Just thinking about the beatitudes brings back memories of my mother and our family meals, especially on Sundays. Born the middle child of nine, we each sat around the table eager to share our meal whether breakfast or dinner. However, our mother had one rule, not one morsel of bread until we each had said our grace. That meant reciting at least one of the beatitudes. Sometimes to help speed the process along, we'd look for the shortest verse, like "Jesus wept." But in most cases it was always special to cite one of the beautitudes. It showed a certain "refinement ...