Poor village in Peru - Photo: CanvaImagine a poor village in the Andes of South America. Most of the people are poor; there are no hospitals, doctors or health service. Then one day a clinic is set up and the priest who was asked to bless it said, ''You are the happy ones today, the poor of the village. The clinic belongs to you.'' In fact it is for everyone, but the better off could travel to obtain treatment elsewhere whereas now the poor have their first chance of health care. That is why the first beatitude in Luke says ''Happy are you who are poor; yours is the Kingdom of God.''
What does this Beatitude mean? It does not mean what early missionaries taught to those who were brought to South America as slaves. ''Put up with your suffering,'' they said, ''you will have your reward in heaven.'' No, the Beatitudes are a promise whose fulfilment begins here and now. We can understand that more easily if we look at the mission of Jesus. He proclaimed that in Luke 4, when he said that the Spirit had sent him to preach the good news to the poor. And in Luke 7: 21-22 he says, ''Go back and tell John what you have heard and seen; the blind see again, lepers are cured and the Good News in preached to the poor.''
This first Beatitude reveals that the God of Jesus and his Kingdom are primarily for the forsaken, the oppressed, the poor and all the victims of injustice. This is the fundamental orientation of the Church and all Christians. We are reminded of that as we are called to practise this week as Social Justice Week.
Fr Don Hornsey lives and works in Aotearoa/New Zealand
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