Our Christian roots: Mount of Beatitudes

(Vatican Radio) Blessed are the poor for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth; blessed are the peacemakers – they will be called the children of God. Most Christians will remember those phrases and the others spoken by Jesus in his Sermon on the Mount, commonly known as the Mount of the Beatitudes.

In his sermon, Jesus outlines the kind of people who are favored by God – and who will one day inherit his heavenly kingdom. Matthew and Luke both recount the Beatitudes in a similar manner – with a few differences. But most scholars agree that Jesus was trying to overturn the common assumption that worldy power and wealth offer people the best security and hope.

Some theologians have indicated that in his Sermon on the mount, Christ was further elaborating on the ten commandments that Moses received on Mount Sinai.

The Mount of the Beatitudes is generally believed to be located in Galilee: a hill called Karn Hattin for the two horns which crown its summit. It is not far from Nazareth, Cana and Mt Tabor. Today, pilgrims will find a twentieth century Catholic chapel called the Church of the Beatitudes marking the site.

As part of our series of Lenten reflections on Christian sites in the Holy Land, scholar and author Fr. Peter Stravinskas takes us up the Mount of the Beatitudes for Jesus’s sermon on the mount.

'Listen to this program by Tracey McClure: