August 17, 2012 – Catechism 1720 – 1729
I think whenever we hear the word beatitude we automatically think of Christ Beatitudes.  And that is good, but the Catechism speaks of living with a “beatitude”.  “Such beatitude surpasses the understanding and powers of man”.  (1722)  So what does the word beatitude mean.  According to dictionary.com it means “supreme blessedness; exalted happiness.”  So, when you are reading this section of the Catechism, don’t always think of the 8 specific Beatitudes, but think about the noun itself.  Beati – from the same root where we get Beatific vision (Heaven).
“The beatitude we are promised confronts us with decisive moral choices. It invites us to purify our hearts of bad instincts and to seek the love of God above all else.”  So many things in the world have been accepted as natural and okay to do just because they feel good or give us pleasure.  We are called to have self-control over our bodies, to keep those feelings in check, to choose the right way over the more pleasurable way.  The beatitude is about ridding yourself of this need for pleasure, the need to always feel good, it seeks to bring us in line with God’s plan for us. 
And the next time you hear someone say something about suppressing our desires and not fulfilling all of our every physical need is not natural, you tell them that you agree 100%.  We cannot do it on our own, we need help, we need God’s help, and to accomplish it is “supernatural”.