Happiness

Tuesday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time C-2

Entrance Antiphon Ps 84 (83): 10-11 Turn your eyes, O God, our shield; and look on the face of your anointed one; one day within your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere.

Collect O God, who have prepared for those who love you good things which no eye can see, fill our hearts, we pray, with the warmth of your love, so that, loving you in all things and above all things, we may attain your promises, which surpass every human desire. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Scripture today: Ezechiel 28:1-10; Psalm: Deut 32; Matthew 19:23-30

Then Jesus said to his disciples, I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, Who then can be saved? Jesus looked at them and said, With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. Peter answered him, We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us? Jesus said to them, I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first. (Matthew 19:23-30)

Happiness It borders on a truism to say that everyone seeks happiness. Happiness is an instinctive quest, a drive that wells up from the soul and sets the human being along his course. But the question is, how is it to be attained? I suspect great numbers of persons do not carefully consider and resolve this question. They assume that happiness will come with the attainment of goals that, without too much thought, they take up and make their own. The spoken or unspoken goals of the family into which they are born and in which they are raised become theirs. It could be sporting, academic, financial or social success, and if in due course these are left behind, other goals are taken up and assumed to bring happiness in life. But what is it to be happy? That is a very great question, and the mere fact that it has been the object of endless discussion in the history of human thought shows that, at the very least, its answer is not one to be glibly assumed. It cannot be understood as being simply the fulfilment of human needs because this could lead to chaos and lawlessness. All human needs? No? Which ones, then? In fact, most people, of themselves, do not know what they truly need. For example, how many, relying on their own reflection, would ever understand that their greatest need is for God and the doing of his holy will? Some of the most influential philosophers have missed this point. If we consider how we generally resolve the most difficult practical problems of everyday life, in large measure we rely on authoritative guidance. If we are travelling to another country and must stay there for, say, a month, what do we do? We seek and rely on advice. So too in the matter of happiness — one of the most difficult of all matters to determine — we must seek advice from the most authoritative of guides, one who cannot be mistaken. That Guide is Jesus Christ who described himself as the Light of the world, as the Way, the Truth and the Life. This Guide of mankind abides in his body the Church, and in the Church’s word and teaching he sets forth the path to authentic happiness.

Our Gospel passage today is the immediate sequel to the rich young man’s refusal to accept Christ’s offer of “perfection.” He had come with his question of how he was to gain eternal life. He saw clearly that in the possession of eternal life would perfect happiness be attained. So, what must he do to attain it? Our Lord’s answer was simple, direct, immediate: “If you will be perfect, go and sell all you have, and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven, and come, follow me” (Matthew 19:21). Happiness, then, would indeed be attained in the pursuit of moral and spiritual perfection, but that in turn would be attained by the following of him. This is Jesus Christ’s answer to the great question mankind poses generation after generation, which is how to be happy? In what does happiness consist? A thousand answers have been given, and Jesus Christ gives the true one. On the mountain where Christ was transfigured in the presence of his three disciples, the voice of the Father was heard from the cloud. “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.” Man must listen to Jesus Christ, and his message is that we follow him. Therein we shall find eternal life and happiness. In our Gospel today (Matthew 19:23-30) our Lord insists on the point. Full and final happiness which is, of course, found in the kingdom of heaven, cannot be attained in the abundance of riches. In fact, it will be very hard for one of great earthly wealth to attain the kingdom of heaven. “I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” Rather, the abandonment by the heart of the things of this world and the wholehearted following of him will lead to man’s fulfilment here and complete happiness hereafter. “I tell you the truth, ..... everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.”

Life is short, and it is tragic if a person spends his life never knowing wherein will be found true, lasting and eternal happiness. Jesus Christ gives us the answer. Let us have the wisdom to accept it in the way the rich young man did not. The invitation stands: Come, follow me, and do so generously. You will have me and what I offer. Therein will be found the happiness you seek. So then, let us every day live in his presence and grow in his love, showing our love for him by the faithful fulfilment of our daily duties. Therein lies sanctity and happiness here and hereafter.

(E.J.Tyler)

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A Second Reflection: (Ezechiel 28:1-10; Matthew 19:23-30)

The Love of Possessions There are occasional passages that enable us to get inside the mind of Satan, and today’s passage from Ezechiel (28: 1-10) in which God addresses Tyre, is one such. Tyre is accused by God of considering herself the equal of God because of her intelligence and wealth. This shows the danger — granted our fallen condition — of possessions, possessions in the broad sense of the word. We remember that monarchs of various periods of history, perhaps especially ancient history, were prone to think of themselves as divine. It was the temptation that Satan put before our first parents, that they would be like God. While we may not be tempted to think we are equal to God in such stark terms, there can be degrees of this attitude. St Paul tells us to put on the mind of Christ who humbled himself, divesting himself of his divine "form" and becoming as men are, and ever humbler still. In the Gospel of Matthew (19:23-30) our Lord tells us of the danger of riches, and we ought interpret that word (riches) in a broad sense.

There is a great imperative. It is that we be detached from all that can hinder us from a total love for Jesus. Jesus must become our passion in life, and all that we have or that comes our way we ought use for him and for the fulfilment of his will.

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