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One of the things I love about reading Julian in Middle English is that you get a much fuller sense of the meaning of "blessedness." For instance, what we might call the "blessed" or "holy" Trinity, Julian says "blissefull." Full of bliss.
Blessedness, then, isn't just a vague mark of something divine. It is a real state of being--being filled with joy. And no superficial joy either. The sort of joy that can persist through terror and woe. A Heavenly joy.
We have a similar sense in the Gospels too, through μακαριος, which might be verbosely translated as "happy and abundantly provided for"
"Blessed are the poor" for instance then doesn't mean "God loves the poor" (though this is certainly a true statement). Rather, it means that the poor are full of joy in God.
Matthew's turn on this phrase--"poor in spirit"--is interesting too. It hasn't always been clear what it meant to be poor in spirit, but I think Matthew means something like a "dark night of the soul."
This also has me thinking about the verbal form of "bless." When God blesses things, this makes sense to me--God makes us blissful. But when we "bless the Lord" or saints" I would think the word would have to be taken in a different way. Perhaps we recognize their existing bliss?
