USCCB Associate General Secretary Invites Readers to Connect Faith, Daily Life in Living the Beatitudes

WASHINGTON— “What does it mean to pass beyond fear and live our faith every day?” A new book by the associate general secretary of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) explores this question by drawing on the account of the Beatitudes from the Gospel of St. Matthew. In Living the Beatitudes: A Journey to Life in Christ, published by Pauline Books and Media, Father J. Brian Bransfield examines how the Beatitudes are a daily reality and that the path to holiness is not reserved for a select few, but open to all.

The book uses the anonymous Samaritan woman at the well from the Gospel of St. John as someone whose experiences of being lost, misdirected and searching are reflected in many people’s daily lives. The book draws on the image of the fountain to illustrate God’s love and grace. The image is rooted in the Gospels and the opening words of the second Eucharistic prayer at Mass.

“Grace, God’s love for us, is a strong and persistent fountain that flows into our souls and shows forth in our actions,” said Father Bransfield in the book’s introduction. The book highlights that, no matter how much people search, Jesus is also searching for them in and through the Church. This search, Father Bransfield writes, is carried out in the work of the Holy Spirit who, through his gifts, builds the virtues in people’s hearts that prompt them to live the Beatitudes.

“The most important journey of all is the one we make to God who is the source of life,” wrote USCCB secretary, Bishop George Murry, SJ, of Youngstown, Ohio, in the book’s foreword. “Father Bransfield proposes the mysterious woman at the well as our guide to the Christian virtues we find presented in the Beatitudes, virtues for which we should strive: poverty in spirit, gentleness, solidarity with those who suffer loss, justice, mercy, purity of heart, peace, and the ability to suffer persecution for what is right.”

Father Bransfield is a priest of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. He received his doctorate in moral theology from the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family. He previously served as professor of moral theology at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Philadelphia. He is also the author of the best-selling book, The Human Person: According to John Paul II.

---

Keywords: Father J. Brian Bransfield, Living the Beatitudes: A Journey to Life in Christ, fountain, Samaritan woman, life, Church, faith, disconnect, USCCB, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, associate general secretary, Archdiocese of Philadelphia

# # # # #