Pearl of Great Price

                  17th Sunday in Ordinary Time

                  A cycle

 

      

A common theme in fairy stories is for someone to be given an opportunity to wish for anything. Sometimes, even three wishes are offered. Maybe all these stories derive from the story in today’s first reading about King Solomon. The name Solomon has become synonymous with wisdom, and when we think of Solomon we usually think of him as a wise old man.

 

In today’s reading though, he is a young man who has just come to the throne after the death of his father, King David. Unlike today’s politicians the young Solomon is not sure if he is up to the job that faces him. Nevertheless, when in a dream he hears that God will grant him one wish, he shows that he is wise beyond his years.

 

      Give your servant, therefore, an understanding heart

      To judge your people and to distinguish right from wrong.

 

The Lord praises Solomon for he has not asked for something silly or stupid. He has asked for Wisdom. He did not ask for personal riches or for power over his enemies. He asked for “understanding so that you may know what is right.” It is a truism that the smartest people, those with the most education or book learning, are not necessarily the wisest. Here we see that wisdom involves decision-making. It is the ability to decide between what is right and wrong—not just for ourselves but also for all those for whom we are responsible.

 

Today’s gospel reading is all about decision-making. Jesus compares the Kingdom of Heaven to a treasure in a field; to a valuable pearl; and to a net full of fish. When he says to his followers, “Do you understand all these things?” he is speaking to us. It is clear that he is not just speaking about buried treasure, or jewels, or fish. He is speaking about the decisions we will all have to make in our lives.

 

We just have to turn on the TV or look at the newspaper headlines to see that many rich and famous people make really bad decisions. How many young, popular rock stars have had their lives cut short by drug addiction. Look at all the politicians of both parties who have been forced to leave office in disgrace because of poor moral decisions. What about the star athletes who after years of making millions in their prime, go broke a few years after their retirement?

 

It’s not just the rich and famous who make bad decisions. Everyday, ordinary people like ourselves are faced with decisions. Most are minor but some can be really significant and life changing. Very often the decision does not seem to be between right and wrong but between two equally attractive options. When making these decisions, it is not a bad idea to think of the pearl of great price.

 

In today’s gospel, Jesus used the example of a merchant who already has amassed a store of fine gems. But one day he comes across the finest one of all. To get it, he sells or trades all the rest. To achieve success in sports athletes will have to devote themselves to unremitting practice in the pursuit of excellence. Even if they excel at more than one sport, they will eventually have to decide to give up the others for the one that offers the most chance of success. In business it is much the same. Success means focusing on your goal and putting everything else aside.

 

In our lives it is not so obvious. What is our pearl of great price? Is there anything we want that is so precious that we will give up all we have for it? I suppose that ten people will give ten different answers if asked what is their pearl of great prices. If we think about it seriously, I think most of us would say that it has something to do with happiness. What wouldn’t we give or do to be really truly happy? 

 

But what is happiness? I think most of us would agree that while material possessions are important, they alone cannot provide happiness. We live in the richest nation on earth, a nation where even the poorest have cell phones and multiple TVs. Yet there is so much sadness, loneliness, and sorrow. Ultimately, happiness is a spiritual thing. Even though in our daily lives we might not think about it, I believe it has something to do with our souls. Someone once said that our bodies do not have souls, but that every individual is a soul that has a body. In a sense we have all been incarnated. 

 

St.Augustine said that our souls would never rest or be at peace until we found God. Perhaps this is what St. Paul was getting at in today’s second reading. 

 

And those he predestined he also called;

And those he called he also justified,

And those he justified he also glorified.

 

The pearl of great price is happiness, and it can be found through wisdom, and wisdom tells us that it can be found through love, through love of God and our neighbor. 

 

###

Reading 1. I Kings 3: 5, 7-12

Reading II. Romans 8:28-30

Gospel. Matthew 13: 44-52 (Pearl of Great Price).

Search for Happiness

                   4^th Sunday in Ordinary Time

                  A cycle

 

 

One of the problems that the Church faces today is that we have lost the meaning of words, which were once perfectly clear. For example, I think that "salvation" is one of these words. I would bet that most people don't think of salvation as a goal. However, if we were to discover that salvation means "happiness," then it's a different story. Who wouldn't want to be happy, especially if the happiness was forever or eternal?

 

How many best sellers today deal with the search for happiness? How many TV programs are devoted to the same subject? Yet today, despite our advanced technology, our great wealth, and our educational achievements, there is still so much unhappiness in our world. 

. 

Happiness is the subject of today's readings from Scripture. It has been said that there are three steps on the stairway to happiness. First, we have to recognize that we can't achieve it on our own. We are finite or imperfect. We just are not equipped with the ability or the tools to do it on our own. In today’s first reading the prophet Zephaniah proclaims that the road to happiness is not the one we would think to take. He indicates that those who seek riches, power, and fame will not be happy.

 

      Seek the Lord, all you humble of the earth,

      Who have observed his law;

      Seek justice, seek humility,…

 

In other words, when we seek happiness through money or power or fame or sex or recognition we are bound to fail. Just read the newspapers every day. I knew someone who hated her job so much that it was literally making her physically and psychologically ill. Yet, she couldn’t bring herself to leave it because even though she was financially secure, she thought she needed even more money. She was so unhappy!

 

In last week’s gospel St, Matthew gave his account of the calling of the first disciples. Even though the Evangelist named only Peter, Andrew, James and John, we must understand that we have also been called to be disciples. What does that mean? What does it involve? In all the gospel readings from now to Lent, we are going to get the answer to those questions.

 

In the gospel today Matthew brings us the famous Sermon on the Mount. Right before today's reading our Lord had gone up to a mountain to pray. Afterwards he had called his disciples to him. That's where we begin today. Jesus had already gained a reputation as a healer but now he begins to teach.  

 

He preaches the "Beatitudes."  Beatitude, blessed, bliss: all mean happiness. The second step to happiness is to be open to the truth when we hear it. Whenever Jesus speaks to his disciples, we can be sure that He is speaking to us. 

 

      Blessed (or Happy) are the poor in spirit…

      Blessed (or Happy) are they who mourn…

      Blessed (or Happy) are the meek…

      Blessed (or Happy) are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness…

      Blessed (or Happy) are the merciful…

      Blessed (or Happy) are the clean of heart…

      Blessed (or Happy) are the peacemakers… 

      Blessed (or Happy) are they who are persecuted…

      Blessed (or Happy) are you when they insult you…

 

Scholars tell us that poor in spirit does not mean gloomy. It refers to those conscious of their need of God’s help in striking contrast to the proud who are supremely confident of their own ability. The greatest of all virtues, Humility, is here contrasted with Pride, the greatest of all vices. The rest of the beatitudes deal with the same idea. The proud, the arrogant, the self-righteous, the impure, the warlike, the persecutors will not find happiness. 

 

The road to happiness is not the popular road. Once we're open to the Truth we can then take the third step and apply it in our own lives. The man who marries must give up his own ambitions and dreams, his own life, for his wife: and she must do so also. Parents give up their lives for their children. Who ever said that would be easy? Priests and religious give up their lives in the service of others. St. Paul says that single people even have a greater responsibility or opportunity for self-sacrificing love.

 

So, the road to happiness is open to ordinary people who just lead ordinary lives. In today’s second reading from St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians he makes the same point.

 

“Consider your own calling, brothers and sisters,

Not many of you were wise by human standards,

Not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.”

 

“Rather God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise,

And God chose the weak of the world to to shame the strong,

And God chose the lowly and despised of the world,…

To reduce to nothing those who are something…”

 

At the very outset of his public life Jesus began to teach and his teaching was all about humility. It’s not that we need to grovel in the dirt, we just have to understand who we are to achieve happiness.

 

“Whoever boasts, should boast in the Lord.”

###

Reading 1. Zephaniah 2:3; 3: 12-13

Reading II. I Corinthians 1: 26-31

Gospel. Matthew 5: 1-12a (Beatitudes)

Happiness

One of the problems that the Church faces today is that we have lost the meaning of words, which were once perfectly clear. For example, I think that "salvation" is one of these words. I would bet that most people don't think of salvation as a goal. However, if we were to discover that salvation only means "happiness," then it's a different story. Who wouldn't want to be happy, especially if the happiness was forever or eternal?

 

How many best sellers today deal with the search for happiness? How many TV programs are devoted to the same subject? Yet today, despite our advanced technology, our great wealth, and our educational achievements, there is still so much unhappiness in our world. 

. 

Happiness is the subject of today's readings from Scripture. It has been said that there are three steps on the stairway to happiness. First, we have to recognize that we can't achieve it on our own. We are finite or imperfect. We just are not equipped with the ability or the tools to do it on our own. In today’s first reading the prophet Zephaniah proclaims that the road to happiness is not the one we would think to take. He indicates that those who seek riches, power, and fame will not be happy.

 

            Seek the Lord, all you humble of the earth,

            Who have observed his law;

            Seek justice, seek humility,…

 

In other words, when we seek happiness through money or power or fame or sex or recognition we are bound to fail. Just read the newspapers every day. I knew someone who hated her job so much that it was literally making her physically and psychologically ill. Yet, she couldn’t bring herself to leave it because even though she was financially secure, she thought she needed even more money. She was so unhappy!

 

In last week’s gospel St, Matthew gave his account of the calling of the first disciples. Even though the Evangelist named only Peter, Andrew, James and John, we must understand that we have also been called to be disciples. What does that mean? What does it involve? In all the gospel readings from now to Lent, we are going to get the answer to those questions.

 

In the gospel today Matthew brings us the famous Sermon on the Mount. Right before today's reading our Lord had gone up to a mountain to pray. Afterwards he had called his disciples to him. That's where we begin today. Jesus had already gained a reputation as a healer but now he begins to teach.  

 

He preaches the "Beatitudes."  Beatitude, blessed, bliss: all mean happiness. The second step to happiness is to be open to the truth when we hear it. Whenever Jesus speaks to his disciples, we can be sure that He is speaking to us. 

 

            Blessed (or Happy) are the poor in spirit…

            Blessed (or Happy) are they who mourn…

            Blessed (or Happy) are the meek…

            Blessed (or Happy) are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness…

            Blessed (or Happy) are the merciful…

            Blessed (or Happy) are the clean of heart…

            Blessed (or Happy) are the peacemakers… 

            Blessed (or Happy) are they who are persecuted…

            Blessed (or Happy) are you when they insult you…

 

Scholars tell us that poor in spirit does not mean gloomy. It refers to those conscious of their need of God’s help in striking contrast to the proud who are supremely confident of their own ability. The greatest of all virtues, Humility, is here contrasted with Pride, the greatest of all vices. The rest of the beatitudes deal with the same idea. The proud, the arrogant, the self-righteous, the impure, the warlike, the persecutors will not find happiness. 

 

The road to happiness is not the popular road. Once we're open to the Truth we can then take the third step and apply it in our own lives. The man who marries must give up his own ambitions and dreams, his own life, for his wife: and she must do so also. Parents give up their lives for their children. Who ever said that would be easy? Priests and religious give up their lives in the service of others. St. Paul says that single people even have a greater responsibility or opportunity for self-sacrificing love.

 

So, the road to happiness is open to ordinary people who just lead ordinary lives. In today’s second reading from St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians he makes the same point.

 

“Consider your own calling, brothers and sisters,

Not many of you were wise by human standards,

Not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.”

 

“Rather God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise,

And God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong,

And God chose the lowly and despised of the world,…

To reduce to nothing those who are something…”

 

At the very outset of his public life Jesus began to teach and his teaching was all about humility. It’s not that we need to grovel in the dirt, we just have to understand who we are to achieve happiness.

 

 

“Whoever boasts, should boast in the Lord.”

 

###

Pearl Of Great Price 2023

                  17th Sunday in Ordinary Time

                  A cycle

 

      

A common theme in fairy stories is for someone to be given an opportunity to wish for anything. Sometimes, even three wishes are offered. Maybe all these stories derive from the story in today’s first reading about King Solomon. The name Solomon has become synonymous with wisdom, and when we usually think of Solomon we usually think of him as a wise old man.

 

In today’s reading though, he is a young man who has just come to the throne after the death of his father, King David. Unlike today’s politicians the young Solomon is not sure if he is up to the job that faces him. Nevertheless, when in a dream he hears that God will grant him one wish, he shows that he is wise beyond his years.

 

      Give your servant, therefore, an understanding heart

      To judge your people and to distinguish right from wrong.

 

The Lord praises Solomon for he has not asked for something silly or stupid. He has asked for Wisdom. He did not ask for personal riches or for power over his enemies. He asked for “understanding so that you may know what is right.” It is a truism that the smartest people, those with the most education or book learning, are not necessarily the wisest. Here we see that wisdom involves decision-making. It is the ability to decide between what is right and wrong—not just for ourselves but also for all those for whom we are responsible.

 

Today’s gospel reading is all about decision-making. Jesus compares the Kingdom of Heaven to a treasure in a field; to a valuable pearl; and to a net full of fish. When he says to his followers, “Do you understand all these things?” he is speaking to us. It is clear that he is not just speaking about buried treasure, or jewels, or fish. He is speaking about the decisions we will all have to make in our lives.

 

We just have to turn on the TV or look at the newspaper headlines to see that many rich and famous people make really bad decisions. How many young, popular rock stars have had their lives cut short by drug addiction. Look at all the politicians of both parties who have been forced to leave office in disgrace because of poor moral decisions. What about the star athletes who after years of making millions in their prime, go broke a few years after their retirement?

 

It’s not just the rich and famous who make bad decisions. Everyday, ordinary people like ourselves are faced with decisions. Most are minor but some can be really significant and life changing. Very often the decision does not seem to be between right and wrong but between two equally attractive options. When making these decisions, it is not a bad idea to think of the pearl of great price.

 

In today’s gospel, Jesus used the example of a merchant who already has amassed a store of fine gems. But one day he comes across the finest one of all. To get it, he sells or trades all the rest. To achieve success in sports athletes will have to devote themselves to unremitting practice in the pursuit of excellence. Even if they excel at more than one sport, they will eventually have to decide to give up the others for the one that offers the most chance of success. In business it is much the same. Success means focusing on your goal and putting everything else aside.

 

In our lives it is not so obvious. What is our pearl of great price? Is there anything we want that is so precious that we will give up all we have for it? I suppose that ten people will give ten different answers if asked what is their pearl of great prices. If we think about it seriously, I think most of us would say that it has something to do with happiness. What wouldn’t we give or do to be really truly happy? 

 

But what is happiness? I think most of us would agree that while material possessions are important, they alone cannot provide happiness. We live in the richest nation on earth, a nation where even the poorest have cell phones and multiple TVs. Yet there is so much sadness, loneliness, and sorrow. Ultimately, happiness is a spiritual thing. Even though in our daily lives we might not think about it, I believe it has something to do with our souls. Someone once said that our bodies do not have souls, but that every individual is a soul that has a body. In a sense we have all been incarnated. 

 

St/ Augustine said that our souls would never rest or be at peace until we found God. Perhaps this is what St. Paul was getting at in today’s second reading. 

 

And those he predestined he also called;

And those he called he also justified,

And those he justified he also glorified.

 

The pearl of great price is happiness, and it can be found through wisdom, and wisdom tells us that it can be found through love, through love of God and our neighbor. 

 

###

Reading 1. I Kings 3: 5, 7-12

Reading II. Romans 8:28-30

Gospel. Matthew 13: 44-52 (Pearl of Great Price).

Beatitudes

                   4^th Sunday in Ordinary Time

                  A cycle

 

One of the problems that the Church faces today is that we have lost the meaning of words, which were once perfectly clear. For example, I think that "salvation" is one of these words. I would bet that most people don't think of salvation as a goal. However, if we were to discover that salvation only means "happiness," then it's a different story. Who wouldn't want to be happy, especially if the happiness was forever or eternal?

 

How many best sellers today deal with the search for happiness? How many TV programs are devoted to the same subject? Yet today, despite our advanced technology, our great wealth, and our educational achievements, there is still so much unhappiness in our world. 

. 

Happiness is the subject of today's readings from Scripture. It has been said that there are three steps on the stairway to happiness. First, we have to recognize that we can't achieve it on our own. We are finite or imperfect. We just are not equipped with the ability or the tools to do it on our own. In today’s first reading the prophet Zephaniah proclaims that the road to happiness is not the one we would think to take. He indicates that those who seek riches, power, and fame will not be happy.

 

      Seek the Lord, all you humble of the earth,

      Who have observed his law;

      Seek justice, seek humility,…

 

In other words, when we seek happiness through money or power or fame or sex or recognition we are bound to fail. Just read the newspapers every day. I knew someone who hated her job so much that it was literally making her physically and psychologically ill. Yet, she couldn’t bring herself to leave it because even though she was financially secure, she thought she needed even more money. She was so unhappy!

 

In last week’s gospel St, Matthew gave his account of the calling of the first disciples. Even though the Evangelist named only Peter, Andrew, James and John, we must understand that we have also been called to be disciples. What does that mean? What does it involve? In all the gospel readings from now to Lent, we are going to get the answer to those questions.

 

In the gospel today Matthew brings us the famous Sermon on the Mount. Right before today's reading our Lord had gone up to a mountain to pray. Afterwards he had called his disciples to him. That's where we begin today. Jesus had already gained a reputation as a healer but now he begins to teach.  

 

He preaches the "Beatitudes."  Beatitude, blessed, bliss: all mean happiness. The second step to happiness is to be open to the truth when we hear it. Whenever Jesus speaks to his disciples, we can be sure that He is speaking to us. 

 

      Blessed (or Happy) are the poor in spirit…

      Blessed (or Happy) are they who mourn…

      Blessed (or Happy) are the meek…

      Blessed (or Happy) are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness…

      Blessed (or Happy) are the merciful…

      Blessed (or Happy) are the clean of heart…

      Blessed (or Happy) are the peacemakers… 

      Blessed (or Happy) are they who are persecuted…

      Blessed (or Happy) are you when they insult you…

 

Scholars tell us that poor in spirit does not mean gloomy. It refers to those conscious of their need of God’s help in striking contrast to the proud who are supremely confident of their own ability. The greatest of all virtues, Humility, is here contrasted with Pride, the greatest of all vices. The rest of the beatitudes deal with the same idea. The proud, the arrogant, the self-righteous, the impure, the warlike, the persecutors will not find happiness. 

 

The road to happiness is not the popular road. Once we're open to the Truth we can then take the third step and apply it in our own lives. The man who marries must give up his own ambitions and dreams, his own life, for his wife: and she must do so also. Parents give up their lives for their children. Who ever said that would be easy? Priests and religious give up their lives in the service of others. St. Paul says that single people even have a greater responsibility or opportunity for self-sacrificing love.

 

So, the road to happiness is open to ordinary people who just lead ordinary lives. In today’s second reading from St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians he makes the same point.

 

“Consider your own calling, brothers and sisters,

Not many of you were wise by human standards,

Not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.”

 

“Rather God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise,

And God chose the weak of the world to to shame the strong,

And God chose the lowly and despised of the world,…

To reduce to nothing those who are something…”

 

At the very outset of his public life Jesus began to teach and his teaching was all about humility. It’s not that we need to grovel in the dirt, we just have to understand who we are to achieve happiness.

 

“Whoever boasts, should boast in the Lord.”

###

Reading 1. Zephaniah 2:3; 3: 12-13

Reading II. I Corinthians 1: 26-31

Gospel. Matthew 5: 1-12a (Beatitudes)

Beatitudes: the Road to Happiness

                       6th Sunday in Ordinary Time

One of the problems that the Church faces today is that we have lost the meaning of words, which were once perfectly clear. For example, I think that "salvation" is one of these words. I would bet that most people don't think of salvation as a goal. However, if we were to discover that salvation means "happiness," then it's a different story. Who wouldn't want to be happy, especially if the happiness was forever or eternal?

 

How many best sellers today deal with the search for happiness? How many TV programs are devoted to the same subject? Yet today, despite our advanced technology, our great wealth, and our educational achievements, there is still so much unhappiness in our world. 

. 

Happiness is the subject of today's readings from Scripture. It has been said that there are three steps on the stairway to happiness. First, we have to recognize that we can't achieve it on our own. We are finite or imperfect. We just are not equipped with the ability or the tools to do it on our own. In today’s first reading the prophet Zephaniah proclaims that the road to happiness is not the one we would think to take. He indicates that those who seek riches, power, and fame will not be happy.

 

            Seek the Lord, all you humble of the earth,

            Who have observed his law;

            Seek justice, seek humility,…

 

In other words, when we seek happiness through money or power or fame or sex or recognition we are bound to fail. Just read the newspapers every day. I knew someone who hated her job so much that it was literally making her physically and psychologically ill. Yet, she couldn’t bring herself to leave it because even though she was financially secure, she thought she needed even more money. She was so unhappy!

 

In last week’s gospel St, Matthew gave his account of the calling of the first disciples. Even though the Evangelist named only Peter, Andrew, James and John, we must understand that we have also been called to be disciples. What does that mean? What does it involve? In all the gospel readings from now to Lent, we are going to get the answer to those questions.

 

In the gospel today Matthew brings us the famous Sermon on the Mount. Right before today's reading our Lord had gone up to a mountain to pray. Afterwards he had called his disciples to him. That's where we begin today. Jesus had already gained a reputation as a healer but now he begins to teach.  

 

He preaches the "Beatitudes."  Beatitude, blessed, bliss: all mean happiness. The second step to happiness is to be open to the truth when we hear it. Whenever Jesus speaks to his disciples, we can be sure that He is speaking to us. 

 

            Blessed (or Happy) are the poor in spirit…

            Blessed (or Happy) are they who mourn…

            Blessed (or Happy) are the meek…

            Blessed (or Happy) are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness…

            Blessed (or Happy) are the merciful…

            Blessed (or Happy) are the clean of heart…

            Blessed (or Happy) are the peacemakers… 

            Blessed (or Happy) are they who are persecuted…

            Blessed (or Happy) are you when they insult you…

 

Scholars tell us that poor in spirit does not mean gloomy. It refers to those conscious of their need of God’s help in striking contrast to the proud who are supremely confident of their own ability. The greatest of all virtues, Humility, is here contrasted with Pride, the greatest of all vices. The rest of the beatitudes deal with the same idea. The proud, the arrogant, the self-righteous, the impure, the warlike, the persecutors will not find happiness. 

 

The road to happiness is not the popular road. Once we're open to the Truth we can then take the third step and apply it in our own lives. The man who marries must give up his own ambitions and dreams, his own life, for his wife: and she must do so also. Parents give up their lives for their children. Who ever said that would be easy? Priests and religious give up their lives in the service of others. St. Paul says that single people even have a greater responsibility or opportunity for self-sacrificing love.

 

So, the road to happiness is open to ordinary people who just lead ordinary lives. In today’s second reading from St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians he makes the same point.

 

“Consider your own calling, brothers and sisters,

Not many of you were wise by human standards,

Not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.”

 

“Rather God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise,

And God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong,

And God chose the lowly and despised of the world,…

To reduce to nothing those who are something…”

 

At the very outset of his public life Jesus began to teach and his teaching was all about humility. It’s not that we need to grovel in the dirt, we just have to understand who we are to achieve happiness.

 

 

“Whoever boasts, should boast in the Lord.”

 

###

6th Sunday in Ordinary Time

6th Sunday in Ordinary Time
C cycle

Reading 1. Jeremiah 17: 5-8.
Reading II. I Corinthians 15: 12, 16-20.
Gospel. Luke 6: 17, 20-26 (Beatitudes)

One of the problems that the Church faces today is that we have lost the meaning of words which were once perfectly clear. For example, I think that "salvation" is one of these words. I would bet that most people don't think of salvation as a goal. However, if we were to discover that salvation only means "happiness" then it's a different story. Who wouldn't want to be happy, especially if the happiness was forever or eternal.

How many best sellers today deal with the search for happiness? How many TV programs are devoted to the same subject? Yet today, despite our advanced technology, our great wealth, and our educational achievements, there is still so much unhappiness in our world.
.
Happiness is the subject of today's readings from Scripture. It has been said that there are three steps on the stairway to happiness. First, we have to recognize that we can't achieve it on our own. We are finite or imperfect. We just are not equipped with the ability or the tools to do it on our own. This is the message of the first reading from the prophet Jeremiah. In fact, it is the principal message of all the great Old Testament prophets.

Cursed (or unhappy) is the one who trusts in human beings,
who seeks his strength in flesh,
whose heart turns away from the Lord....

Blessed (or happy) is the one who trusts in the Lord,
whose hope is the Lord.

In other words, when we seek happiness through money or power or fame or sex or recognition we are bound to fail. Just read the newspapers every day. I know someone who hates her job so much that it is literally making her physically and psychologically ill. Yet, she can't bring herself to leave it because even though she is financially secure, she thinks she needs even more money. She is so unhappy!

In the gospel today Luke brings us the famous Sermon on the Mount. Right before today's reading our Lord had gone up to a mountain to pray. Afterwards he had called his disciples to him and chosen twelve to be His apostles. That's where we begin today. "Jesus came down with the twelve" and began to teach "a great crowd of his disciples and a large number of people" who had come from near and far to hear this wonder worker.

He preaches the "Beatitudes." Beatitude, blessed, bliss all mean happiness. The second step to happiness is to be open to the truth when we hear it. Whenever Jesus speaks to his disciples, we can be sure that He is speaking to us. Luke says "raising his eyes toward his disciples he said,

Blessed (or Happy) are you who are poor...
Blessed (or Happy) are you who are now hungry...
Blessed (or Happy) are you who are now weeping...
Blessed are you when people hate you,
and when they exclude and insult you,
and denounce your name as evil
on account of the Son of Man.
Rejoice and leap for joy on that day!

The road to happiness is not the easy road. Once we're open to the Truth we can then take the third step and apply it in our own lives. The man who marries must give up his own ambitions and dreams, his own life, for his wife: and she must do so also. Parents give up their lives for their children. Who ever said that would be easy? Priests and religious give up their lives in the service of others. St. Paul says that single people even have a greater responsibility or opportunity for self sacrificing love.

I know that today there are many people both Christian and non-Christian who regard Jesus as only a teacher albeit one of the great ones in human history. I suppose that if such people would only follow the teachings of Jesus they would then be able to lead happy and productive lives. However, this point of view tends to downplay the importance and significance of our Lord's Passion, Death, and Resurrection. I think that part of the concern about the film, The Passion of the Christ, stems from an unwillingness to face the fact that Christ was crucified and that He then rose from the dead.

No one in history appreciated the teaching of Jesus more than St. Paul. But Paul always insisted that his preaching was about Christ crucified, and that if Jesus did not rise from the dead, then His teachings alone could not have brought us happiness. As he said to the Corinthians in today's reading, "if Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain..." For us like the early Christians in Corinth this is a great mystery. Why did Jesus have to suffer and die? But for St. Paul Jesus is the fulfillment of all the Jewish prophecies. Christ's resurrection was the proof that He was the Lord of Jeremiah and the other prophets. He suffered to bring us happiness.

Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,
whose hope is the Lord.