“Blessed are you . . .”

The passive tone of the beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount in St. Matthew’s Gospel must be read in concert with the mandate to act in St. Luke’s version of the same event in his Sermon on the Plain. Rev. Abuna Elias Chacour is a Melkite Catholic priest who was born in Biram in Galllee (northern part of Israel). His family and fellow villagers were forced off of their land and out of their homes by the Israelis. He speaks Aramaic, the language that Jesus spoke. He translates the Beatitudes in a more pro-active way. He proposes that Jesus meant: “You who are poor who seek justice – peacemakers – get up, go ahead, do something, about your poverty – justice – peace – and you will be blessed.” Complacency and timidity about our condition in life and our world is not a blessing. But blessed are those who act to benefit themselves and others. So let us get up, go ahead, do something to make life better for ourselves and others.