Daily Catholic Reflection: Wednesday, September 13, 2023, Memorial of Saint John Chrysostom, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

Col 3:1-11

Ps 145:2-3, 10-11, 12-13ab

Luke 6:20-26                          Full Readings

Saint John Chrysostom 

Jesus' Way of Happiness: The Beatitudes

Today, we reflect on St. Luke’s version of the beatitudes which offers us the heavenly idea of happiness which is the Jesus' way of happiness. To be “blessed” means to be happy. The beatitudes paint a picture of the abundant life he wants us to enjoy (John 10:10). In the heavenly economy, those who are poor, hungry, weeping, and hated are happy. This is quite different from the world's idea of happiness, which says, “eat, drink, and be merry!” Jesus is teaching us that we will be truly happy only when we place him at the center of our life and let go of the temporal things that block our relationship with him. Jesus gave his disciples a "way of happiness" that transcends every difficulty and trouble that can weigh us down with grief and despair. Jesus' way of 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.

The Beatitudes are not only a way to happiness but also conditions of entering the Kingdom of God and the standard of Christian life in which we are all called to live. They are very contradictory to the world living. How can one find happiness in poverty, hunger, weeping and mourning, persecution, sadness and being hated? Understanding the Beatitudes in a worldly sense is not logical; at first, the Beatitudes may not make sense to us.  It’s not that they are contrary to our human reason.  Rather, the Beatitudes go beyond what immediately makes sense and they enable us to live on a whole new level of faith, hope and love.  They teach us that the wisdom of God is far beyond our own limited human understanding. They are spiritual attitudes necessary for those who would enter the Kingdom of Heaven and attain eternal happiness. So how do we find happiness and blessedness in these beatitudes.

Poverty affords one the opportunity to seek out the riches of Heaven above all else.  Hunger drives a person to seek the food of God that sustains beyond what the world can offer.  Weeping, when caused by one’s own sin or the sins of others, helps us seek justice, repentance, truth and mercy.  And persecution on account of Christ enables us to be purified in our faith and to trust in God in a way that leaves us abundantly blessed and filled with joy.

But see how lack of these deprives us happiness as Luke gives the contrary of these beatitudes by woes. Woe to the rich, those who are filled now, those who laugh now, to those well-spoken of now, for all getting their consolation now but deprived of eternal happiness. How? The rich always have a temptation of not seeking he heavenly riches for they are filled now with the transient worldly riches; watch out! Those who are filled now have a temptation of not seeking the spiritual food which sustains us both spiritually and physically because they everything at their disposal; watch out! Those who are laughing now, filled with worldly pleasures, happiness and satisfactions always have a temptation of not recognizing their limitations and sinfulness as human beings and so need no repentance of sins, seeking justice and mercy of God; watch out! Those who are well spoken, those preaching an easy religion without persecution and the prophets are getting famous here and loving easy lives, lives without a cross forgetting the way of Jesus of the Cross; watch out! 

Though this teaching may not make sense but as Christian disciples, we are subjects of Christ’s Kingdom, called to live differently from the rest of the world. No wonder St Paul in the first reading tells us, "I tell you, brothers (and sisters), the time is running out. From now on, let those having wives act as not having them, those weeping as not weeping, those rejoicing as not rejoicing, those buying as not owning, those using the world as not using it fully. For the world in its present form is passing away." Let us only focus on living the beatitudes, Jesus' way of happiness and we shall be filled with all the graces to live happily here on earth and in heaven for eternity.

Let us Pray.

Jesus, rule my heart and establish the values of your Kingdom in me so that I desire the things you desire. By your grace, grant me the virtues I need to live out the detachment that your beatitudes teach. Order my life so that you are in the center. Jesus, you are the source and summit of my life. Amen

Be blessed.