Knowing God – the key to true happiness
St. Augustine, in his book ‘Against the Academicians and the Teacher’, discusses in a rhetoric form the meaning of life. He asks the very essential question of our day-to-day life – why do we work so hard in life? The logical conclusion of his lengthy discourse was “Happiness”. Everyone wants to be happy. But many a time we have no idea what real happiness means. We might tend to believe with the world that happiness depends on the things and events around us and how they unravel to us.
Is happiness a matter of having what one wants to be happy? The consumerist world defines happiness as “having what we want”. If that is true, then there is no doubt the world is still in search for more things to be happy for there is no limit to our wants and desires. The material gains of this world are far from giving us real happiness, for every material gain is subject to fear of loss. Therefore, St. Augustine argues that it is in our love of God that we find permanent and enduring happiness without fear of loss which can limit our happiness.
The knowledge of God, therefore, is something very essential to have true happiness. Today’s scripture gives us some idea how we can be happy. Luke, like Matthew, uses the word ‘Blessed’ to describe true happiness. Of course, true happiness can only come from God. In today’s Gospel, Luke bluntly presents, without any colour coating, the tenants of possessing true happiness. He literally says that “blessed are you who are poor”, “who are now hungry,” “who are now weeping”, and “who are persecuted”. Happiness is found within human limitations.
The world tells us that being strong, dominant, rich, controlling, having lots of followers… is the cause of happiness. But for Luke that is the recipe of disaster. He is inviting us to reflect on the human tendency of searching for temporary happiness on their own, by relying on their own powers. What will happen to them when they lose their abilities? How would they deal with the pressure of managing everything they possess? What about the anxiety and stress? So, Luke invites us to totally rely on God for everything. He wants us to realize that our human limitations help us find happiness in God alone.
In the Lukan Gospel, Jesus calls the poor blessed because, for him, they are already in the Kingdom of God – The emphasis is on “yours is the kingdom of God”. He does not say that the Kingdom God will be theirs. To be part of the God’s Kingdom one must accept God’s rule and sovereignty. A self-dependent and self-centered person cannot accept God’s rule and therefore can’t be part of His kingdom. Only those who have known God can genuinely be poor, hungry…
–Fr. Ranjan D’Sa OCD