The Bishop of Vitoria, Juan Carlos Elizalde, has written that the heart of Pope Francis' exhortation (Gaudete et exsultate) on holiness is the speech of the Beatitudes and the parable of the Last Judgment. This is so, not only because they occupy the central (third) chapter of the document, but also because they represent the root and center of Christian holiness.

The Beatitudes constitute, in fact, "the Christian's identity card". In his book "Happiness where we do not expect it", Jacques Philippe writes that the text of the beatitudes "contains all the novelty of the Gospel, all its wisdom and its power to deeply transform the heart of man and renew the world" (La felicidad donde no se espera: meditación sobre las Bienaventuranzas, Rialp, Madrid 2018).

In them," says Francis, "we see the face of the Master, which we are called to make transparent in our daily lives" (n. 63). He adds that the beatitudes propose a lifestyle "against the current" with respect to many trends in today's world. An environment that propagates hedonistic consumerism and polemics, easy success and ephemeral joys, post-truth and its subterfuges, the primacy of the self and relativism. On the other hand, the beatitudes - says Philippe - propose an "unexpected happiness", linked to a "surprise from God", "a gratuitous gift of the consoling Spirit"....

The Beatitudes, the Pope warns, are not an easy or flattering proposal : "We can only live them if the Holy Spirit invades us with all his power and frees us from the weakness of selfishness, community and pride" (n. 65).

J. Philippe also underlines this role of the Holy Spirit in making us live the beatitudes, in the framework that the Triune God offers us and gives us to participate. In drawing the face of God, the beatitudes also show us the face of God the Father: his mercy, his tenderness, his generosity that transforms us interiorly and gives us a new heart. "The beatitudes are nothing other than the description of this new heart that the Holy Spirit forms in us, which is the same heart of Christ".

This is why, as this author recalls in his introduction, the medieval theologians relate the beatitudes to the seven gifts of the Spirit. In this sense, the beatitudes are Jesus' answer to the question of how to welcome the work of the Holy Spirit, the action of divine grace. They are both fruits and conditions of the Spirit's action. In their coherence and profound unity, the beatitudes are a way staff of human and Christian maturity, and at the same time a necessary framework of family, social and ecclesial life, a way and a pledge of the Kingdom of God. 

Francis underlines some aspect of each beatitude. The Gospels link "poverty of spirit" as a virtue (which leads to interior freedom) to "plain" poverty, which implies "an austere and stripped-down existence" (n. 70) and sharing the life of those most in need. We are invited to be meek, also like Jesus, to humbly reject conceit and to bear with the faults of others, not to be scandalized by their weaknesses" (n. 72).

They invite us "not to conceal reality" (n. 75) by turning our backs on suffering; to understand, console and help others. To live justice concretely, as was already called for in the Old Testament: with the oppressed, the orphans and the widows. To look and act with mercy, to give and to forgive, knowing that in that measure we will be judged ourselves, for we are all "an army of the forgiven" (n. 72).

The Gospels ask us to take care of the desires and intentions of the heart, rejecting "what is not sincere, but only shells and appearances" (n. 84). They urge us to seek to resolve conflicts, to be peacemakers, which requires "serenity, creativity, sensitivity and skill" (n. 89). They encourage us to overcome some of the "problems" that the path of holiness brings: mockery, slander, persecution.

All this is beautifully expressed by the "great protocol" by which we will be judged. It is a detailed explanation of the Beatitude that represents them all: mercy: "For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, sick and you visited me, in prison and you came to see me" (Mt 25:35-36). This text, writes St. John Paul II, "is not simply an invitation to charity: it is a page of Christology, which illumines the Mystery of Christ". Francis notes that it "reveals the very heart of Christ, his deepest sentiments and choices" (n. 96). And he insists that mercy is the beating heart of the Gospel (n. 97).

Bishop Elizalde rightly emphasizes that it is a harmful error to disassociate charitable action from the relationship staff with the Lord, since it turns the Church into an NGO (cf. n. 100). But it is also an ideological error to be systematically suspicious of the social commitment of others, "considering it something superficial, worldly, secularist, immanentist, communist, populist" (n. 101).

Indeed. As his predecessors, St. John Paul II and Benedict XVI, have already pointed out, Francis declares it necessary to keep alive both the promotion and defense of life together with social sensitivity for those in need: "The defense of the innocent unborn, for example, must be clear, firm and passionate, because there the dignity of human life, always sacred, is at stake, and love for each person beyond his or her development demands it. But equally sacred is the life of the poor who have already been born, who struggle in misery, (...) and in every form of discarding" (n. 101). Migration is no less important than bioethics (cf. n. 102).

The third chapter of Gaudete et exsultate ends with a call to Christian coherence. Worship of God and prayer must lead us to mercy towards others, which is, as St. Thomas Aquinas reminds us, "the sacrifice that pleases him most" (S. Th, II-II, q30, a4). On the other hand, as St. Teresa of Calcutta said, "if we are too busy with ourselves, we will have no time left for others".

And so the Pope concludes with these words: "The strength of the witness of the saints lies in living the beatitudes and the protocol of the Last Judgment. These are few words, simple, but practical and valid for everyone, because Christianity is primarily to be practiced, and if it is also an object of reflection, it is only valid when we financial aid live the Gospel in daily life. I strongly recommend rereading these great biblical texts frequently, remembering them, praying with them, trying to make them flesh. They will do us good, they will make us genuinely happy" (n. 109).