Daily Bible Verses by Book

3 ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit,
    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn,
    …

St. Francis of Assisi (1182–1226) began his community with a clear intention: “The Rule and the life of the Friars Minor is to simply live the gospel.” The first Rule (the guide for the community’s way of life) that he started writing around 1209 was little more than a collection of New Testament passages. When Francis sent it off to Rome, the pope looked at it and said, “This is no Rule. This is just the gospel.” You can just hear Francis saying, “Yes—that is the point! We don’t need any other Rule except the gospel!” To be a Franciscan…

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth (Matthew 5v5)

Jesus calls to be God-controlled. The word for meek was used of animals brought under control. For instance, it could be used of a horse broken in. In being tamed, it is still powerful and strong, but now it is useable and brought under control. Aristotle, the ancient Greek philosopher and polymath (384-322 BC) said that a meek person is “neither too hasty nor too slow-tempered. He (or she) does not become angry with those he (or she) he ought not to, nor fail to become angry with who he (or she) ought”. In this…

“Blessed are the meek,” (Matthew 5:5) Jesus says in the Beatitudes. “Meekness” is the biblical word for nonviolence. Blessed are the meek, the gentle, the nonviolent—they will inherit the earth. A life of nonviolence leads to oneness with creation and her creatures. 

A life of violence, of course, leads to an abrupt discord with creation. In a time of permanent warfare, nuclear weapons, and catastrophic climate change, the message couldn’t be clearer. The God of peace, the nonviolent Jesus, and his Holy Spirit call us to practice nonviolence. In that way, we’ll renounce and stop…

6: Get up, go ahead, do something, move, you who are hungry and thirsty for justice, for you shall be satisfied.  
9: Get up, go ahead, do something, move, you peacemakers, for you shall be called children of God. 
 

Elias Chacour is a Palestinian Arab-Israeli and a former archbishop of the Melkite Greek Catholic church in Palestine. At one point in his ministry, Chacour went against the orders of local authorities to build a secondary school to educate the youth in his community in Galilee. He drew on his understanding of the Beatitudes to strengthen him in…

Heavenly father
give us grace to be merciful and pure in heart today.

⁷ Blessed are the merciful,
    for they shall obtain mercy.
⁸ Blessed are the pure in heart,
    for they shall see God.

Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy (Matthew 5v7)

• Mercy is the bridge that connects God and man, opening our hearts to the hope of being loved forever, despite our sinfulness. We see God’s mercy supremely in the life of Jesus. (Pope Francis)
• The gospel merciful are… those who put themselves under another to support them, to be sensitive to them, even to feel sad with them.  (Frederick Bruner)
• whereas grace is a loving response when love is undeserved; mercy is a loving response prompted by the misery and helplessness of the one in whom love…

Blessed are the pure of heart; for they shall see God. —Matthew 5:8  

Cynthia Bourgeault explains how understanding the ancient meaning of the word passion can help us gain emotional equilibrium:   
The tradition from about the 4th century on has been unanimous with what gets in the way of becoming pure of heart. I will quote directly from the Philokalia: “The problem with the passions is that they divide the heart.” The passions are the culprit that sucks the heart out of its capacity to see with equanimity and clarity, with luminosity and radiance, and makes…

Matthew 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Imagine living with one purpose: to have a heart centred on the will and love of God, so that this determines all our actions each day. 

Being committed to something keeps life expanding for us, even when we think that there’s nowhere else for it to go. Purpose gives us a sense of importance, of wanting to do even more, even…

Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called children of God.

You don’t have to have anything to get started, really: just a will, which I believe is already within you, and a way. Do the work your way, with the intention of expanding the circle of human concern and creating radical belonging for others.…  

Get to work. Build. Bridge. Belong. This call for belonging is not about saving ourselves as individuals in terms of the resources that we have or the access we have been granted. Belonging is about saving our very humanity.  

If you are not…