Can someone explain to me the Church's view on the Beatitudes?

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Here is the passage from the Gospel of Saint Matthew which is a quote of what Jesus said for the Beatitudes:

Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. "Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so men persecuted the prophets who were before you.
(Matthew 5:1-12 RSV-CE)

Jesus basically says that the poor in spirit, those who mourn, those who are meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, those who merciful, those who pure in heart, those who are peacemakers, and those who are persecuted for righteousness are blessed? What do all these things mean? What does He mean by being poor in the spirit, mourning, etc?

I know this may seem like a simple question but I don’t understand the qualities He is talking about and the parts where he says for example of the poor in spirit that theirs is the kingdom of Heaven for example and the other parts of each blessed are sentence . Could someone please explain these things to me in simple terms? Thank you.
 
I’ve been reading a detailed analysis of the gospel of Matthew in a book on patristic commentaries by the early church fathers. This is where a commentary beats a study bible, for example.

In the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture from Intervarsity press, all of these points are brought out. In particular, the first of its two volumes on the gospel of Mt has one perspective on what you’re looking for.

There are some very detailed and insightful comments going back to the early times in the Church.

Chromatius of Aquilaia, if you’ve never heard of him, is well-known for his extended commentary on the gospel of Mt. The book says that early Christians were relatively unfamiliar with the other gospels or even the Old Testament, so the gospel of Mt was the common currency of homilies.

Marcus Grodi of EWTN fame gave a talk at the EWTN family celebration at Northern Illinois University a few years ago. This talk was on the meaning of the beatitudes, based on a homily of Chromatius. IT IS WORTH shopping for the video of this conference and listening to his entire talk, which I cannot possibly reproduce here.

But, basically, the poor in spirit are those who detach themselves as much as possible from worldly issues and live a life of dependency on God and on God’s word in the Bible.You can oversimplify this and say that the first beatitude is about being humble, depending on God rather than on yourself, spiritually.

If you spend some time doing this and reforming your life, then you progress to the second beatitude, mourning. But, mourning for what? for your past sinfulness and for the sinfulness of others.

Etc. the beatitudes build on each other. But, as we progress upward, sort of as up a staircase, we’re still at the levels of the preceding beatitudes as we move upward. The staircase analogy breaks down a little bit here, but it is still handy to think about it this way.

I would say the beatitudes were a mystery to me until I heard Grodi, on CD. The ACCS does not contain Grodi’s argument; it is a very good verse-by-verse commentary on the beatitudes.

The Church does not have an official interpretation for most of scripture (see The New Jerome Biblical Commentary, for a discussion of official interpretations). The Jewish Study Bible says that Judaism also does not have anything like a central magisterium or an official interpretation of any scripture, for comparison. I’m saying, don’t be surprised by this situation.

I heard a priest on EWTN say that the “poor in spirit” are those who are “poor in every way.” Not really. You won’t find anything anywhere that says that poverty is a virtue, in itself. Poor in spirit refers to true humility, in making God the King of your life. That is the first step in developing holiness.
 
Holly3278 said:
Here is the passage from the Gospel of Saint Matthew which is a quote of what Jesus said for the Beatitudes:

Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. "Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so men persecuted the prophets who were before you.
(Matthew 5:1-12 RSV-CE)

Jesus basically says that the poor in spirit, those who mourn, those who are meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, those who merciful, those who pure in heart, those who are peacemakers, and those who are persecuted for righteousness are blessed? What do all these things mean? What does He mean by being poor in the spirit, mourning, etc?

I know this may seem like a simple question but I don’t understand the qualities He is talking about and the parts where he says for example of the poor in spirit that theirs is the kingdom of Heaven for example and the other parts of each blessed are sentence . Could someone please explain these things to me in simple terms? Thank you.
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I recommend you read the book Jesus of Nazareth by Pope Benedict XVI. He gives an excellent commentary on the Beatitudes.
 
in agreement with the preceding post, yes, Benedict’s book is very good on this subject.

Jesus is revealed as God and LawGiver and Judge.

He is revealed as speaking with authority, like none of the scribes, for example.

The Beatitudes are what you might call the commandments of the New Testament.

The ACCS commentary I referred to previously has an detailed exposition of Ch 5 to 7 of Mt’s gospel. It may be good from a theological point of view, certainly from a homiletic point of view.

Jesus mentions dogs and swine and wolves. The ‘fathers’ are always looking for the metaphorical/allegorical explanation. e.g. what are the pearls that Jesus does not want us to cast before swine?

the dogs are people who openly attack the gospel teaching, swine are people who trample on it openly. Wolves come in sheep’s clothing - people who are hypocritical, especially wanting to impress you (like in writing detailed posts) but who do not really possess gospel qualities and faith. The commentary calls them “frauds” when it comes to matters of faith – like people who wear crucifix jewelry for display, but for whom the crucifix has little other meaning. Or think of people who get elaborate religious tatoos (like the Blessed Virgin Mary) but for who that tatoo means something entirely different.
 
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