Beatitudes, Law of the New Covenant – Leo the Great

Leo’s exegesis of these important verses of St. Matthew’s Gospel is one of the most important patristic commentaries on the Beatitudes.  Christ, the New Moses chooses to give his Sermon on a Mount to show that he is the new Moses, teaching the new law of the new covenant.  Regarding the first beatitude “blessed are the poor in spirit,” Leo makes clear that it is not economic poverty that is blessed, but that poverty of spirit called humility.

Dearly beloved, when our Lord Jesus Christ was preaching the Gospel of the kingdom and healing various illnesses throughout the whole of Galilee, the fame of his mighty works spread into all of Syria, and great crowds from all parts of Judea flocked to the heavenly physician.

Because human ignorance is slow to believe what it does not see, and equally slow to hope for what it does not know, those who were to be instructed in the divine teaching had first to be aroused by bodily benefits and visible miracles so that, once they had experienced his gracious power, they would no longer doubt the wholesome effect of his doctrine.

Sermon on the Mount – Law of the New Covenant

In order, therefore, to transform outward healings into inward remedies, and to cure men’s souls now that he had healed their bodies, our Lord separated himself from the surrounding crowds, climbed to the solitude of a neighboring mountain, and called the apostles to himself.

From the height of this mystical site he then instructed them in the most lofty doctrines, suggesting both by the very nature of the place and by what he was doing that it was he who long ago had honored Moses by speaking to him. At that time, his words showed a terrifying justice, but now they reveal a sacred compassion, in order to fulfill what was promised in the words of the prophet Jeremiah: Behold the days are coming, says the Lord, when I shall establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. After those days, says the Lord, I shall put my laws within them and write them on their hearts  [Jer. 31:31, 33].

Beatitudes – the portrait of a Disciple

And so it was that he who had spoken to Moses spoke also to the apostles. Writing in the hearts of his disciples, the swift hand of the Word composed the ordinances of the new covenant. And this was not done as formerly, in the midst of dense clouds, amid terrifying sounds and lightning, so that the people were frightened away from approaching the mountain. Instead, there was a tranquil discourse which clearly reached the ears of all who stood nearby so that the harshness of the law might be softened by the gentleness of grace, and the spirit of adoption might dispel the terror of slavery.

Concerning the content of Christ’s teaching, his own sacred words bear witness; thus whoever longs to attain eternal blessedness can now recognize the steps that lead to that high happiness.

For the next section of Leo’s homily, on the first of the Beatitudes dealing with poverty of spirit, click here.

For even more of St. Leo the Great on the Beatitudes, read the post by Leo on Blessed are the Peacemakers.

This post on the Sermon on the Mount as the law of the New Covenant is the beginning  of St. Leo the Great’s Sermon 95 on the Beatitudes (verses 1-2: PL 54, 461-462).  It appears in the Roman Office of Readings for Thursday of the 22nd week in Ordinary Time.

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