Every year, on All
Saints’ Day, the Gospel calls our attention to the Beatitudes.
Unfortunately, however, since we hear them so often, the
Beatitudes are sometimes reduced to the level of dull clichés. We listen to
them, but we don’t hear them. If you were at Mass today, did you truly hear
them as they were proclaimed, or did you perhaps “zone out” as they passed by?
It is hard to focus on them. They turn what we consider the “natural
order” of things right upside down. Those who are blessed, or “happy,” or “fortunate,”
at not those we have been brainwashed into choosing. Just look at the
list of those Christ calls “blessed:”
the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and
thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure of heart, the peacemakers and
the persecuted.
Things get shaken up; false notions are shown to be empty
promises; our basic drives are called into question—the drives for security,
power, approval, aggrandizement, notoriety, self-esteem, control; happiness is
not what it appears to be or what think it should be. We may think we are
climbing the ladder of success only to discover that we have set it up against
the wrong building.
I turned to the Catechism
of the Catholic Church to see what it had to say about this “reversal of
fortunes:”
.
. . true happiness is not found in riches or well-being, in human fame or
power, or in any human achievement—however beneficial it may be—such as
science, technology, and art, or indeed in any creature, but in God alone, the
sources of every good and of all love. (#1723)
At first sight, I
find this difficult to embrace, but when I hold it up to the picture of my own
life I can see how true it is. I have sought happiness in so many things, and
never truly found it. And yet, I consider myself to be a happy man. Deep down
inside, I think the happiness comes from my existence as a monk which demands a
radical orientation towards God and the things of God, especially at this point
in my life when I am no longer doing those things which in the past brought me
honor and prestige and a bit of fame.
But enough about me. What do you make of all this, and how can you apply
it to your own life? That’s the important question for you to consider on this
All Saints’ Day.
I would love to hear your thoughts on this, either by commenting below or by sending me an email (bcamera@anselm.edu).
God bless.
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