Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the empire of God…
But woe to you who are rich,
for you have received your consolation.
—Luke 6.20, 24
Blessed are you, children of Aleppo, Ferguson, Standing Rock,
prisoners, immigrants and bullied queers,
blessed are you, welfare mothers, discouraged rednecks,
depressed teens, bipolar and suicidal,
blessed are you, unarmed young black men,
women bearing memories of abuse.
Blessed are you who are discouraged or afraid or doubting,
and you, the forgotten who are no one at all,
you are blessed because God blesses you.
Don’t let your circumstances tell you otherwise.
Blessed are you, for God gives the Realm to you;
gives it readily to all whose hands are empty;
not to the powerful—they’ve already gained what they sought.
Those whose hands are full can’t receive.
Blessed are you, for you are God’s saints,
made beloved by God’s love, not ours,
made holy by God’s grace, not your accomplishments,
made sacred by your being, not your experience.
Blessed are you, and woe to us who do not see it
and bow down in humble amazement.
Woe to us who do not empty our hands
and receive the infinite gift.