Ash Wednesday

The third graders will also tell you that the secret to learning the unpatterned and unpredictable blessings of Jesus is to use these triangle memory cards which have a blessing on one side, the promise on the other, and when put in order become a mountain. When I asked them to tell me what it means to be “poor in spirit” here’s what the 3rd graders told me:

●      It means being in humble

●      It means you don’t have a lot of fancy stuff

●      It is what you feel when something is really hard or sad

They also told me that being blessed means that you can still feel happy and content if you are poor in spirit because the kingdom of God is here, still growing like a tiny seed that will one day be big enough for all the birds of the air to find shelter in its branches, and all creatures to find shade under its canopy.

We should be proud of these young people who condensed 2,000 years’ worth of Christian interpretation of  this Beatitude into 150 words! Well done!