'If you have love for one another' - the hallmark of every Christian. Sunday Reflections, 5th Sunday of Easter, Year C

 

The Last Supper

El Greco  [Web Gallery of Art]

Readings, (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)

Readings, (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Gospel, John 13:31-33a, 34-35 (English Standard Version Anglicised: India)  

When Judas had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once. Little children, yet a little while I am with you. A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

 

Léachtaí i nGaeilge

John 13: 31-33a, 34-35 in Filipino Sign Language

A familiar sight four years ago here in St Columban's, Dalgan Park, Ireland, where we have a community of more than 60 Columban priests, mostly retired and many in our nursing home, was that of Fr Jim Gavigan, then in his late 80s, pushing the wheelchair of Fr Paddy Hurley, then over 90. When I came home from the Philippines in 2017 Father Jim was using a wheelchair himself for a while after a hip operation.

Father Paddy went to his reward on 15 April 2019. He had spent more than 60 years in the Philippines on the large island of Negros. His two Columban brothers, the late Fathers Dermot and Gerry, had spent many years in Fiji. That's where Fr Jim Gavigan had worked all his active years, being a member of the pioneering Columban group that went there in 1952, as was Fr Gerry Hurley.

I sometimes saw Father Jim 'driving' another priest's wheelchair. (We have professional staff here who do this work very efficiently and with great care but sometimes others chip in.)

Father Jim died on 23 June 2020 a few months before another classmate of his, Fr Terry Bennett, who had spent most of his life in the Philippines. When Father Terry began to fail, Father Jim always sat opposite him in our dining room. Someone asked him why. He replied, 'To keep Terry company'.

In all of this I see today's gospel being lived out. It is a gospel that is central to the Missionary Society of St Columban to which I belong.

Frs Owen McPolin, John Blowick, Edward Galvin 
China 1920

Frs John Blowick and Edward Galvin were the co-founders of the Columbans. Fr Blowick, the first superior general, accompanied the first group to China but was based in Ireland.

On the evening of 29 January 1918 an extraordinary event took place in Dalgan Park, Shrule, a remote village on the borders of County Mayo and County Galway in the west of Ireland. At the time Ireland was part of the United Kingdom, which was engaged in the Great War. Thousands of Irishmen were fighting in the trenches in France and Belgium. Many, including my great-uncle Corporal Lawrence Dowd, never came home. There was a movement for independence in Ireland that led to the outbreak of guerrilla warfare in Ireland later in 1918. There was widespread poverty in the country, particularly acute in the cities.

Despite all of that, on 10 October 1916 the Irish bishops gave permission to two young diocesan priests, Fr Edward J. Galvin and Fr John Blowick to have a national collection so that they could open a seminary that would prepare young Irish priests to go to China. The effort was called the Maynooth Mission to China, because Maynooth, west of Dublin, is where St Patrick's National Seminary is, where Fr Galvin had been ordained in 1909 and Fr Blowick in 1913.

The seminary opened that late winter's evening with 19 students and seven priests. Many of the students were at different stages of their formation in Maynooth but transferred. The seven priests belonged to different dioceses but threw in their lot with this new venture which, on 29 June 1918, would become the Society of St Columban.

This Sunday's gospel was part of what the new group reflected on as they gathered in the makeshift chapel in Dalgan Park, the name of the 'Big House' and the land on which it was built. Among the seven priests was Fr John Heneghan, a priest from the Archdiocese of Tuam, as was Fr Blowick, and a classmate of Fr Galvin. Fr Heneghan never imagined that despite his desire to be a missionary in China he would spend many years in Ireland itself teaching the seminarians and editing the Columban magazine The Far East. But his dream was to take him to the Philippines in 1931 and to torture and death at the hands of Japanese soldiers during the Battle of Manila in February 1945, when 100,000 people, mostly civilians, were killed and most of the old city destroyed, like Mariupol in Ukraine today.

Intramuros (Walled City), Manila, February 1945

[Wikipedia; photo]

Mariupol Hospital airstrike, 9 March 2022

[Wikipedia; photo]

Fr John Blowick emphasised the centrality of the words of Jesus in this Sunday's gospel, A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. The second sentence there was written into the Constitutions of the Society, drawn up the following year.

These words of Jesus from the Gospel of St John are for me the greatest legacy of Fr John Blowick to the many men from different countries who have shared his dream and that of Bishop Galvin to this day. 

And not only men, but women too, as Columban Sisters and as Columban Lay Missionaries. 

The Society of St Columban was born in the middle of the First World War because of the vision of two young men who saw beyond that awful reality and who took Jesus at his word. Down the years Columbans have lived through wars, in remote areas where their lives and the lives of the people they served were often in danger. Some have been kidnapped and not all of those survived. Among those who did was Fr Michael Sinnott, kidnapped in the southern Philippines in October 2009 when he was 79 and released safely a month later on 12 November. He died here in Dalgan Park on St Columban's Day, 23 November, 2019.

Fr Michael Sinnott in Manila on the day of his release

Father John Blowick's insistence on the words of Jesus in this Sunday's gospel becoming part of the very fibre of the being of Columbans sustained Fr John Heneghan, Fr Patrick Kelly, Fr John Lalor and Fr Peter Fallon, as Japanese soldiers took them away from Malate Church, Manila, on 10 February 1945, and their companion Fr John Lalor who was working in a makeshift hospital nearby who with others was killed there by a bomb three days later. 

Frs John Lalor, Patrick Kelly, Francis Vernon Douglas, Peter Fallon, Joseph Monaghan and John Heneghan

Fr Douglas died, most probably on 27 July 1943,  after being tortured  by the Japanese in Paete, Laguna.

The words By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another are not only the hallmark of Columbans but of countless other groups, of countless families. They are meant to be the hallmark of every Christian.

Canonisations on 15 May

Pope Francis will canonise ten saints in the Vatican on Sunday. Among them will be Blessed Titus Brandsma OCarm, from the Netherlands, who was killed by lethal injection in Dachau Concentration Camp, Germany, on 26 July 1942.

Blessed Titus Brandsma OCarm

23 February 1881 - 26 July 1942

Another priest who will be canonised is Blessed Charles de Foucauld. I have often written about him on Sunday Reflections.

Blessed Charles de Foucauld

15 September 1858 - 1 December 1916

Cantate Domino 

Taizé Chant

 Cantate Domino canticum novum (alleluia)

O sing a new song to the Lord (alleluia)

These words from Psalm 97[98]:1 are the opening words of today's Entrance Antiphon.

Traditional Latin Mass

Fourth Sunday after Easter

The Complete Mass in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 05-15-2022 if necessary).

Epistle: James 1:17-21. Gospel: John 16: 5-14.

The Last Supper

Abraham Bloemaert [Web Gallery of Art]

It is only St Mark who writes, 'Jesus, looking at him, loved him.' Sunday Reflections, 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

 

Jesus and the Rich Young Man

Beijiing, 1879 [Wikipedia] 

He went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions (Mark 1o:22).

Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland)

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Gospel Mark 10:17-30 (English Standard Version Anglicised: India)

Jesus was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honour your father and mother.’” And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, “Then who can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.” Peter began to say to him, “See, we have left everything and followed you.” Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life".

 

Léachtaí i nGaeilge

This Sunday's Gospel in Filipino Sign Language

This incident is also recounted in the gospels of St Matthew and St Luke. It is St Matthew who tells us that the man who approached Jesus was young. Luke describes him as a ruler or aristocrat, depending on the translation. But it is only St Mark who writes, Jesus, looking at him, loved him . . .

John Profumo in 1960

(1915-2006) [Wikipedia]

During my summer vacation in 1963, my second since enering the the seminary, the biggest story in Britain and Ireland was that of a senior member of the Conservative Party and of the British government, John Profumo. He had served with distinction in the British army in World War II, reaching the rank of Brigadier (General). He was independently wealthy. He became involved with a prostitute, Christine Keeler, who also had relations with  the senior Soviet naval attaché in London. Profumo denied in parliament that he had an improper relationship with Keeler. This was later shown to be untrue. He was later forced to resign for having lied to parliament. Before resigning from all his positions he confessed to his wife, Valerie Hobson, and she stood by him.

John Profumo disappeared from public life and spent many years as a volunteer washing dishes and cleaning toilets in a place called Toynbee Hall, a charity in the East End of London. As time went by he was able to use his skills to raise funds for the charity. I do not know anything about the faith of John Profumo, whose paternal ancestors were Italian aristocrats. He had the inherited title 'Fifth Baron Profumo', though he didn't use it. But Lord Longford (1905 - 2001), a Labour politician and social reform campaigner whose Catholic faith - he was a convert from Anglicanism - was the bedrock of everything he did, was quoted as saying that he, felt more admiration [for Profumo] than [for] all the men I've known in my lifetime'.

Unlike the man in the gospel, John Profumo had sinned. He lost his reputation but regained it as  people came to know what he had been doing after his downfall.

Blessed Charles de Foucauld

(1858-1916) [Wikipedia]

Last May Pope Francis approved the canonisation of Blessed Charles, usually referred to as 'Brother Charles' by those with a devotion to him. However, the date hasn't yet been set.

Fr Charles de Foucauld, was assassinated in the Sahara on 1 December 1916 when John Profumo was almost two. Like Profumo, he was born into wealth. Unlike the man in the gospel, he became a notorious playboy and was thrown out of the French army because of his behaviour. He went through a conversion experience at 28 and, again unlike the man in today's gospel, gave up everything. His subsequent journey in the Catholic faith led him to the priesthood and to the Sahara to live the life of Nazareth as he understood it.

Brother Charles, as he was known, died alone. He had drawn up a rule for a religious congregation to live the life of Nazareth in the desert. I once read that one person joined him for a short while. But in the 1920s his life and writings led to the founding of two religious congregations, the Little Brothers of Jesus and the Little Sisters of Jesus, both of which have communities in the Philippines. The Little Sisters have a community in Northern Ireland. Here is a lovely story about a Polish sister in that community: Sister Asia, the nun who closed an Irish pub.

There are a number of other congregations that have adapted the rule that Brother Charles wrote.

Little Sister Goneswary Subramaniam LSJ

 [Misyon]

The Little Brothers and the Little Sisters live among the poor, support themselves by taking manual jobs. The January-February 2005 issue of Misyon, the Columban magazine in the Philippines of which I was then editor, carried an article, Working Sisters, in which Little Sister Goneswary Subramaniam LSJ from Sri Lanka writes about her job sewing in a garment factory in Quezon City, Metro Manila, and Little Sister Annarita Zamboni LSJ from Italy about working as a lavandera, a laundry woman. Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament is at the heart of the life of each community of the Little Brothers, some of whom are priests, and of the Little Sisters and neighbours are invited to join.

Blessed Charles was a diocesan priest, though definitely not a conventional one. But a more conventional diocesan priest, played a central role in his conversion, Fr Henri Huvelin.

Fr Henri Huvelin

(1830-1910) [Wikipedia]

Among the groups inspired by Blessed Charles is the Jesus Caritas Fraternity of Priests, a movement that adapts his spirituality to the lives of pastoral priests, mainly diocesan, though not exclusively. [That website has links to other branches of the De Foucauld family, including the Little Brothers and the Little Sisters.]

Troubled by the words of Jesus, Peter said, See, we have left everything and followed you. Jesus replied, Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.

Charles de Foucauld experienced the joy of doing God's will, with persecutions in his violent death, but the houses and brothers and sisters . . . didn't come till some years after his death. And when Cardinal José Saraiva Martins beatified Brother Charles in Rome on 13 November 2005 the Church confirmed that he had indeed attained eternal life from the moment of his death and that he was a model of holiness who could guide us as we try to follow Jesus.

Blessed Charles saw clearly what the young man in the gospel, who didn't sin but had no idea of the riches he was spurning, didn't see: that Jesus was looking upon him and loved him. 

Prayer of Abandonment of Blessed Charles de Foucauld

Father,

I abandon myself into your hands;

do with me what you will.

Whatever you may do, I thank you:

I am ready for all, I accept all.

Let only your will be done in me,

and in all your creatures -

I wish no more than this, O Lord.

Into your hands I commend my soul:

I offer it to you with all the love of my heart,

for I love you, Lord, and so need to give myself,

to surrender myself into your hands without reserve,

and with boundless confidence,

for you are my Father.

This prayer is recited in the Charles de Foucauld video above beginning at 3:38. 

+++

 

The Rosary with the Great Artists

October is the month of the Holy Rosary. The Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary is celebrated on 7 October. Here are the links to the four sets of mysteries.

The Joyful Mysteries

The Virgin Mary

El Greco [Web Gallery of Art]

The Mysteries of Light

Virgin and Child with a Rosary

Murillo [Web Gallery of Art]

The Sorrowful Mysteries

The Virgin Showing the Man of Sorrows

Hans Memling [Web Gallery of Art]

The Glorious Mysteries

Madonna of the Rosary

Lorenzo Lotto [Web Gallery of Art]

'The goal of my life is to always be united with Jesus.' Sunday Reflections, Solemnity of All Saints

 

Blessed Carlo Acutis

3 May 1991 - 12 October 2006

Beatified 10 October 2020

[Wikipedia]

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)

Gospel Matthew 5:1-12a (English Standard Version Anglicised)

Seeing the crowds, Jesus went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven.”

 

Léachtaí i nGaeilge

Matthew 5:1-12a in Filipino Sign Language

+++

Carlo Acutis Web Missionary

To activate the English subtitles click on the 6th icon from the right at the bottom of the screen.

I asked a friend, a teacher, to look at the video above and to share her comments with me. Her first comment was, He is so ordinary! She added that she wanted to look at it again and to reflect on it more deeply. My friend's reaction was similar to what Fr Will Conquer MEP, the young French priest in the video, said: Carlo is really an ordinary saint. 

Technically, Blessed Carlo, who was born in London, England, but grew up in Milan, Italy, is not yet a saint in the sense of one who has been canonised. But on the Solemnity of All Saints the Church honours all those who are in the presence of God, that great multitude of 'ordinary saints', some of whom, most likely, each of us knew personally. Father Will quotes St Teresa of Kolkata, Mother Teresa: Not all of us can do great things but we can do small things with great love. All Saints' Day is when the Church honours all those now with God who have done such.

I had read a little about Carlo before his beatification but it was only when a local parish priest here spoke enthusiastically about him in a Zoom meeting  that I decided to learn more about him.

The most striking thing for me watching the video is Blessed Carlo's deep personal relationship with Jesus, especially through the Blessed Sacrament. Father Will notes: First Communion was a real encounter with Christ. Carlo was nourished by the Eucharist every day and it is this friendship with Christ in the Eucharist that would nourish his life. His mother Antonia says, For him his day was to meet Jesus at Mass . . . For him, it was obvious that Jesus is really present wherever there is a tabernacle. She quotes her son, We have the Real Presence of Jesus in the tabernacle and no one is queuing up. His strong sense of this and his desire to be with Jesus in adoration before the tabernacle reminds me of his French namesake Blessed Charles de Foucauld, the French hermit-priest who lived in the Sahara among Muslim nomads and who will be canonised some time in 2021. Through his daily hours of adoration of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament in his hermitage he discovered himself as 'the little brother' of the Muslims among whom he lived knocking on his door for help.

Young Carlo used to say, The Eucharist is my highway to heaven.

Blessed Charles de Foucauld

[Wikipedia]

Another striking thing about Blessed Carlo, who was an only child of wealthy parents, was his respect for others, especially those who were poor. His school friends recalled his friendliness with persons such as the school caretaker. He brought meals to homeless people with Capuchin brothers and, with his pocket money, bought sleeping bags for some of them. This for me came from the deep relationship he had with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. In this he reminds me of another handsome young Italian born years before Carlo and who died suddenly at the age of 24, Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati whom St John Paul II called 'A Man of the Beatitudes'.

Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati shortly before his death in 1925

[Wikipedia]

The young Carlo - and he never became old enough to be anything but 'the young Carlo' - had and continues to have a profound influence on adults. He mother says that he was like 'a little Saviour' to her and helped her and her husband Andrea to become active Catholics again. The family's parish priest had great wisdom too when, after Carlo's First Holy Communion, he asked Antonia to become a catechist.

Most striking of all for me is how Rajesh, the immigrant from India who worked with the family, speaks about Carlo. His best friend was Jesus, he says. He used to accompany Carlo to kindergarten and often went to the local park, sometimes with the family dog, Carlo bringing a frisbee to throw for the dog. Sometimes they went to McDonalds. Rajesh shares that the only person who treated him with respect was this young child. (I'm sure Carlo's parents did too). This reminds me of the story I mentioned last week of the homeless Dublin alcoholic who testified that the only person who ever looked up to him was Frank Duff, founder of the Legion of Mary.

Servant of God Frank Duff

Rajesh goes on to say, I valued him more than my teacher because everything he said was really joyful and touched my heart . . . Such a young child could be a role model in my life.He was a true teacher for me which is why I converted from Hinduism to Christianity.

Carlo was a 'geek', as Father Will describes him, the first saint in heaven with an email address. He was a missionary 'geek' who asked himself, How can I share my greatest passion with my friends? Father will says, His greatest passion was Jesus in the Eucharist. In order to share this passion he set up a website about all the Eucharistic miracles he could find out about. He used Google and Wikipedia for research. His work is now being carried on by others.

Father Will says in the video, For me Carlo is a new kind of missionary of this unknown continent, the sixth continent that needs to be evangelized. Carlo is part of a pioneer generation. This echoes the message of Pope Benedict XVI for World Communications Day 2009, the title of which was New Technologies, New Relationships. Promoting a Culture of Respect, Dialogue and Friendship. I'm not sure if Pope Benedict had heard of Carlo at that time. Yet the last paragraph of the Pope's message could have been written with Carlo in mind. I've emphasised some parts.

I would like to conclude this message by addressing myself, in particular, to young Catholic believers: to encourage them to bring the witness of their faith to the digital world. Dear Brothers and Sisters, I ask you to introduce into the culture of this new environment of communications and information technology the values on which you have built your lives. In the early life of the Church, the great Apostles and their disciples brought the Good News of Jesus to the Greek and Roman world. Just as, at that time, a fruitful evangelization required that careful attention be given to understanding the culture and customs of those pagan peoples so that the truth of the gospel would touch their hearts and minds, so also today, the proclamation of Christ in the world of new technologies requires a profound knowledge of this world if the technologies are to serve our mission adequately. It falls, in particular, to young people, who have an almost spontaneous affinity for the new means of communication, to take on the responsibility for the evangelization of this 'digital continent'. Be sure to announce the Gospel to your contemporaries with enthusiasm. You know their fears and their hopes, their aspirations and their disappointments: the greatest gift you can give to them is to share with them the 'Good News' of a God who became man, who suffered, died and rose again to save all people. Human hearts are yearning for a world where love endures, where gifts are shared, where unity is built, where freedom finds meaning in truth, and where identity is found in respectful communion. Our faith can respond to these expectations: may you become its heralds! The Pope accompanies you with his prayers and his blessing. 

Pope Benedict was not telling young people that they were the 'future' of the Church but rather they were its now, with a special responsibility to bring the Good News to others because of their knowledge and skills as citizens of 'this digital continent'.

A young woman towards the end of the video says, Carlo told us: 'The goal of my life is to always be united with Jesus.' And this touches me a lot because it reminds me of what is essential: always being in a heart-to-heart [relationship] with Jesus. This echoes the recently-canonised St John Henry Newman whose motto as a cardinal was, Cor ad cor loquitur - Heart speaks to heart. 

Blessed Carlo, who died at 15, reminds me of a saint long before the time of the internet and who died at 105, St Anthony the Abbot. St Athanasius writes of him: And so all the people of the village, and the good men with who he associated saw what kind of man he was, and they called him 'The friend of God'. Some loved him as a son, and others as though he were a brother.

Blessed Carlo Acutis

[Wikipedia]

The life of this young man who was so joyful because of his closeness to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament embodies the sixth beatitude in today's Gospel and the Communion Antiphon: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. He understood the opening words to today's Second Reading (1 John 3;1-3): See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. 

Blessed Carlo invites us to thank God for the saintly people who have crossed our path. And I would suggest using the video above for prayer. I do believe that God is speaking to us through Blessed Carlo and especially through this video. And with lockdowns in so many countries we have time to reflect and to pray - and to discover for ourselves how the internet can be a tool to bring Jesus to others and to see is as a tool that can bring us closer to one another in these strange time.

Extraordinary Form of the Mass

Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) 

This Sunday, 1 November, is also the Feast of All Saints  in the calendar that uses the TLM.

The complete Mass in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 11-01-2020, if necessary).

Epistle: Revelations (Apocalypse) 7:2-12; Gospel: Matthew 5:1-12.

Authentic Beauty

Authentic beauty, however, unlocks the yearning of the human heart, the profound desire to know, to love, to go towards the Other, to reach for the Beyond.

Pope Benedict XVI meeting with artists in the Sistine Chapel, 21 November 2009.

Beati mundo corde

Music by William Byrd, sung by UniversitätsChor München (Munich)

The Latin text is that of the Communion Antiphon in both forms of the Mass today.

Antiphona ad communionem Communion Antiphon (Mt 5:8-10)

Beati mundo corde quoniam ipsi Deum videbunt;

Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God.

beati pacifici, quoniam filii Dei vocabuntur;

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.

beati qui persecutionem patiuntur propter iustitiam, quoniam ipsorum est regnum caelorum.

Blessed are they who are persecuted  for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.