I invite you to spend a few moments in silence now as we try to absorb these simple but powerful Beatitudes, perhaps imagining that we are sitting on the hillside near Galilee, along with all the people who gathered there, looking for Jesus. (pause)
By the time that Jesus preached his beautiful Sermon on the Mount, he had already begun his public ministry and great crowds had begun to follow him. Matthew tells us that on this particular day, “When he saw the crowds he climbed a mountain and his disciples gathered around him.” Luke's Gospel tells us that “He went out to the mountain to pray, spending the night in communion with God. At daybreak he called his disciples and selected twelve of them to be his apostles.” As he descended the mountain with them, the crowds were waiting for him, so he invited everyone to sit on the hillside and began to teach his disciples as the crowd listened.
With much love, he began to talk about how to draw close to God and grow in one's innermost self, about how poverty, sorrow, suffering and persecution can be transforming, and about how single-heartedness, hunger for justice, mercy, meekness, and peacemaking can lead to new life and great joy! His sermon was not a set of rules to follow, but instead was a calling to live in blessed grace, loving God, self, and others and bringing about peace to everyone.
How blessed are we today to sit here quietly on the mountainside listening to Jesus calling us to blessedness, to inner strength, and to yearning for healing in our world. How blessed are we today to be in union with the Communion of Saints, celebrating together the lives of those who have gone home to God throughout the years, and especially this past year, the Blessed whom we have known and loved personally, including our beloved sister and friend, SisterEileen Richard Leavy, who died just yesterday. If she had waited just one more day, she could have stood up here, telling the story of the Beatitudes without saying a word! And so, Eileen, along with all who have lived before us in faithfulness to the Beatitudes, your journey is our journey still.
As we celebrate and contemplate today, perhaps we can also listen to the words of Pope Francis to understand more fully what our call is in this particular time. In 2016, during his visit to Sweden, Pope Francis spoke on All Saints' Day about how new situations require new energy and new commitment. I believe we are keenly aware of this today! Pope Francis stated, “As Christian saints have done throughout the ages, Christ's followers today are called to confront the troubles and anxieties of our age with the spirit and love of Jesus.” He then proposed six additional Beatitudes for us in this twenty-first-century world:
“Blessed are those who remain faithful while enduring evils inflicted on them by others and forgive them from their heart.
Blessed are those who look into the eyes of the abandoned and marginalized and show them their closeness.
Blessed are those who see God in every person and strive to make others also discover him.
Blessed are those who protect and care for our common home.
Blessed are those who renounce their own comfort in order to help others.
Blessed are those who pray for full communion among Christians.”
Ten years later, in this time of great sinfulness, it is more urgent than ever to hold these Beatitudes of Pope Francis and the Beatitudes of Jesus in our minds and hearts, and find new ways of living them as fully as possible. Standing on the shoulders of all who have gone before us, may we have the grace, courage, insight and tenacity to follow a “Barefoot Rabbi” in “spirit and in truth.”
– Sister Barbara Paul, OP
A native of St. Louis, Sister Barbara is enjoying the many opportunities for prayer and contemplation in her retirement at Dominican Convent in Sparkill.