Mulling the Beatitudes

Corita Kent, Beatitudes Wall, 1964

I've stalled in the Beatitudes for two weeks now.  Every time I revisit the words, I find new 
reasons to linger.  Pithy statements.  Deep waters.  Each pronouncement is a riddle.  

The "blessed" are characterized by traits that our world tries to avoid:

Blessed are the poor in spirit.
Blessed are those who mourn.
Blessed are the meek.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness.

We value the rich in spirit.
We value those who are joyful.
We value the self-confident.
We value having received justice.

They strike discord in my spirit.  They seem unnatural, counter-intuitive.  Don't we pity those characterized by these words?  Don't we kindly wish--even pray--for such oppressive circumstances to resolve?

And what does Jesus want me to DO with these statements?  Should I count myself blessed when I match the description, rendering them as a kind of spiritual pep talk? Should I count others blessed when they are mourning or meek and give them the same pep talk? A

What is His purpose in declaring them?  

It's taken me several mornings to get this far. As much as I'd welcome the satisfaction of crossing them off my list and moving on, I'm not nearly there...barely beginning...to think them through.

But, here is a question for today at least:  what does it mean to be blessed?  

We would view the word happy as a synonym for blessed; however, I'm not sure that's the crux of things. To me, blessed is more than a feeling, like happiness.  I would not substitute the word happy for blessed because it's emotion-based, experiential feeling.

But blessed, I suspect it's more of a declaration about reality, a declaration inherently coming from an outside source.

I'm not sure at all about it right now, but at least I have some clear questions.