blessed are you: reflections on the beatitudes

The Beatitudes are perhaps the least understood passage of the Gospels. Yet in them, says Mother Mary Francis, a Poor Clare who spent a lifetime in prayer, ＂Christ delivers the Christian philosophy of life and gives the first course in theological living.＂ Indeed, the Beatitudes are the lens through which we should develop and live our spiritual lives.

Many authors have written about the Beatitudes, but none with the spiritual wisdom and exceptional clarity of Mother Mary Francis. She masterfully unpacks the meaning of each Beatitude, showing how they all interconnect to present a roadmap to holiness and happiness. Best of all, she helps you analyze your own life in light of the Beatitudes so you can chart a course toward reaching the pinnacle of holiness to which Christ is calling you. You’ll learn:

• Why those who are poor in spirit are the only ones who are truly free
• How to display meekness without showing weakness
• Why ＂spiritual flexibility＂ is important -- and how to know if you have it
• How practicing the Beatitudes makes us happy--even those who mourn
• How to balance a sense of mercy with a thirst for justice
• Why Jesus said blessed are ＂the peacemakers,＂ rather than ＂the peaceful＂
• The most important characteristics of a clean heart
• Why it’s easy for the voice of your own spirit to sound much like that of the Holy Spirit
• The reason Christ wept (it had more to do with penance than with demonstrating His humanity)
• The one Beatitude that is most often misinterpreted

Mother Mary Francis wrote the religious bestseller A Right to Be Merry in 1956, a loving, humor-filled semi-autobiographical account of the life of cloistered Poor Clares. The book was written at the direction of her abbess who hoped it would win a ＄1,000 writing prize to pay for repairs to a leaky roof. Instead, the manuscript was published by Sheed and Ward, and remains in print today, available through Ignatius Press.

Mother Mary Francis helped found four new Poor Clare monasteries, including one in Holland, and led the restoration of two others. She was a strong voice for authentic religious life during the turmoil of the years following Vatican II. In addition to serving as abbess of a convent and of the federation of Colletine Poor Clare monasteries in the U.S., Mother Mary Francis was a prolific writer, producing spiritual meditations, plays, books and poetry. She died February 11, 2006, a few days short of her 85th birthday.