Blessed.

by our three missionaries currently serving in Chimbote, Peru.

We spent this past week in retreat, and one of the fruits of our reflection was to write beatitudes using our own style.  As suggested by Hermana Katty, who directed our retreat, we decided to share them with you!  We hope that they will shed some light onto the presence of Jesus here in Chimbote.

by Emily Ruskamp

Blessed be the mother who, for love of her family, sells candies in the street all day long, subject to the insults or ignorant dismissal of passersby, and blessed be those who befriend her.

Blessed be the grandfather who can no longer feed or bathe himself, and blessed be the granddaughter who feeds and bathes him.

Blessed be the youth who acknowledges the restlessness he or she feels and seeks a deeper meaning in life, and blessed be those who take time out of their day to listen and humbly share from their own journeys.

Blessed be the child robbed of his or her childhood, and blessed be the adults who give patience, time, and affection in hopes of giving them a better present and a better future.

Blessed be the public official who sincerely works for the common good, and blessed be those who demand it.

Blessed be those who give a simple smile, a minute of conversation, a bite of their ice cream, and blessed be those who receive it.

Blessed be the friend who speaks out when the majority is in the wrong and is silent when it is someone else’s turn to shine.

Blessed be Chimbote.   

by Marcelle Keating

Blessed are those who suffer from an advanced disease, who have no access to pain medicine or doctors.

Blessed are those who share the joy of music that expands the mind and lifts the spirit.

Blessed are generous of spirit who welcome the traveler and share their culture; may they know how beautiful they are.

Blessed are those who make the most of what they have and find solace in the love of God.

by Kelli Nelson

Blessed are they who accept the challenge to live the way of love, for they have encountered the mystery and now know what they must do.

Blessed are they who weave compassion and solidarity, for the tapestry of peace that they create on earth shall lead them to God’s.

Blessed are they who seek you, have lost you, resist you, want you, for when they need it the most your grace will find them and fill them, lead them and send them.

Blessed are they who perhaps suffer the most, whether that be inflicted by self or others, knowingly, unknowingly, for they are in many ways closer to the truth.

Blessed are they who attempt to see your immense beauty in all living things, all creation, for they shall know you profoundly and be moved by your contagious love.

Blessed are they who share joy with others, signs of your love manifested physically, for they shall infect others and come to know communion.

And, Spirit of Love, blessed be La Balanza, for generational poverty will not be the end of a people whose hope and strength lies in you.

Blessed be the pregnant mother who sits outsides her home each day holding her side waiting for the pain to end from the child she does not want, for they are gifts, the mom-someone’s hero, and yet she does not know it.

Blessed be the six children who day after day are locked in their home waiting for someone to return, hands reaching out of the holes in the door, crying, wanting, for they are ours, they are God’s and only seek love, hold them.

Blessed be the fourteen year old sold for sex because that’s what happened to her mother and to her grandmother, for she has a future and is ready to open the windows of her soul to you to end this cycle.

Blessed be all of them…

The man killed by a government, the one who pulled the trigger, the nonviolent peacemakers who prayed for an alternative end, the dad who steals for his family, the boy of four years who sells gum to buy bread, the ill grandparent calling for rest,  the growing missionary and her community…

And the sky, majestic waters, your whisper in the wind, for we will listen and go.