“The Beatitudes, the original language, was not ‘Blessed are’ or ‘Happy are’ the single-hearted or those who work for peace or struggle for justice. The more precise translation is ‘You’re in the right place if …’ And I like that better, you know, because it turns out the Beatitudes is not a spirituality. It’s a geography. You know, it tells you where to stand. You’re in the right place if you’re over here.”
This quote is from Fr. Greg Boyle, founder/executive director of Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles, California, during his podcast interview with Krista Tippett on “On Being”. What a powerful new insight for me on the beatitudes, after having written a book Meditations on the Beatitudes: Lessons from the Margins. In my book I tell stories of how marginalized people exhibit more traits of the beatitudes than most of us comfortable, middle-class people.
According to Boyle, Jesus is teaching us to be with those on the margins, to be in relationship with them, not just developing an inner spirituality that mimics their kingdom-like traits. This makes the sub-title of my book come to life. One cannot learn lessons from the margins of society if one is not in relationship with marginalized people. I heard these stories and many more, while I was living among them. My current location has distanced me from the marginalized, even though I wouldn’t have to go very far to find them. It’s just too easy to remain comfortable and contented than challenged and confronted.
In spite of how much this quote impacted me, I think that the beatitudes are both a location and a spirituality. The two go hand-in-hand. They feed on each other. One is inner transformation, and the other is outer transformation.
The quote has challenged me to consider returning to doing volunteer chaplaincy work at the local hospital among the Hispanic population. My three-year experience doing such volunteer work challenged me nearly as much as the eight years spent in Central America.
For the whole interview on Fr. Boyle’s work with street gangs in LA click on http://www.onbeing.org/program/father-greg-boyle-on-the-calling-of-delight/transcript/5059#main_content