Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C) - Fr. Hahn

earlier this week I finished the book that we gave away this past Christmas matthew kelly's the biggest lie in the history of christianity and it was a easy read i hope many of you have read that and enjoyed it but it seems that he chooses a very simple theme throughout the book that happiness is the thing that our faith is meant to give to us that each moment is meant to be one of holiness and therefore of happiness and that our awareness of these moments each day and our sharing them will change our lives where do we and where can we find happiness I think it's the topic of our first dreams that in the book of the Prophet Jeremiah now granted he's writing at a time and place that is entirely different from ours in this ancient culture with its unique issues and problems the people suffer from grave economic difficulties the nation is at war and threatened by aggressive enemies and the society seems to have lost its moral compass so that widespread corruption and decay threatened their religious and secular institutions then again maybe those times are not so different than ours for is in every age beset with these problems and aren't the urgings and longings of the human heart the same in every place and generation Jeremiah's teaching is so blunt and simple he tells us where we can find happiness where we can find the answers to those questions are at the core of every human heart that seeks success and happiness and security cursed is the one who trusts in human beings who seeks his strength and flesh whose heart turns away from the Lord again the teaching is so basic we must keep our focus on God he writes blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord whose hope is the Lord he is like a tree planted beside the waters that stretches out its roots to the streams it fears not the heat when it comes its leaves stay green in the year of drought it shows no distress but still bears fruit what an image this is of life and strength and fulfillment our response soryo Psalm today we sang it's the first of the 150 Psalms these great poetic prayers that find their ultimate image in Christ himself the first word of all the Psalms is blessed another translation is happy happy the man who follows not the counsel the wicked but the lights and the law of the Lord every human person longs for happiness God has placed this desire in every human heart and this longing can only be satisfied in Christ if you or I allow any desire of our heart to be greater than our desire for God we are doomed to a lasting and enduring frustration then our second reading st. Paul emphasizes there's only one thing I can give us strength and hope and that is Jesus risen from the dead what else can sustain us what else the face the suffering the difficulties and the death that awaits us can give us any hope and peace and so we have to be vigilant and holding on to this truth because everything else that we see and hear in our daily lives will try to divert our attention away from it that's why we need to come here every weekend to be drawn back to that communion with the risen Lord look at our gospel today from Saint Luke we are in chapter 6 and we hear words that should remind us of that famous passage in scepter chapter 6 of Saint Matthew's Gospel the Beatitudes that begins st. Matthews account of what's known as the Sermon on the Mount in chapters 5 6 and 7 the greatest exposition of the teachings of our Lord that he gives to us there and these Beatitudes Jesus tells us that the law of Moses is not something to be observed that's a love to be lived and here in st. Luke's Gospel he condenses this sermon he places it not on the mountain as Matthew does but now in a plane on level ground and his style of parallelism which he uses throughout his gospel stresses the distinction the Paul that has given to us he recounts our Lord saying those who are blessed those who are wise and happy who seek to live their lives in a certain way and then he identified Entin other-- group those to whom woe will come those who are saddened tormented who do not live their life that way what group are we in do we strive for money or satisfaction or popularity or all of those things that the culture tells us to pursue many of us sadly at various times and as various degrees do this I for one can admit that the times that I have sought after those things in my life have been the times that I have been most miserable but where does Jesus tell us that we will find our blessing our happiness and our joy he tells us to be poor to be detached from that ambitious pursuit of material wealth for its own sake he tells us to be hungry to deny ourselves of those pleasures that we might be entitled to calls us to weep to accept that suffering that will come in our lives with the knowledge that those times it is that God will unite himself most powerfully to us and not to care or be concerned if people dislike us or exclude us finding our true joy in our friendship with God Jeremiah tells us this thousands of years ago I think it was Matthew Kelly tried to tell us in his book that's what our Lord tells us each day may we continue to strive to hear him and to follow him so that you and I might know that true and lasting happiness that he alone can give

Channel: St. Leo the Great Catholic Church

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Length: 7min 59sec (479 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 18 2019