#beatitude

Here we must take account of one of St. Thomas's conceptual distinctions, which at first seems like unnecessary caviling. It is the distinction between "uncreated" and "created" happiness. We have here something which, while not at all obvious, is nevertheless fraught with consequences for our whole feeling about life. Namely, this: what does indeed make us happy is the infinite and uncreated richness of God; but participation in this, happiness itself, is entirely a "creatural" reality governed from within by our humanity; it is not something that descends overwhelmingly upon us from outside. That is, it is not only something that happens to us; we ourselves are intensely active participants in our own happiness. Beatitude - Thomas is saying - cannot possibly be conceived as a merely objective condition of sheer existence. It is not a mere quality, not pure passivity, not simply a feeling. It is something that takes place in the alert core of the mind... Happiness is an act and an activity of the soul. ↗

— Josef Pieper

#aquinas #beatitude #god #happiness #st-thomas

Blessed are they who have the gift of making friends, for it is one of God's best gifts. It involves many things, but above all, the power of going out of one's self and appreciating whatever is noble and loving in another. ↗

— Thomas Hughes

#love

Blessed are the dumbfucks. ↗

— Christopher Moore

#christ

For some reason, the most vocal Christians among us never mention the Beatitudes (Matthew 5). But, often with tears in their eyes, the demand that the Ten Commandments be posted in public buildings. And of course, that's Moses, not Jesus. I haven't heard one of them demand that the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes, be posted anywhere. "Blessed are the merciful" in a courtroom? "Blessed are the peacemakers" in the Pentagon? Give me a break! ↗

— Kurt Vonnegut

#christ #christian #christianity #jesus #christ

Blessed is the man who, having nothing to say, abstains from giving us wordy evidence of the fact. ↗

— George Eliot

#blessings #loquacity #remaining-silent #reticence #silence

Blessed are the cracked, for they shall let in the light. ↗

— Groucho Marx

#paraphrased #light

Blessed are the forgetful, for they get the better even of their blunders. ↗

— Friedrich Nietzsche

#bless #blessed #blunders #forget #forgetful

Mrs. Lynde says, 'Blessed are they who expect nothing for they shall not be disappointed. ↗