01/06/2025

Dear Friends,

             As we begin this new year I think of the blessings Jesus introduced in his Sermon on the Mount: “Blessed are the poor in spirit. . . Blessed are those who mourn . . . Blessed are the meek, the merciful, the pure of heart, the peacemaker, those persecuted for the sake of righteousness. . . .” Pope Francis has called the Beatitudes a Christian’s identity card. And in this time, our time, it is important to realize the immensely counter-cultural import of these qualities in the context of the Roman Empire: a world that honored–that literally deified--might, force, wealth, and ruthlessness, that disdained the weak and powerless, that glorified violence and found cruelty entertaining. In such a world the values blessed by Jesus seemed ridiculous, even subversive--which is why the Beatitudes end with a promise of persecution.

            It becomes ever clearer that we also live in a similar world, governed by a virtual inversion of the Beatitudes. Blessed are the poor in spirit? No, blessed are the billionaires! The poor, the refugees? They are violent invaders, poisoning our blood and eating our pets. Those who mourn the destruction of the earth? Climate change is a hoax: “Drill, baby, drill,” is our mantra. And moreover, all this celebration of glamor, power, wealth, and winning dares to claim Christianity as its own.

            In such a time, it becomes all the more important to remember our identity card, an identity expressed in mercy and compassion, detached from greed and consumerism, with care for God’s earth and its creatures, solidarity with those on the margins, a commitment to peace and the sacredness of life, and the courage to endure the consequences of living out such “foolish and subversive” ideals. Thankfully, almost every book on the Orbis list is an expression of such values. Here is a short reading list:

• THE PRACTICE OF MERCY: Pope Francis, The Works of Mercy; Fratelli Tutti: On Fraternity and Social Friendship; Dorothy Day: Spiritual Writings; Michael Crosby, Spirituality of the Beatitudes

• WELCOMING THE STRANGER: Daniel Groody, A Theology of Migration; Pope Francis, A Stranger and You Welcomed Me; Leo Guardado, The Church as Sanctuary

• CARE FOR THE EARTH: Pope Francis, Laudate Deum; Gary Gardiner, The Earth Cries Out; Elizabeth Johnson, Come, Have Breakfast: Meditations on God and the Earth

• COUNTER-CULTURAL VALUES: Marie Dennis et al., Saint Francis and the Foolishness of God; Elizabeth Hinson-Hasty, The Problem of Wealth; Al Tizon, Christ among the Classes; John Kavanaugh, Following Christ in a Consumer Society

• PEACEMAKING: John Dear, The Gospel of Peace; Pope Francis, Against War; Henri Nouwen, The Road to Peace

• SOLIDARITY WITH THE MEEK: Adam Bucko, Let Your Heartbreak Be Your Guide; Jim Wallis, Joyce Hollyday, eds, Cloud of Witnesses; Paul Farmer and Gustavo Gutiérrez, In the Company of the Poor.

• PERSECUTION FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS SAKE: Elizabeth Gandolfo, Ecomartyrdom in the Americas; Oscar Romero, The Violence of Love; Vincent Harding, Martin Luther King: The Inconvenient Hero

We are grateful for your prayers and support.

With blessings and hope for this New Year,