Blessed Are

Blessed Are

Blessed are those who are on the move,
Transforming exodus and flight in energy for a new search.
From the victims will come the protagonists of history.

Blessed are those who, forced to wander without direction
With wisdom learn and teach the lessons of the road.
They will be the architects of a new time.

Blessed are those who suffer pain, nostalgia, and loneliness,
Yet know how to make of every arrival a new beginning.
They shall act with faith, hope, and life.

Blessed are those who open borders
And mix the anthems, flags, races, and creeds.
Without discrimination, they make the world everyone’s home.

Blessed are the wayfarers of all roads
In the tears, sweat, and the work of their hands.
They prepare a tomorrow of justice and right.

Blessed are those who open the door to pilgrims,
Making solidarity the passport to our common homeland.
They are constructing a new citizenship.

Blessed are those who foment encounters and re-encounters,
Sowing peace.
They will harvest flowers and stars in the new heaven and the new earth.

Blessed are the excluded, without opportunities, and without voice.
They will be the first guests in the great banquet,
Where bread will not be lacking on anyone’s table.

-Fr. José Alfredo Goncalves, Brazil
(From Prayer Without Borders, Celebrating Global Wisdom. 2004, Catholic Relief Services. )