John Dear - The Beatitudes of Peace: Meditations on the Beatitudes, Peacemaking & the Spiritual Life

In this beautiful book, Father John Dear describes the Beatitudes and the Sermon on the Mount as the blueprint for Christian discipleship, the job description of every Christian.

It is good to have a blueprint, and what better blueprint for those of us who wish to be followers of Jesus than the gospels and the teachings of Jesus as recorded in Matthew 57, The Sermon on the Mount.

I am reminded of the words of the late American theologian Fr. John L. McKenzie, who wrote, You cannot read the gospels and not know that Jesus was totally nonviolent.

After calling his disciples, Jesus, the prophet and teacher, told them how to find True Happiness in the Sermon on the Mount. Little wonder then that we are told that crowds flocked to listen to Jesus. He touched upon what every heart wishes exactly to know how to be happy.

In the Beatitudes, Jesus explains how the motive and the heart must be pure, and the greatest desire must be to do what God requires. Then Jesus assures the crowd that God will satisfy them fully! Everything must be done in a spirit of humility, knowing that we are spiritually poor. Everything must be done in a spirit of mercy and love.

We are also told in the Sermon of the Mount, Happy are those who work for peace; God will call them his children. Finally, we are reminded to be happy even when we are insulted and persecuted because we are followers of Jesus.

Jesus clearly calls us to be prophets, and often with prophesy comes persecution. It must have been hard for many in the crowd to hear this, but still Jesus assures them, Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven, and Happy are those who mourn; God will comfort them.

Two thousand years ago, when Jesus spoke to his disciples and the crowd, he was addressing people who knew all about pain, suffering, and persecution. They were all living under Roman occupation and daily experiencing poverty, slavery, and violence. Yet Jesus called them to be happy and to work for peace and justice with the promise that God will call them his children and bless them.

Today in our world, we face increasing violence, militarism, war, and environmental crisis. We are especially conscious that, in the land of Jesus birth, the Palestinian people live under Israeli military occupation. Therefore, the Sermon on the Mount is still very relevant for us all, especially for those who wish to follow Jesus.

Today, we are all called to be peacemakers and prophets, to work for freedom, peace, and social and political justice for all people, including the Palestinians. We are called to create a new way of living together nonviolently, welcoming people from all faiths and none, as one human family.

In this book, John Dear recounts his ongoing journey into nonviolence as a way of life, as the way of Jesus, and as the way to life. I hope it will inspire and touch many hearts.

Each of us can choose peace over war, nonviolence over violence, and love over hate. After reading and studying the Beatitudes, Jesuss Sermon on the Mount, and these reflections, may the Spirit of Love lead us to choose peace and nonviolence, and to abandon war and militarism once and for all.

Mairead Maguire

Belfast, Northern Ireland

www.peacepeople.com

December 2015