February 1, 2026.
Dear Friends,
We will gather together remotely for our Badaliya and Peace Islands Institute faith sharing on Sunday, February 1, 2026 from 3:00 pm to 4:30 pm. Please join us on Zoom, or in spirit, as we encourage Inter-faith relations and pray together that the New Year inspires the hearts and minds of those perpetrators of violence to be transformed from revenge-seekers into peace-seekers. Let us pray that the root causes of the many humanitarian crises in our world leading to so much trauma and human suffering be addressed. We are especially mindful of the dilemma of diminishing numbers of Christians due to the occupation, oppressive restrictions, and war and violence facing the "living stones", witnesses to 2000 years of Christian presence in Bethlehem and throughout the Holy Lands. At the same time, let us continue to support one another as a diverse faith sharing community as we are faced with unprecedented challenges that threaten our many immigrants, asylum seekers, refugees, and the legal, educational and health systems in the United States. We especially hold in our hearts and prayers the families of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, protesters needlessly killed in Minneapolis, and for an end to violence in our cities. May we turn our prayers into action to the best of our abilities and address the most pressing issue of our time; the human induced climate change that has increased natural disasters all over the world and is destroying too many lives, along with the earth we are privileged to share with them.
Christians have arrived at the very beginning of the mission of Jesus in our liturgical journey. The Christmas season has come to a close with the feast of the Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan river by John the Baptist. Both Christians and Muslims recognize John the Baptist as a prophetic voice in our spiritual stories. In the Gospel according to John 3:22-30, the Baptist himself makes clear his role in the story: "I am not the Christ but that I was sent before him...this joy of mine has been made complete. He must increase; I must decrease." For Christians who join the ancient followers of Jesus, the spiritual and psychological invitation in this declaration by the Baptist is abundantly clear; the deeper we immerse ourselves in the life, ministry, teachings and ultimately the death and resurrection of Jesus the more our own egotistical sense of self is transformed, How does this manifest in our daily lives?
Current events, my relationships and the complex challenges we all face in life become less and less about Me, with a capitol M, and more about the well-being of those around me. My sensitivity to the difficulties faced by others increases, my empathy and compassion grows. I find myself weeping with every tragic death this winter of a frozen child in war-torn Gaza, with every starving family in the Sudan and every desperate refugee and asylum-seeker in the world longing for safety from poverty, war and violence. Our Gospel message today that Jesus teaches to a crowd gathered on a mountainside is called the Beatitudes inviting us into a counter cultural conversion experience. It seems to me that there is a universal message in this sermon that is as relevant for our Muslim friends and those of all other faith traditions and for all people of good will as it is for Christian believers. Let us listen to this meditation by our friend from Anger, France, Jacques Keryell:
"Jesus seats himself on the mountain, The wind dies down, hearts open themselves. And from his mouth the most gentle and the most powerful words that the world has ever heard pour forth: the Beatitudes.
This is a new language, one about the Kingdom. One that neither glorifies power nor success but rather reveals the hidden beauty of poor hearts, their true hearts.
Happy are the poor of heart; those who do not cling to their wealth because God Himself will be their treasure. They know that we only truly possess that which God gives us.
Happy the gentle; those who do not attempt to dominate, because gentleness is not weakness, but peaceful power. The land already belongs to them, because they sow peace.
Happy those who weep; not out of hopeless despair, but from this pain that purifies and opens us to compassion. Their tears are seeds of consolation.
Happy are those who hunger and thirst for justice, for their hearts beat to the rhythm of God. They refuse injustice, violence and lies. Their desire for righteousness will be filled with light.
Happy are the merciful; for they hold in their hands the forgiveness of God. They know that mercy is the breath of the Kingdom, and that those who forgive liberate two hearts at once.
Happy are the pure of heart; those whose gaze does not judge, those whose love cannot be calculated. They will see God, for they already recognize Him in every face.
Happy the peacemakers; those who in the midst of division, sow reconciliation. They resemble their Father in heaven, because wherever they are, fraternal love is born.
Happy are those who are persecuted for the sake of justice; those who keep faith in the midst of storms, for their fidelity becomes testimony and their suffering a passage towards eternal joy.
Thus the Beatitudes are not simply pretty speech; they are a road to transfiguration. Those who listen with their hearts hear the beating of the rhythm of the Kingdom. In these words, the whole Gospel is contained like an embryo: humility that liberates, gentleness (meekness) that heals, purity that illuminates, peace that builds.
On the mountain, Christ does not promise happiness someday, but the profound joy of those who love until the very end. Because the Beatitudes do not say: "Be happy tomorrow" they whisper: " You are happy from now on, if you love."
The sermon on the mount is a path to fulfilling the words of John the Baptist; a means to discovering my true identity and that of everyone else as well. It is the gentle transforming power of Divine Love that increases as the pain of division, separateness and aloneness decreases and I experience my own humanity as intrinsically linked to the humanity and well-being of others, all others. That is the journey that Massignon called "Badaliya".
May our small sodality of Islands of Peace continue to share our common and unique experiences in life as we journey together towards Lent and Ramadan that will overlap this year. Lent and Ramadan provide an invitation for us to take the time to discern what we believe, who we are and what we are called to do in response to the unprecedented threats to human rights and the dignity of every human life that we are witnessing both here in the United States and throughout the world. Let us enter into this time of discernment together in mutual support of one another and in prayers for the courage to take meaningful actions for peace with justice in our world.
Peace to you.
Dorothy
See www.dcbuck.com for all past letters to the Badaliya and Peace Islands