“blessed” meant either consecration, praise, or happiness; and “bliss” became a term for spiritual joy. When this happened a new word was called in to express nonreligious joy, the word “blithe.” And so, in 1746, we find a poet writing to a former friend, “I trust that we shall meet on blither terms.” It is the third use of the word “blessed” that occurs in the Sermon on the Mount. Hence, when Jesus spoke these words he was telling his listeners how they could be deeply, spiritually, and profoundly