For we are wide of the mark, I think, when we use the word “blessed” to describe ourselves in light of those things that bring us comfort or prestige, as sometimes happens, for example, when a person is interviewed on TV after winning an event or a prize, and the interviewer puts the microphone near that person’s face, and asks them what they are feeling. It seems, anyway, on these occasions, that we forget this word’s other meaning. If we want to use the word “blessed” as Jesus meant it (and maybe we do not, who is to say?), really we should think of situations that are spiritually grueling, and that have broken us. We are blessed, for example, when, judged by humankind, justly or not, ostracized, unseen by those we thought loved us, and brought to a lowly place, far from anyone who would befriend us, we find ourselves still alive. For it is then that we must face our wretchedness, and try to become our true selves. It is then that we might draw closer to God.