“He began to teach them, saying: . . .” The Mount of the Beatitudes is at the northwest side of the Sea of Galilee. A small chapel surrounded by a wide balcony provides a panoramic view of the Sea and adjoining hill that slopes down to the water like the end zone of a football stadium. The prevailing winds carry sound up the hill without aid of electronic speakers. People gathered on the slopes to listen to a carpenter whose Life was a Reflection of his Words and a Testament that such Truth and Wisdom is from God. Patriarch Elias Chacour of the Melkite Catholic in the northwest of Israel and southwest of Syria speaks Aramaic, the language Jesus spoke. He says the Beatitudes were NOT Passive, but a Challenge by Jesus to the people who gathered, and to us, to “Get up and do something” to: Identify with the Poor; Mourn the Dead and Help their Survivors; Be Polite and Cooperative; Feed the Hungry; Be Merciful; Have a Pure Heart; Make Peace by Confronting Evil; and Endure Persecution for what Right.
When we do all that we will truly be BLESSED.
