Blessed are the people of Minneapolis

IV Sunday A Matthew 5:1-12a When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him. He began to teach them, saying: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven."

The beatitudes, the Gospel for next Sunday. The Gospel that I believe that the Redemptorist need to preach today. The Gospel that our country needs today. The gospel that was written for Minneapolis today. We need to remember that it is not addressed to all people indiscriminately, but to the disciples, to those who have left all to follow Jesus. Others, who have not left all to follow Jesus will never be able to understand this, Gospel. As Redemptorists we need to live this gospel, we need to preach this gospel. I read this Gospel keeping in mind what is happening in the US today, most especially in Minneapolis. Blessed are the poor in Spirit. Blessed are Rigoberto and Rosa and their family. Their 5 children were all servers at St. Alphonsus in Brooklyn Center. There oldest son Jesus is a marine. After living here in the US for over 20 years their papers are in “Process” and right now they are hiding in their apartment, afraid to go out of their house. Blessed are they who mourn. Blessed are Michael and Susan Pretti who mourn their son Alex. Blessed are Becca Good and her 3 children who mourn their wife and mother Renee. Blessed are the merciful. Blessed are Anne and Skip Lindquist, parishioners of St. Alphonsus who have made sure that Rigoberto and Rosa have groceries are their table while they are hiding. Blessed are the clean of heart. Blessed is Liam Conejo Ramos of Columbia Heights keeping warm with his bunny ear hat and spider man backpack. A 5-year-old arrested along with his dad as he waited in the cold. Blessed are the peace makers. Blessed are the 100 clergy members who were arrested at a rally for peace at the Minneapolis airport on the 23rd of January. Blessed are the persecuted. The Somali, the Mexicans, the Ecuadorians, the Nigerians, the immigrants, legal and illegal. Blessed are you when they insult you. When they call you insurrectionists, attackers, assaulters, domestic terrorists. Blessed are you when they say you were brandishing a weapon when you had already taken it away from you. Blessed are you when they say you were using your car as a weapon when you were driving away. Yes, the Gospel is being lived today in Minneapolis and we Redemptorist, ministers of Hope in the Footsteps of our Redeemer are called to walk with Rigoberto and Rosa, Michael and Susan, Becca and her children, Anne and Skip, and little Liam. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin said, “Trust in the slow work of God. We are quite naturally impatient in everything to reach the end without delay. We should like to skip the intermediate steps. We are impatient of being on the way to something unknown, something new. And yet, it is the law of progress that is made by passing through some stages of instability, and that it may take a very long time.” Yes, it is taking a very long time. It is easy to give up hope but we are ministers of hope, walking in the footsteps of our Redeemer.