Source: The Washington Post

By Julie Zauzmer and Sarah Pulliam Bailey

The liturgy read in churches across America on Sunday said: “Blessed are those who are persecuted.”

What clergy said in many pulpits, reacting to President Trump’s most recent executive order: “Blessed are the refugees.”

The words of the Beatitudes — the nine blessings recounted in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount — happened to be prescribed in the liturgical calendar used by Catholics and many Protestants for this week’s readings.

After Trump issued an order Friday temporarily barring refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, clergy across the nation scrapped earlier sermons to build on the lesson and urge parishioners to stand up for what they see as a biblical call to care for “the stranger.”

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