“I have been graced to experience these words in living reality every day through the actions and deeds of the South Sudanese people who struggle to live a life worthy of Jesus and eternal redemption.”

“Grace is an energy to act and behave in a certain way as well as a source of happiness. Our lives in Christ will include paradoxes and dislocations, and the teaching on the Beatitudes prepares us for this both as a reassurance and a task.”

“Let us be happy today because of those who are blessed, who see the face of God in the beatific vision, who did not follow any techniques to be happy but were given that happiness through being faithful disciples even in the face of persecution”

“I believe today’s gospel is also inviting us to look around and celebrate the saints among us. When I reread the words “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” many of the women that I have accompanied over the last 13 years in northeast Brazil came to mind.”

“Regardless of where we may feel we’re at in this moment, we should remember that fulfilment in God is what we were created for, and is at the very heart of our desires and longings”

“Had anyone else sat down on that mountain and saw that crowd, they may have said, “Wretched”, but not him. He sees them and he says: “Blessed.””

“The Beatitudes are about the things that love will suffer, they are about what love will willingly endure, the things that love will find itself able to give, and to find satisfaction and even delight in giving. And these things are endless.”

“The poor in spirit are those who know their need of God. Wealth, success or power are not their ultimate priority. Those who are poor in spirit have a detachment from such considerations.”

“the people who are best prepared to share God’s life, to enter heaven, are not necessarily the...people who’ve never done anything wrong because they’ve never taken the risk that’s often involved in trying to do something right.”

“What's holiness? It's friendship with God, friendship with God. That's the one thing you should want above all.”

“Jesus spent his lifetime seeking out those who needed him the most and he offered them healing, company, inclusion, love and eternal reward in heaven”

“If you want to be happy well then you want the divine life in you...the divine life is mercy, hesed, love.”

“You want to be happy? Seek mercy and peace. Become a conduit of these two things.”

“Be like unto Christ Jesus, that's what it means to follow the Beatitudes. And you know what? You'll be happy when you do.”

“When you make God the center of your life it means that God is everything, not your own control. It means that in some ways you will be powerful and in other ways you will be altogether weak. That doesn't matter so much when you made God the center of your life.”

“The Beatitudes say that holiness happens when we recognize our weakness and let God fill it—even when we are poor, humble, sad, or intense. Holiness is a gift God bestows on us when we come to him empty.”

“if we get “comfortable”, and live as “normal” in our spiritual lives and in our faith – and put our trust in men and things – then we run the risk of forgetting God and not fully existing in a living relationship with Him”

“Christian humility will be a life that is marked by mercy rather than retribution, endurance even under persecution, gentleness, and the resolute search for peace and justice made possible by innocence of heart”

“If we fail to praise God, we are the ones who will suffer, because we risk losing the gift God has given us. If God is within us, we need to nurture this gift, nurture it by our praise, our faith, hope and love.”