Blessed are those who refuse to take vengeance,

blessed are those who cause no harm,

blessed are those who break the cycles of slaughter,

blessed are those who bless and do not curse

 

Blessed are those who resist the temptations of power

– who refuse to gather it to themselves.

Blessed are the little ones who find new courage

to claim and inhabit their own.

 

Blessed are those who seek to reconcile

who themselves form a bridge for strange meetings.

Blessed are those who repent of their oppression,

blessed are the harmed who show them mercy.

 

Blessed are those who absorb others’ hurts,

who refuse to give back in like manner.

Blessed are those who keep in touch with their

enemies – who refuse to let them go.

 

Blessed are the judges who wisely discern,

who help to put right what is wrong,

who bring together those who are estranged,

at no little cost to themselves.

 

Blessed are those who use the sword as a scalpel,

to be accurate and clear in their telling of truth,

who protect and probe but do not destroy,

whose wounds serve only to purify and prune.

 

Blessed is the One who bears the community’s pain,

who loves and endures to the end,

who holds to the heart, a wincing fellowship,

who surprises us with healing and hope.

 

Transfiguration Monastery at Teesdale near Geelong, Victoria, Australia