HAPPY THE UNHAPPY

HAPPY THE UNHAPPY

 

“Blessed are they who mourn; for they will be comforted!” – Matthew 5:4

 

I have been re-reading the autobiography of St. Therese of the Child Jesus and I realize how far I am from being a saint.

Saints don’t just endure suffering, they actually embrace it. Like for instance, when an irritable nun was assigned to their convent, St. Therese would willingly attend to this nun and go out of her way to please her even if all she receives are complaints.

I would have left the nun to fend for herself and sought other means to serve God. But I pondered on all the times I was miserable and realized that I always survive the experience with a stronger faith in God. I think suffering makes us realize that we can’t make it on our own, and so we lean on God. And instead of remembering our trial as a time of failure, we recall it as a time of triumph where God’s providence saw us through a rough time.

Someday, there will be an everlasting triumph when Christ returns to end all suffering. Until then, I hope that I learn to welcome suffering for God’s sake and for other sinners as well. Cecilia Lim (cez_lim@yahoo.com)

 

REFLECTION:

In spite of this trial which robs me of all sense of pleasure, I can still say, “Thou has given me, O Lord, a delight in all my doings.” (St.Therese of the Child Jesus)

 

Lord, is there any greater joy than to suffer for love of You?

BEYOND ALL WANTS, BEYOND ALL FEARS

 

When it comes to climbing mountains, the happy man is he who lugs nothing beyond what is strictly necessary to make it to the top and back. Seasoned climbers have only one goal: the summit. And they can expend everything — energy, stamina, comfort, ease — in order to reach that goal. One who has other focus of interest besides will have other concerns and, therefore, additional baggage to carry.

Elijah had one overriding concern: the purity of Jewish faith, unsullied by the abomination of pagan practices introduced by Jezebel. For the sake of that one concern, he announced a drought and he himself was willing to forsake everything and submit himself to that drought and its concomitant inconveniences. He was, to use an image, both single-minded and single-hearted.

The Beatitudes are a call to happiness, for that is what “beatus” in Latin means. They are also known as “macarisms” for the word used in Greek is makarios, which means “happy.” The opposite of happy is miserable. And one can be miserable when one is neither single-minded nor single-hearted; when one, wanting too many things, cannot decide which one among the many he or she really wants above all. We are miserable when we are interiorly divided, when our heart is sorely torn by conflicting loyalties, when we cannot even define what is it we really want. Misery is when we are bogged down by so many wants and desires, and we know we cannot even get anywhere near achieving even a single one of them — at least with definitive finality and ultimacy.

The Beatitudes remind me of a song I like: “Shepherd me, O God, beyond my wants, beyond my fears…” It suggests that while it is alright to have so many concerns, it is never right to absolutize any one of them. The Beatitudes are a call to define our “ultimate concern” — and faith, says Tillich, is the state of being grasped by an ultimate concern. Blessed is the one who is grasped by that ultimate concern, beyond all wants, beyond all fears. Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

 

Reflection Question:

In the depths of my heart, what is really my “ultimate concern”? Do I allow lesser wants and desires to distract me from achieving it?

 

Lord Jesus, make me singlehearted and single-minded in going for that one true goal of my life: heaven.

 

St. Gottschalk, pray for us.