Dear friends,

The Gospel of today brings us back to Galilee round the lake of Kinneret, “the harp”.

Anyone who has been to Galilee will never forget what a wonderful view presents itself when one stand on the “Mount of the Beatitudes”

It is from here that Jesus, according to ancient tradition, deliv­ered the so-called "Sermon on the Mount", its centerpiece being the Beatitudes, today's Sunday Gospel.

The landscape there almost forms a natural amphithe­ater. Thus, Jesus is able to speak loudly and clearly to a great crowd of people. What he says there is, of course, most unusual.

Jesus calls men "blessed", that is, “happy”, who live in sit­uations that we naturally cannot help but regard as not at all pleasant.

However contrary to our inclinations the Beatitudes sound, they also produce at the same time an echo of joy. We sus­pect that if we were to live as Jesus sums it up in these eight sayings, then the "Blessed are you" would already be a reality now.

We realize today that this is the Constitution of Christianity. The Ten Commandments are part of our being humans and they are inscribed in the heart of all human beings. Christians mirror their lives not on the 10 Commandments but, most so, on the Beatitudes.

There are people who have taken these words of Jesus very seriously and have bet their lives on him. These people are called “religious” or “Reverend Sisters” or “Brothers”. They have summarized these 8 Beatitudes in three different Vows: Poverty, Chastity, Obedience.

Other religions have a similar way of living in what is known as Monks and Nuns.

Unknown to the majority of our Parishioners we have a group of people, that is praying for us. I am in constant contact with them. Some use Internet, some write letters.

I’d like to share with you what Sr. Maria Agnese, a Poor Clair wrote me the other day. She is 88 years old and still working very hard. In her letter there is the constant refrain which can be called joy.

She writes: “Though encloistered, I travel the world with my prayers and I desire to support all missionaries. Of course, I am poor and little, but the Lord will accept my good will. True, I am a senior citizen, but I want to help the community (which see calls ‘beloved’) and the church. I desire to spend myself for the church and for this I am asking for your prayers.” She signs her name and then she adds “happy Poor Clair”. I say the same when I call myself the “Happy Pastor of Chinatown”.

Joy and happiness are possible, as we were telling our Youth at the Convention, when we made our own the words of St. John “we are telling you these things so that your joy might be complete.

Water to boil has to reach 200 F. and to freeze 32 F not one degree less. Happiness and joy to happen have a price to be paid for: we have to give everything to the Lord. To cheat means to condemn ourselves to unhappiness.