This evening I was with a group of philanthropic advisors and consultants who work with elite Catholic educational institutions. These dedicated, faith filled, and deep thinking people expressed the moral dilemmas they face as they manage relationships with powerful and privileged donors who have no interest in the Church’s social teaching, but who concern themselves instead with shoring up the “Catholic identity” of universities and colleges. It is hard to see how one can neglect the Beatitudes if “Catholic identity” is their concern.

But somehow, those privileged enough to have such power and resources manage to create their own definitions for what being “Catholic” means, and as a result, they fall into the same hypocrisy that Jesus called out in the Scribes and Pharisees.

I don’t know about you, but as we take stock of the times we’re living in, the worrying trends we see, and the often self-protective and self- serving ways that people are behaving, Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount seems as radical and counter-cultural as ever. At a moment when people are triggered and activated by anxieties and a sense of scarcity, provoked into hiding, hoarding, and walling themselves in, how remarkable it is to hear Jesus teaching from the heights. It is the poor, not the rich, who are blessed, as are the grieving, the meek, and those who pursue peace and justice. While the uber rich of our times  are spending their excess wealth building bunkers and stockpiling necessities, how incredible to hear Jesus instructing us to embrace our vulnerability, to live with a sensible simplicity, bearing with people’s rejection or persecution of us for doing the good. How radical this call to show mercy, and embody authentic good heartedness toward others, even at the expense to oneself.  

As we celebrate the feast of All Saints, we’re reminded that very rarely were the contexts and circumstances of these holy women and men any easier or less challenging than the times we’re facing now. And in fact, the reason that the lives and stories of these people are remembered is precisely because they chose to follow the example of Jesus and the way of the Beatitudes. Go ahead and pick nearly any saint, read about the situations that they faced, and see how each lived in the face of persecution, poverty, plagues, and wars. Each chose to follow Jesus’ way, no matter what. Saints by definition.

And what then is the importance of these beatitudes for us as leaders serving others with our authority and roles of responsibility? As we meditate on these beatitudes, we might pray for the courage, freedom, and faith, to follow Jesus’ way as the saints did, no matter what.

With you on the road,