Becoming Sons and Daughters of God
The main purpose of all our striving in life is to live a good and happy life. We study hard and take up several jobs to be successful. We invest a lot of our resources in the latest appliances which can bring us comfort. We marry and remarry, hoping to have a suitable spouse who will always keep us happy. The rationale behind taking up all sorts of endeavors is that, we think, these things may one day bring happiness and joy to our life.
Though our mundane everyday efforts for happiness may bring us momentary satisfaction, they also bring us an awareness that we cannot attain happiness without working for it. But Jesus, in today’s Gospel, tells us that He has a different – and probably easier – way of attaining happiness in life. Today’s Scripture, therefore, is easier for those who try to understand what Jesus is teaching.
Can a poor, hungry, mourning and persecuted person ever be happy in life? The answer is affirmative. These are the people who are defenseless in life. They know that as human beings they are weak, fragile, and vulnerable and therefore, they need to learn to put their trust in God. The discourse of the beatitudes tells us that in God alone and only in doing His holy will that we will find our true happiness.
When we are in the presence God, no earthly troubles distract us from living a happy life. When we are in His presence our spiritual poverty makes us hunger for God and His Divine Word. From this state of blessedness, when we look at others who have neglected their spiritual wellbeing and true happiness, we feel sorry or actually mourn for them. Now, knowing well the joy of being saved, we accept any pain to bring peace and justice into the world.
In this process, we finally realize that we have become the sons and daughter of God.
–Fr. Ranjan D’Sa, OCD