The Holy Spirit, Pope Francis has pointed out, is the spirit of unity and diversity, of fraternity and freedom, of forgiveness, mercy and renewal (cf. Homily at Pentecost, 4-VI-2017). With the celebration of his coming, the time of Christian Easter is consummated. This is a good occasion to highlight a fundamental aspect in the preparation for the Synod on Youth (October 2018). It is about the beatitudes, a path that Francis wanted to emphasize in the World Youth Days from 2014 to 2016 ( conference ), and which shines in the saints, especially in Mary.

Beatitude means happiness. God has placed in the heart of every human being a natural desire for a happy life.¹. According to the Christian faith, the beatitudes announce a happiness centered on God and, as a consequence, on the material and spiritual needs of others. That happiness will be final only in heaven, with the contemplation and possession of God. On earth we can be happy in an inchoate way through grace, that is, through the unity and friendship of God, which implies the rejection of sin and promotes true beauty and peace.

More than wishes or promises of happiness, the beatitudes are a "congratulation" because those people (the poor in spirit, the humble, those who mourn, those who hunger and thirst for justice, the merciful and clean of heart, those who seek peace or are persecuted for the sake of justice and Christ), because of their fidelity to God, are assured of happiness final. This is why the beatitudes are a proclamation of a joyful hope.

For Christians, the beatitudes are above all the "interior biography" of Jesus Christ, a portrait of his figure. In Jesus the face of divine love is revealed to us as model of holiness and justice in the offering of himself. The beatitudes are at the heart of Jesus' preaching (cf. Mt 5:3-11; Lk 6:20-23).

Secondly, the beatitudes represent the project of the Christian that God has for us, that for which he created us and called us, the Christian vocation. They are not first of all a program for action: "Jesus then specified the duties of his disciples; but before prescribing to them what they should do, he declared what they should be" (G. Chevrot), in union with Jesus and in following him. This is true for each one of us and for the Church, the family of God, as a whole. 

In the beatitudes, Christ invites us to "look with his eyes" and to participate in his feelings and attitudes. We sample how happiness passes through the sincere submission to others, through the offering of oneself in service to God and to others. It teaches us that all this comes from love, the only force that moves and transforms hearts, cultures and the created world. And that this is not for special people, intellectually cultivated elites or minorities with an exquisite Education , but for everyone, also for the simple who have not had the opportunity or the means for a better training .

In this very special sense, the beatitudes are at the heart of Christian anthropology and ethics. They are like a "living" pedagogy of divine wisdom, which paves the way for finding the truest meaning of human life in Christ, for he reveals man to man himself (cf. Gaudium et spes, n. 22).

With the complement of the "invectives" (the "woes" or anti-beatitudes) that St. Luke collects (cf. Lk 6:24-26), and following the teaching of the Old Testament (cf. Jer 17 and Ps 1), Jesus unmasks the false promises and offers, to prevent man from walking towards the truly mortal precipice.

Indeed, as Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Emeritus, has observed. After the experiences of totalitarian regimes and the abuse of economic power, we cannot but note and be grateful for this orientation of the Beatitudes, even if we encounter certain resistance in ourselves, infected as we are by the so-called modern conscience with its self-sufficient way of seeing life.².

For this reason, because of our resistance, we all need conversion. Pope Francis says: "One is not blessed if one is not converted, capable of appreciating and living the gifts of God." (Angelus 29-I-2017). The beatitudes, he explains, are "the ID card of identity of the Christian". And he invited us to take up these pages of the Gospel and reread them more often, to live to the end this "program of holiness" that goes "against the tide" with respect to the mentality of the world. A simple and at the same time difficult program of life, which is completed with that which Jesus proposes in chapter 25 of the Gospel of St. Matthew, which in turn is translated into the works of mercy (cf. Homily in Santa Marta, 9-VI-2014).  

The beatitudes, the Pope pointed out, are the bearers of a revolutionary novelty. They proclaim as victors those who are usually considered "losers" (cf. Ibid.). And so, connecting with today's vocabulary, the beatitudes are like "the navigator for our Christian life"(Homily at Santa Marta, 6-VI-2016).

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1- On the Beatitudes, see the Catechism of the Catholic Church, particularly nn. 1718-1729, 2548; Compendium, 350-362.

2- Cf. J. Ratzinger, The Beatitudes, in his book Jesus of Nazareth, I. From the Baptism to the Transfiguration, ed. La esfera de los libros, Madrid 2007, 97-129, 127. On the Beatitudes, see also: R. Cantalamessa, Las Bienaventuranzas evangélicas, Lumen, Barcelona 2011; G. Chevrot, Las Bienaventuranzas, Rialp, Madrid 2006; J. Dupont, El mensaje de las bienaventuranzas, Verbo Divino, Estella (Navarra, 1990); C. Martini, Las Bienaventuranzas, San Pablo, Bogotá 2004.