For Christians of our time, Megan McKenna explores the meaning of the blessings and woes pronounced by Jesus on the plains of Galilee. She calls us to the heart of the gospel and to be converted to discipleship in Jesus' kingdom of God. Readers learn about Jesus' teachings through his parables as well as through perceptive stories about Zen masters, Jewish rabbis, Japanese gods, Sufi mystics, and stories told by well-known figures such as Thomas Merton and Leo Tolstoy. We learn that compassion, the source of blessings, means being with others in their pain and suffering and knowing their pain as our own.