Blessed are

 Matthew 5:-12

The pelicans came to the lake. They were wonderful to watch come in. Gently swirling down, they didn't just land, they were a grace on wings. Turning once, twice, four to five times before finally coming in and landing on the lake. The conditions were just right, it was sunset and their silhouettes were blending with the backdrop of color as the light fades from the sky. This was only the beginning of the blessing. It was a night of a full moon and their white bodies shone on the lake as they slept and floated. You could see them all night long. Then in the morning the mists blotted them out and when it rose, there they were still sleeping and floating on the lake. When they left I don't know, they were there and then they were gone. I know I was blessed to see it, I couldn't schedule it, every year we get something different flying through on the lake during the migration season. I felt blessed, lucky.

This is blessing, it is not something we can attain to or plan on. Jesus gives us the beatitudes on a hill, surrounded by disciples. These are blessings. Blessings are in our lives, we just have to be attuned to the blessing. 

Two summers ago a group called the Beat 9 did a wonderful worship service around the beatitudes. They thought it was important to magnify the blessings Jesus gave. Important to remind us we can't fight about it, we can't accomplish it as a goal, they are things we rest into and recognize around us when we can. They give us food in a world swirling with division and trying to nix blessing. Blessing doesn't matter when we have goals which we think we have to meet. 

Blessing comes, everyday. At lest this is what Ignatius of Loyola believed. Ignatian spirituality is based on recognizing our daily blessings, counting them and giving thanks. Blessing makes us spiritually free, when we fight, when we have difficulty with someone we are spiritually unfree, we have things we need to ask forgiveness for. In being spiritually free we are a blessing to all whose lives we touch. 

The other thing about the beatitudes is these are mostly things we don't want to be, or things which aren't lauded in a world who thinks strength wins the day. Who wants to be poor in spirit, meek, or have mercy. They are all places of vulnerability. Yet vulnerability always brings us closer to the heart of God. Maybe this is why we read this on All Saints' day. For the most part we remember our loved ones, our saints when they were the best they could be. Not a strength, but a grace. 

I remember my nana and baking in the kitchen. A place where she was free. Even when she was dying it was the thing she tried to gather us around. Baking in the kitchen, even though we were in her room at the nursing home. My dad is a memory of the woods, walking and being quiet, talking to the animals, which any other adult would think was foolish, yet we believed because we saw the animals respond. There are now so many more I could list, but these are a few of my saints. We remember them in light of the good they did. The ways they expressed some of being meek, or being poor in spirit and being vulnerable.

This is where we are one too. The memories people have of you won't be the ones where you showed the most strength. It will be the ones in which you were most honest and vulnerable, truly you. Blessed are you when you can let go and embody the love in each of these. It means not protecting yourself. It means letting go of appearances, it means being honest and embodying God's love to others. There is great reward to be found in this.

Find the blessing of each day, those moments when you were spiritually free and thank God for them. The more you see them the more you will have to share with the world. This hurting world needs us right now to be a blessing.