Iván Pertiné - The Good Sense of Jesus: A Commentary on the Beatitudes

A COMMENTARY ON
THE BEATITUDES

FR. IVN PERTIN

TAN Books
Charlotte, North Carolina

The Good Sense of Jesus, English Translation2018 Fr. Ivn Pertin

Original Spanish edition La Sensatez Cristiana 2016, 2017 Agape Libros, Ivn Pertin

All rights reserved. With the exception of short excerpts used in critical review, no part of this work may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in any form whatsoever, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Scripture texts in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. and are used by permission of the copyright owner. All Rights Reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Excerpts from the English translation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church for use in the United States of America 1994, United States Catholic Conference, Inc.Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Used with permission.

All excerpts from papal homilies, messages, and encyclicals copyright Libreria Editrice Vaticana. All rights reserved.

Cover design by Caroline K. Green

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018963001

ISBN: 978-1-5051-1334-1

Published in the United States by

TAN Books

PO Box 410487

Charlotte, NC 28241

www.TANBooks.com

Printed and bound in the United States of America

Praise for The Good Sense of Jesus! Experience it and know Christ Jesus like never before!

The book The Good Sense of Jesus is very illuminating. I would highlight its distinctively Christian approach, the clear and decided proposal for the life in Christ, the presentation of the Beatitudes with its clarifying elucidations, the Decalogue to achieve peace, and the description of the faith as a response to a Presence.

Daniel Cardinal Sturla, Archbishop of Montevideo, Uruguay

This is not a book to read quickly, nor one to read and set down. You wont be able to. It is a book for praying, for dialoging with the Lord, and also for dialoging with the author from ones own lived experience.

At the end of each talk or chapter, Father Ivn leads you to enter your own interior world and offers opportune questions for assimilating the content and seeing where you stand spiritually.

I am certain that, once youve finished the book, you will experience with Father Pertin that the teaching of Christ is the most sensible, the most fitting for the human heart and the best response to our deepest desires

Bishop Santiago Olivera,
Ordinary for the Military Services in Argentina
From the prologue to the original Spanish edition

These pages will show that Fr. Ivn has clearly been seized by Christ. He is completely taken up with him and driven to share his love, to make him known. There is no greater happiness for human beings, no greater beatitude than Christ himself. Blessed are those who know Christ! this book wants to shout, wants to insist, wants to show the way.

Abbot Jeremy Driscoll, O.S.B.
Abbot of Mount Angel Abbey
Chancellor, Mount Angel Seminary
From the prologue to the English edition

I dedicate this book to all the members
of the Saint John Society.

FOREWORD TO THE
SPANISH EDITION

I N his introduction to this book, the author, Father Ivn Pertin, makes it clear that this work is the fruit of a retreat he preached to the priests of the Saint John Society, of which he is the general director.

That is why I dont need to speak about that in my prologue, but I do want to share my own experience of receiving this book and receiving at the same time the request to share with all of you what the reading has generated in me. And even though Fr. Ivn explains that it was thought about, prayed about, and preached to the priests of the Saint John Society, the universality of what is Christian and Catholic can do great good for all members of the Church.

The Saint John Society is a Society of Apostolic Life born in the bosom of the Diocese of Cruz del Eje, the diocese for which I have had the joy of being pastor for the past eight years. This holy land is preparing to receive the first Argentine priest saint, of the diocesan clergy of Crdoba, our beloved Saint Jos Gabriel del Rosario (Saint Cura Brochero).

It is here, in this diocese, where the societys missionaries took their first steps, approved by then-Bishop Omar Flix Colom, and for this reason the link with the society has been one of esteem and closeness, from the time of its birth until now.

I thank Father Ivn for asking me for this favor. As often happens, the favor was really for me. I began reading and finished reading, very much praying this book from the first pages.

Reading and praying about the Beatitudes and the Sermon on the Mount in this year of mercy has been a very special grace.

This is not a book to read quickly, nor one to read and set down. You wont be able to. It is a book for praying, for dialoging with the Lord, and also for dialoging with the author from ones own lived experience.

At the end of each talk or chapter, Father Ivn leads you to enter your own interior world and offers opportune questions for assimilating the content and seeing where you stand spiritually.

I am certain that, once youve finished the book, you will experience with Father Pertin that the teaching of Christ is the most sensible, the most fitting for the human heart and the best response to our deepest desires.

+SANTIAGO OLIVERA,
Bishop of the Diocese of Cruz del Eje, Crdoba, Argentina

FOREWORD TO THE
ENGLISH EDITION

I am happy to introduce English readers to this book by Fr. Ivn Pertin, a book translated from the Spanish. It shares extensive meditations on the Beatitudes that Fr. Ivn first prepared for members of the Society of Apostolic life of which he is the director, the Saint John Society. The Saint John Society was founded in Argentina, but it has subsequently expanded to Uruguay, the United States, and Italy.

I have known Fr. Ivn and members of his society for some fifteen years now through their association with us at Mount Angel Abbey and Seminary. I came to know him as he has watched over the formation of students of the society who studied with us. I observed him with admiration as he and other members of the society worked in pastoral settings in the Archdiocese of Portland. During these years, my regard for him and the ideals of the society only grew. The members have a deep heart for the New Evangelization, and they very effectively call people to the Gospel, either for a first time or in renewal.

This is why I am happy that this book is available now to English-speaking readers. Although the conferences collected here are directed to priests of the Saint John Society, the reflections can be enriching for any reader, and they are a beautiful window into the spirit of this vigorous and energetic society. Access to the spirit of this society is why this book is important. By following Fr. Ivns conferences, the reader can enter into the details of how the societys members are formed: how they think, how they pray, what they learn to care about, and how they increase their zeal. Preaching the Gospel not only with words but with the authenticity of ones own life is a very serious undertaking. And here we see Fr. Ivn challenging the brothers of his society to the continual conversion that is required of disciples of Christ and servants of the Gospel. Now, by means of this book, this serious effort by the members of the society can become an example and stimulus for others.

The meditation on each beatitude is extensive. The words of Jesus are meditated on in their own right, but then they are explored with many styles of further reflection by Fr. Ivn. For example, he may share his own or others struggles with what Jesus is saying. He works through these and shows a way forward. He brings rich texts from past and present to bear on the different beatitudesin one moment Chrysostom or Ambrose or Augustine and in another Pope Francis or Pope John Paul or Newman or Aquinas. This wide-ranging drawing on the richness of others is typical of the Saint John Society. These are the ingredients of what I noted there is to emulate in them: how they are formed, how they think, how they pray, what they learn to care about, and how they increase their zeal. All this is shared now beyond the society and with the reader of this book.