"Blessed are they who suffer persecution for justice sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven."The final beatitude is a natural following from the previous beatitude of peace and justice. For in trying to maintain peace through justice, you will often find rejection and persecution. It may not come in the form of being thrown to the lions, beheaded and burned at the stake, but it will be there equally as painful in its more subtle forms.
This last beatitude, just like the very first one, promises the Kingdom of Heaven as its reward. After all, what is Heave but God Himself - the first and last - the Alpha and the Omega. And all the beatitudes in between promise God as well through purity, peace,
satisfaction, comfort, mercy, and meekness.
This beatitude calls for the cardinal virtue of Fortitude. The fourth Beatitude was about hunger and thirst for justice and required the virtue of Patience, a passive acceptance of God's will while searching for justice. The sixth Beatitude required the virtue of
diligence and perseverance as we steadfastly persisted in our single hearted search for Love. Now n the eighth Beatitude, we will require a similar but stronger virtue - that of Fortitude. Fortitude is obstinate and unflinching courage, and requires much endurance.
Because of the persecution involved in this Beatitude, and because we will now have to face the ultimate challenge, we will need more than passive patience or dogged diligence - you will need guts, stamina, and "true grit." This virtue entails more aggressiveness than the other two virtues, but not activity in its ordinary sense.
Let us first discuss the various types of persecution for justice sake we can encounter, and how this virtue will play its part. How can promoting justice within our family, community, and place of business cause persecution?
See what happens when your children approach you to choose sides in a sibling argument and you, in all justice, take Mary's doll away from Jane and return it to Mary. Jane will be most upset and insist you don't love her anymore. Or what about your teenagers, when the youngest feels it should be equal to and enjoy the same privileges as the older, and in your firmness to treat each one as an individual, you will be misunderstood and accused of prejudice. Then, there are parents who love you so much, but find it difficult to let go or make it nearly impossible to choose between their needs and your own; a choice against them could cause hurt feelings and even alienation. And what if we have a spouse and they are involved in something illegal or unethical and we feel morally compelled to speak out against the situation to them and risk becoming a victim of their anger, violence, or even separation.
So far I have only mentioned possibilities within the family, but what about our communities we live in, whether religious, parish, or civil. Injustices can penetrate even the most holy of sanctuaries as often as it does the courts and halls of justice. Whenever we speak out about someone unjustly accused, or openly dispute an erroneous idea, or even refuse to participate in some else's wrong doing, you will be risking rejection, alienation, ridicule, and maybe even revenge. Many who's job it is to enforce the law and justice of the land become subject to physical violence, verbal abuse, and possible
assassination. Even careers in the Peace Corps often put some in a position to stand up for the principles and rights of the people they serve and, in an alien land, this can bring repression, prosecution, and even death as in the case of the Sisters and lay worker in El
Salvador many years ago.
Yes, in order to bravely and courageously defend your principles and proclaim what is just, you will have more than enough share of persecution within a life time. Fortitude gives the strength and courage needed to stand firm during these trials. This is why we
should never seek out to create crosses for ourselves unnecessarily. God, in His Wisdom, has ordained that life should supply us with just enough crosses to build our courage, shape our character, temper our spirits, and humble our pride. Let us pray that we have the fortitude and strength to meet the challenges and turn our crosses to graces.
So let us now turn to our Carmelite Saints and Contemporary Contemplatives for their words of advice concerning this.
The first and very important guide for Fortitude (besides Christ Himself) is our Carmelite Mother, St. Teresa of Avila. In the book of her life alone, she discussed courage and fortitude 51 times. In reading her life, one can see how this virtue began unfolding in her
childhood when she thought about running away to martyrdom with her brother. Then as a teenager recognizing and attempting to rid herself of the seeds of vanity, and later entering the convent only because she felt it would save her soul. She had no idea that God was leading her in this way down the road of perfection and union. It was through subsequent growth in her spiritual life and consolations of the highest degree that persecution entered her life, but at the same time developed her virtue of Fortitude to withstand the trials.
One particular quote is from the "Life," Chapter 31, item 17: "A soul that God permits to advance in this way before the eyes of the world can well prepare itself for martyrdom at the hands of this world,...because if it doesn't want to die to the world, the world will itself put it to death...Seeing the soul begin, the world wants it to be perfect, and at a thousand leagues distance, it thinks something is a fault which perhaps is a virtue...great courage is necessary because the poor soul has not begun to walk, and they want it to be flying." In this early stage of spiritual development, God provides the person with the courage and fortitude needed through consolations so that it will be eager to draw nearer to Him in spite of the difficulties encountered.
Later as the soul becomes developed and perfected in this virtue, it desires to be more perfect and help others by its experiences by becoming more active in just causes and to reject evil. But in so doing, there will be peoples and powers that will rise up to discredit and intimidate you. In Teresa's Life, Chapter 32, Item 13, she described the persecution she received in trying to reform her Order. "Hardly had the knowledge of it begun to spread throughout the city when the great persecution...came upon us: gossip, derision, saying it was foolishness...He (God) told me that in this I would see what the saints who had founded religious orders had suffered and that I would have to suffer much more persecution than I could imagine..."
St. John of the Cross also had to suffer much in assisting St. Teresa in the reformation. Before he met Teresa, he had been ridiculed and diverted from his contemplative and interior desires. So much so that he considered leaving the Carmelite Order for a more austere order until he met Teresa who provided him the opportunity and courage to help change and reform the Order. Later, of course, he even suffered prison for pursuing his cause, but through this persecution came the most beautiful spiritual canticle. John had a
quiet inner fortitude that showed more in his tenacious and persistent spirit and in his intellectual writings.
Another little known Carmelite, who will surely become better known and possibly canonized later, is the oldest of the three children of Fatima, Sr. Lucia or Lucy. It is my understanding she became a nun in a different religious order shortly after the death of the younger children partly to get away from the thousands of people who plagued her daily out of either adulation or curiosity. Later, she transferred to the Carmelite Order to become more secluded from the world and ponder the secrets within. My point is to mention the persecution and suffering imposed on the children while they tried wit courage and fortitude to deliver the message of Fatima. Maybe the future will reveal a deeper, intimate look at the life of Sr. Lucy and her secrets of Fatima.
Let us now quickly consider our other Contemporary Contemplatives before concluding the Beatitudes.
The late Archbishop Martinez, in his book "The Sanctifier," treated each beatitude as a step up the spiritual ladder to union, with this Beatitude being the final step. For having suffered persecution for our principles and faith, we become purified as gold - and only pure gold is worthy of direct contact with the Divine Spouse. It is in this union that we obtain the Kingdom of Heaven promised from the beginning and in the final step.
And Father Thomas Merton, in his "New Seeds of Contemplation," Chapter 33, states: "The man who does not permit his spirit to be beaten down and upset by dryness and helplessness, but who lets God lead him peacefully through the wilderness...will be brought to the Promised Land. He will taste the peace and joy of union with God."
So as we conclude our treatise on the Beatitudes, we can see that each develops our virtues and leads us by our Secular Promise to seek evangelical perfection in the spirit and counsels of the Beatitudes, to ultimate union with god. This is what St. Teresa and St. John of the Cross taught and lived and passed on to us.
Beatitude means blessedness and consummate bliss. Let us pray that by our practice of these eight, we will come to experience this bliss, and God's Kingdom on earth as it is in Heaven.
(From the writings of Sr. Patricia of Mary Magdalene)
