very rich and gives freely and
plentifully to the poor and works of charity, and is willing to part
with riches rather than offend God, such a one is poor in spirit and can
be called blessed. It is a great mistake to risk our souls for things we
must leave to others at our death. Sometimes those who leave the
greatest inheritance are soonest forgotten and despised, because the
money or property bequeathed gives rise to numerous lawsuits, quarrels
and jealousies among the relatives, and thus becomes a very curse to
that family, whose members hate one another on its account. Or it may
happen that the heirs thoughtlessly enjoy and foolishly squander the
wealth the man, now dead, has labored so hard to accumulate, while he,
perhaps, is suffering in Hell for sins committed in securing it. Again,
how many children have been ruined through the wealth left them by their
parents! Instead of using it for good purposes they have made it a means
of sin; often lose their faith and souls on account of it; and in their
ingratitude never offer a prayer or give an alms for the soul of the
parent, who in his anxiety to leave all to them left nothing in charity
to the Church or the poor. Surely it is the greatest folly to set our
hearts upon that which can be of no value to us after death. When a
person dies men ask: What wealth has he left behind? But God and the
angels ask, What merits has he sent before him?

(2) "Possess the land"--that is, the promised or holy land, which was a
figure of the Church. Therefore it means the meek shall be true members
of Our Lord's Church here on earth and hereafter in Heaven, and be
beloved by all.

(3) "That mourn." Suffering is good for us if we bear it patiently. It
makes us more like Our Blessed Lord, who was called the Man of Sorrows.

(4) "Justice"--that is, all kinds of virtue. "Filled"--that is, with
goodness and grace. In other words,
if we ask and really wish to become virtuous, we shall become so. St.
Joseph is called in Holy Scripture "a just man," to show that he
practiced every virtue.

(5) If we are "merciful" to others, God will be merciful to us.

(6) "Clean of heart"--that is, pure in thoughts, words, deeds, and
looks.

(7) "Peacemakers." If persons who try to make peace and settle disputes
are called the children of God, those who, on the contrary, try to stir
up dissensions should be called the children of the devil. Never tell
the evil you may hear of another, especially to