A friend wrote recently and asked, "Have you heard about the little boy and the bear?" I thought it was the opening line to a joke, like, "Did you hear the one about the rabbi, the minister and the priest?" No joke.
A three year old boy in North Carolina was staying with his great-grandmother last month and got separated from his fellows and went missing for nearly three days. A huge search effort got underway: helicopters, drones, search dogs and hundreds of volunteers and police. The effort was called off one night when the temperatures dropped too low during the recent cold snap. Sounds biblical, but: "...on the third day..." the boy was found about 100 feet into the nearby swampy woods - cold, hungry, snagged in vines, but alive and well.
Here's the part that's really got folks' attention: the boy said that a friendly bear stayed with him the whole time. Of course, many of the grown ups said he just made up the story and that the whole thing was three year old fantasy. But why not?
And here is Mikail Nesterov's painting of the young 14th century St. Sergius of Radonezh standing in the deep and misty Russian forest with the bear who kept him company. Notice the song bird at the top of the birch sapling, the spring flowers on the forest floor. Children and saints in harmony with animals and plants can be reflections of the ancient time we might call the time of the Blessed-s: when human beings were right with God. We even call Jesus' presentation of that time or condition, The Beatitudes. You know: Blessed are the poor in spirit...Blessed are the meek...Blessed are the merciful...(Matthew 5,6,7)
Jesus' teaching is timeless of course. But the story of the three-year- old boy and the bear, and Sergius and his bear, prompted me to write my own Blesseds, with our time and situation in mind.
Blessed are the adults who welcome and safeguard children and young people as the world's first priority.
Blessed are the planet protectors - the new holy people.
Blessed are those who refuse to see endless wars and militarization as the world's normal.
Blessed are those whose personal effort is to get the bombs out of their hearts.
Blessed are those who strive for a life un-distracted by securing money and protecting possessions.
Blessed are those who cast out fear by confidence in God.
Blessed are those who create beauty as antidote to all the destruction.
Blessed are those who carry compassion and justice within themselves.
Blessed are the adults who welcome and safeguard children and young people as the world's first priority.
Blessed are the planet protectors - the new holy people.
Blessed are those who refuse to see endless wars and militarization as the world's normal.
Blessed are those whose personal effort is to get the bombs out of their hearts.
Blessed are those who strive for a life un-distracted by securing money and protecting possessions.
Blessed are those who cast out fear by confidence in God.
Blessed are those who create beauty as antidote to all the destruction.
Blessed are those who carry compassion and justice within themselves.
