7th September 2022
TRUE HAPPINESS CAN ONLY BE FULFILLED IN GOD
1 Corinthians 7:25-31
Psalm 44(45):11-12,14-17
Luke 6:20-26
To be blessed means to be happy. When Jesus began to teach his disciples he gave them a way of happiness that transcends every difficulty and trouble that can weigh us down with grief and despair. Jesus began his sermon on the mount by addressing the issue of where true happiness can be found. The word beatitude literally means happiness, however, demands a transformation from within a conversion of heart and mind which can only come about through the gift and working of the Holy Spirit. Today, Jesus is teaching us that we will be truly happy only when we place him at the center of our life let go of the temporal things that block our relationship with him.
Our Gospel passage today, how can one possibly find happiness in poverty, hunger, mourning, and persecution? If we want to be filled with the joy and happiness of heaven, we must empty ourselves of all that would shut God out of our hearts. Poverty of Spirit finds ample room and joy in possessing God alone as seeks nourishment and strength in God’s word and Spirit. Sorrow and mourning over wasted life and sin leads to joyful freedom from the burden of guilt and oppression. As Mary sang of God in her Magnificat, “He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts, he has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted those of low degree; he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent empty away” (Luke 1:51-53). As Christian disciples, we are subjects of Christ’s Kingdom, called to live differently from the rest of the world. In the Gospel of Mathew 6: 20-21, Jesus exhorts us to lay up for ourselves treasure in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where our treasure is, there will our hearts be also. By trying to live the beatitudes we store up treasures in heaven.
Dear brothers and sisters, God reveals to the humble of heart the true source of abundant life and happiness. Jesus promises his disciples that the joys of heaven will be more than compensate for the troubles and hardships they can expect in this world. St. Thomas Aquinas said: “No person can live without joy, that is why someone deprived of spiritual joy goes after carnal pleasures”. Do you know the joy and happiness of hungering and thirsting for God alone?
May Christ, increase your hunger for him and show you the way that leads to everlasting happiness and peace. May he rule your heart and establish the values of his Kingdom in you so that you may desire things Christ desire and find perfect joy in doing God’s will. Lord Jesus grant us your grace so that we may live the life of detachment that your beatitudes teach.
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