Pastor's Letter 20220213 - 13 February 2022 - The Search for Happiness

Father Michael · February 13, 2022

February 13^th, 2022

Sixth Sunday-Ordinary Time

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Jesus preaches to the disciples

A Message from Father _†Michael

Today’s Theme:

“The Search for Happiness”

Reflections on Today’s Scripture

Today’s First Reading gives us a sample of wisdom poetry contrasting the wicked (those who trust in humans) and the righteous (those who trust in God) (Jeremiah 17:5-8.) A barren desert shrub is contrasted with a fruitful tree beside a flowing river. To rely on weak, human nature, “on the flesh and the things of the flesh,” as the Bible puts it, can only mean spiritual death. To trust in God means to rely on Him, turning to Him as the One Source of life. The Responsorial Psalm today conveys the same message (Psalm 1.) When ancient people put their trust in armies and alliances, abandoning the Lord, their cause was lost.

~~~

†Paul’s insistence on the bodily resurrection of Jesus is brought out today in our Second Reading (1 Corinthians 15:12-20.) Some of the new Christians in Corinth denied any resurrection from the dead. To this, †Paul argues that if there is none, then Christ has not been raised, either—making his preaching, and their faith “in vain.” If he has been misrepresented God, then their faith is meaningless, their sins have not been forgiven, and those who died, believing, have perished without hope! Indeed, Christ has not only risen, but He is the “first fruits” of those who have died. In other words, the resurrection is not only a reality, but it reaches to us. Jesus Himself is present to us and with us in our striving to give substance to the Kingdom.

~~~

The Gospels have two, notably different, versions of the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-12, and Today’s Gospel: Luke 6: 17-26.) Matthew has nine of them, whereas, Luke has only four—but with four corresponding woes. Both have an original “core” going back to Jesus, with the additions and adaptations being due to the evangelists’ interpretations. The blessedness promised to the poor and afflicted will wonderfully compensate them for their present state of being. In turn, the Beatitudes apply to Christians who are suffering persecutions, encouraging them in the midst of their difficulties. †Luke is a keen critic of, and challenges the wealthy. He envisages their conversion only by way of a radical renunciation of their possessions (truly charitable alms-giving) and their specific oppressive conduct (risky loans, oppression of those most marginal in society.)

The Richness of Faith

When Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor…” He is not blessing starvation and misery—those are evil things. Rather, He is blessing a reliance on God. As stressed in our First Reading, today, those who put their trust in human beings will often be disappointed. However, those who put their trust in God will not. Only God can fill our emptiness, and satisfy the hunger of our hearts. But often God is the last One to Whom we turn, rather than the first. Trusting in God means relying on Him as the one Source of life.

Those who are rich tend to rely on their wealth—for them, the treasures of this world matter most. God is, more or less, redundant…and His “other world,” is remote and hazy. The poor, on the other hand, tend to turn to God instinctively, as the very hazards and difficulties of their lives make God and the other world close and palpable.

Of course, poverty, in itself, is not a good thing. But as life becomes more challenging, and more threatening, it also becomes richer, because the fewer expectations we have, the more good things of life become unexpected gifts, that we accept with gratitude and joy.

In the final analysis, riches and comforts leave us in a spiritual wilderness. Only by living the values of the Gospel will our deepest hungers be satisfied. To understand the Beatitudes, we need a “spiritual awakening.” Kahlil Gibran is credited with saying, “Spiritual awakening is the not the most important thing in life—it is the sole purpose of our being.”

The Poverty of the Rich

Sometimes, homes of the wealthy seem as though they lack “life and laughter.” Seldom will we see children playing on their lawns, and, while they are beautiful, an air of despondence seems to surround them. It’s been termed the “melancholy of affluence.”

There’s a story about a housekeeper who lived with a wealthy couple, who occupied a basement apartment in a house with fourteen bedrooms. Her main job was to cook, clean and care for a wealthy California couple. Each day she would prepare breakfast, lunch and dinner for them, and when needed, tend to their frequent guests, as well.

As the couple grew elderly, they stopped entertaining, and retired to a sedentary life. Their meals became simpler, and their days often passed with little conversation.

Meanwhile, the housekeeper would invite friends to share a meal with her, enjoy drinks with music, dancing and card games. Carefree conversation and laughter were the normal fare.

One evening, amid the gaiety of the evening, the employers knocked on her door, asking her to talk with them. “We don’t mean to disturb you,” they said, “But you all seem to be having a wonderful time. We hear you and your friends enjoying yourselves, and we’d like to just ‘watch’ you.” They added, “If you’ll keep your door open a bit, your friends need never know. We’ll be quiet and just observe.”

The woman agreed, but she found it sad because the couple owned a large house, with a swimming pool, multiple cars, lots of palm trees—yet no joy. One could picture the wealthy couple standing in a darkened hallway, peering into a lighted room where their servant and her friends were lifting their voices in merriment and camaraderie.

This story illustrates one way in which the poor can be “better off” than the rich, who might have forgotten how to enjoy themselves. The secret lies in their love of life, and the ability to take great pleasure from small offerings. When things are “easy,” people expect good things to happen, but they bring no great joy when they come. But when life is challenging, it can also be richer, due to people having fewer “expectations.”

In the eyes of the world, the wealthy seem to be blessed by God, while the poor seem to be cursed. Jesus spoke about that:

• The strange poverty of those who live for the wealth of this world, in contrast to the strange wealth of those who trust in God;

• The strange hunger of those whose only food is that of this world, versus the strange nourishment of those who seek the food that only God can give;

• The strange sadness of those who laugh when compared to the strange joy of those who know how to weep;

• The strange happiness of those who find themselves persecuted in the cause of right;

• The strange weakness of the strong, rivaling the strange strength of the weak, who put their trust in God.

“People who choose to earn money first, people who put off their real plans until later, until they are rich, are not necessarily wrong. People who want only to live, and who reckon living is absolute freedom, the exclusive pursuit of happiness, the sole satisfaction of their desires and instincts, the immediate enjoyment of the boundless riches of the world—such people will always be unhappy. It is true that there are people for whom this kind of dilemma does not arise, or hardly arises— either because they are too poor and have no requirements beyond a slightly better diet, slightly better housing, slightly less work; or because they are too rich to understand the import or even the meaning of such a distinction. But nowadays, and in our part of the world, more and more people are neither rich nor poor: they dream of wealth, and could become wealthy; and that is where their misfortunes begin."

~~Georges Perec: "Things: A Story of the Sixties~~

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For a video of today's Holy Mass, click here: Holy Mass 02-13-22 Old Catholic Church, Tucson AZ