4th Sunday 2013 Robert VerEecke, S.J. Last week at this time 20 of your fellow parishioners and I were preparing for the blessing of St. Anne’s Park in West Kingston, Jamaica. I’m sure that most of you know about our sister parish in West Kingston. You know that St Anne’s is in a section of Kingston that most Jamaicans don’t dare to enter. It’s too risky. Known for its poverty, its instability, gangs, drugs, a climate of violence, West Kingston is for the most part “forgotten and desolate.” But every year for the past seven years a group of St. Ignatius parishioners has thrown all care to the wind and become a part of the life of these sisters and brothers who live with poverty, crime and violence on a daily basis. And that is why the blessing of St Anne’s park was such a blessing for all of us who gathered. Some have estimated the crowd at 200. Now this “park” across the street from St Anne’s church is not what you imagine. You think “park” or playground and you think of wide-open spaces. This park was created on a small plot of land that had been a place for overgrown weeds and garbage of all kinds, not very different from other open spaces in the neighborhood. So think small and not large. It was the imagination and dedication of our parishioners who dreamed of transforming this desolate plot of land and creating something beautiful that would give young children a place to play and their elders a safe place to gather. Throughout the week we were there folks in the neighborhood came by to help paint the mural of St. Anne, Mary and Jesus and Jamaican children, designed by parishioner Bob Hsiung. They came with smiles on their faces and you could hear their voices say “Wow, that is so pretty.” Beauty is a rare commodity in West Kingston, except for the beauty of the people. And so the blessing finally came and it was a “Beatitude Moment.” You know the Beatitudes. Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the kingdom of God. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the peacemakers… Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice. For one afternoon, this desolate place had become “beloved,” “blessed.” It really was a window into the way in which God wants the world to be. There were no distinctions between rich and poor, haves and have nots, 1 st world or 2nd world. Each and every person within the gates of the park was filled with joy, smiles, laughter. And, of course, food and drink. The hungry children were fed. Not just with sandwiches and cake but with love and care. And there was even a photographer and a reporter from the Kingston newspaper to capture the “beatitude moment” in a place where the only news is the latest murder, incursion of police, arrest, etc. I wish I could say that this effort on the part of our parishioners in concert with people of the neighborhood would bring about a dramatic change in the life of the parishioners of St Anne’s and those in the neighborhood. I’ve visited often enough to know that the social problems of poverty, unemployment, lack of education and resources will not be changed by the transformation of one desolate place into something of beauty. In this neighborhood the undercurrent of violence is so palpable that it can erupt into a fury without a moment’s notice. Like the story of Jesus in the Gospel today, returning to his neighborhood, where everything is going so well and suddenly it turns into mob rage and fury where his neighbors want to push him off a cliff, I know that in the blink of an eye violence can erupt. Even our blessing of the park, this ‘Beatitude moment,” could have turned into something that betrays the ungodliness of human beings. Thanks be to God that it didn’t. A single word or act that is harmful, disrespectful, can so easily spiral into a mob scene, not unlike the one in the Gospel today. Now that we have left the neighborhood and our friends behind we worry that someone will find a way of “defacing” the beauty of the park. This is a place where “defacing” is the rule. And sad to say, “Defacing” i.,e, dehumanizing is something we human beings are very good at. Whether it be on the streets of West Kingston or in Chestnut Hill, there is that tendency we human beings have to “deface” the beauty of another human being through our prejudices, our judgments. That is why we need to take to heart that overly familiar section of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians regarding love. Love that is patient, kind, not jealous, bears all things, etc., is the only way we can “face” one another as children of God. It’s the only way to put a human face on the poor of St. Anne’s on the forgotten and dispossessed of our society. I do hope and pray that God’s little quarter of an acre in West Kingston in which so many from our parish have invested their time, treasure and talent might give the people of St Anne’s and Hannah Town something that says: “Face it. You are beautiful and beloved.”