Holiness has the face of the Beatitudes, and the Beatitudes have the face of Jesus Christ. We often risk confusing holiness with an ideal model of life to aspire to, with a set of virtues and behaviours that we would like to assume, with moral codes or paths of spiritual growth, with heroic attitudes… but holiness is first and foremost a person to meet, to enter into communion with, to walk together, someone we wish to resemble. Holiness is Jesus Christ, who lived the joy of the Beatitudes and wishes to share it with us. What does this joy consist of? The answer to this question is very broad. I limit myself to just one point: Beatitude-joy is a joy that can only be declined in the plural. Jesus does not say “blessed is he”, but “blessed are they”. Holiness has the face of that multitude of which the Apocalypse tells: “immense, which no one could count, of every nation, tribe, people and language”. The heroes of this world are lonely, inimitable, unattainable; they shine with strength because they defeat everyone else or simply turn out to be better than them. The saint of the Beatitudes rejoices recognizing that he belongs to an immense crowd. He rejoices in belonging not to himself, nor even to his own perfection, but to God, whose seal he bears on his forehead, and to a holy community, to a holy people.

Commentary by Comunità di Dumenza

Translation by f. Mark Hargreaves, Prinknash Abbey