therefore fully satisfied. (Psa. 1:1)   "Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers." Better translated born-again.

Blessed by God on this earth.  (Isa. 65:16) "Because he who is blessed in the earth will be blessed by the God of truth; and he who swears in the earth will swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten, And because they are hidden from My sight!"

Matt. 5:3-11 - Attributes of those awaiting His return and of those in the Kingdom of God after His return.

3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."  (At His return)

4 "Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted." (At His return)

5 "Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth." (At Christ's return)

6 "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled." (At His return)

7 "Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy." (At His return)

8 "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God." (At His return)

9 "Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God." (At His return)

10 "Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." (At His return)

11 "Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake." (Persecuted while on this earth before His return)