What does it mean to be blessed?

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Nine times in today’s Gospel (Matthew 5:1-12), Jesus repeats a single word: Blessed. But what does it really mean to be blessed?

Pause for a bit before scrolling down. Remember a time when you felt blessed. Recall the circumstances surrounding that feeling. Why do you say you were blessed then?

What words do you associate with being blessed? Abundance? Joy? Fulfillment? Gift? When can you say someone is blessed?

Now we return to the Gospel to discover the Good News in its definition of being blessed. The first blessing Jesus pronounces is for those who are “poor in spirit.” We can get a clue to what spiritual poverty means when we consider material poverty.

To be poor materially is to not have enough, to lack something vital, to be in need. To be poor spiritually must also be connected to need—a deeper, inner need.

Going through the other seven blessings (also referred to as Beatitudes) in our Gospel today, I find that they are also all connected to need:

Blessed are those who mourn: They need someone to mourn with them. And the promise to them is that they will have someone to comfort them.

Blessed are the meek: Biblical meekness (the word used in the original Greek is praus) is not weakness. It refers to exercising God’s power but with the Lord’s restraint and control. Those who are meek then need God’s strength.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness (in Greek, dikaiosuné): What they long and ache for is not just human justice but what God deems right.

Blessed are the merciful: The promise to them is that they will be shown mercy. What they need, therefore, is to be given mercy. Only when you experience mercy can you give mercy.

Blessed are the pure of heart, those single-minded in their search for God: The promise to them is that they will see the Lord. Their need must be closeness to God. This palpable need keeps them pursuing the Divine.

Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness: They need assurance that while there is suffering, they are on the right path. The promise to them is that their path will lead them to the kingdom of God.

Need may not be a word we readily associate with being blessed, but pulling all of Jesus’ blessings together, he seems to be saying that to be blessed is to need. Even popular culture hints at this truth. Barbra Streisand once sang: “People who need people are the luckiest people in the world.” Listen to her sing this here: 

What is another word for lucky? Fortunate. And what can be another word for fortunate? Blessed. But Barbra is only half right. It’s not just about needing people. There is another theme running through all the Beatitudes: The luckiest and most blessed are those who need God.

Your prayer assignment this week:

Do you need God?

Faith has often been dismissed as nothing more than a crutch for the poor, a support for those who struggle to survive. And it is true that belief often takes root where life feels uncertain and fragile. When people face hunger, homelessness, or sickness, God becomes a source of strength and hope.

Every society has the duty to ensure that food, shelter, and healthcare are within reach for all. Yet even when the burden of material poverty is lifted, another kind of poverty remains. We return to the first blessing of being poor in spirit, the awareness that no amount of comfort or security can fill the deeper emptiness within us—the need for God.

Do you still have a need for God? Wrestle with that question. Maybe you can try singing with Barbra as you do so. But change her lyrics to: “Be a person who needs God. People who need God are the luckiest people in the world.” May this prayer exercise help you get in touch with that “feeling deep in your soul [that] says you were half, now you’re whole.”

Afterword:

Everyone has a need for God, but I think not everyone recognizes it. And even fewer welcome it.

This week, the father of a young Jesuit in my community died because of cancer. This Jesuit will be ordained to the priesthood in a few months. But I can only imagine how the past few months were for him and his family. There must have been excitement for the upcoming ordination, but they were also grappling with the father’s deteriorating health.

Need must have cast its shadow over this family. The need for the father to get better. The need for more time. The need for hope. But need also shed light on them. The young Jesuit shared with me his last conversations with his father. Need connected them more deeply with each other. One of the father’s last wishes: “When I am cremated, wrap my ashes in your deacon stole.”

During this time, the son also saw how strong his father’s faith was. Or maybe this whole ordeal made it stronger. Need connects us more intimately with God. 

The father also told his son, “I will not be there when you are ordained. When you lie prostrate in front of the altar and the whole church sings the litany of the saints, I will be somewhere else. But it will be a better place. You will be singing to the saints and asking for their prayers. I will be singing with them and praying to God for you.”

Need connects us to people. Need connects us to God. And need helps us see things in a new light. But for need to be a blessing, we need to recognize it and welcome it.

When I share real-life stories like this, I usually keep the people involved anonymous. But with the permission of the son, I will tell you the name of the father: Bienvenido. Welcome.

Fr. Francis teaches Theology, Education and Scripture at both the Ateneo de Manila University and Loyola School of Theology. As a classroom teacher, he is first and foremost a student. As a professor, he sees himself primarily as a pastor.