The Third Door Blessed are the meek: strong hearts formed by humility Jesus says, Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Meekness is often misunderstood. It is not weakness or passivity. In the Gospel, meekness is strength that comes from humility and trust in God. Jacques Philippe explains that meekness grows directly…
Second Door Blessed are those who mourn: the door where God Himself comes close Today we walk through the second door. Jesus says, Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be consoled. At first hearing, this Beatitude sounds like a contradiction. How can mourning possibly be called blessed Jacques Philippe helps us by saying…
Governing Thesis The necessity of both judgment and redemption – neither makes sense without the other. Everything below serves this claim. Macro-Arc for Isaiah 13-27 (Judgment opening the door for joy; judgment clearing the path for joy) Before we enter some of the most intense chapters in Isaiah, we need to reset how we hear…
First Door Blessed are the poor in spirit: discovering the true source of happiness Today we begin with the first Door. Jesus says, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. We often hear those words, but they can sound frightening. No one wants to feel poor, weak, or inadequate….
Why the Beatitudes, and Why Now? We begin this series in the light of Lent. Every Lent the Church gives us time in the desert so that one question can come to the surface again: How am I to live as a Christian today. Not only what should I give up, but what does my…
X. Final Section Suffering, Transformation, and the Call to Contemplative Union One of the deepest harmonies between David Torkington and the contemporary masters of the spiritual life is their shared conviction that suffering, far from being an interruption to the Christian journey, is the place where God prepares the heart for contemplative union. Torkington teaches…