Rising in Good Company

welcome to the final week of our journey through the Beatitudes — the opening movement of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount.

Over these weeks we have opened our hands. We have allowed ourselves to mourn. We have stepped off the treadmill of comparison. We have hungered for something more than what empire offers. We have practiced mercy, and discovered what it means to see clearly, and learned the slow work of making peace.

Today we arrive at the place Jesus saved for last. Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of justice. Blessed are you when people revile you and say all manner of evil against you falsely.

It is not the ending we might have chosen. But it may be exactly the ending we need.