To begin my homily, I have two questions for you: First, raise your hand if you want to be happy? I know that’s a crazy question, of course all of you raised your hands because we all want to be happy. In fact, true happiness is what we were made for! Good, today Jesus tells us how to be happy.

Second, raise your hand if you want to be a Disciple? Good, I do too. If you remember in last week’s Gospel, Jesus called Peter, James, and John to become fishers of men and they left everything to become Jesus’ disciple. This week in our Gospel, Jesus gathered the 12 disciples with a large group of people and began to teach them what it means to be a disciple. So those who raised your hand and said you also wanted to become Jesus’ disciple, listen up. Our Gospel reading says that Jesus “raised his eyes to his disciples and said, “Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours”. Sound familiar? Yes, today we heard Luke’s version of the Beatitudes. You are probably familiar with Matthew’s Beatitudes- “Blessed are the poor in spirit, theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, they will be comforted, and so forth”. And even though both Gospels say ‘Blessed’, the Hebrew word Jesus uses in both versions more accurately means ‘happiness’ or ‘to be happy’, of course if you follow Jesus’ directions, you indeed will be both happy and Blessed! There are also some differences in Luke’s version compared to Matthew’s. First of all, Luke uses the 2nd person- and he says ‘blessed are you’, rather than Matthew’s more general 3rd person- in which he uses ‘blessed are they’. And secondly, Luke’s version is more rigid and imposing, as there is a whole list of woes or curses included, which is quite the different tone from Matthew’s nice and comforting version. Therefore, can you imagine the disciples listening intently as Jesus looked into their eyes and said, “Blessed, Happy are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours. Blessed are you who are now hungry, for you will be satisfied. Happy are you who are now weeping, for you will laugh. I imagine those words were consoling, after all, keep in mind, the 12 disciples left behind their families, their jobs, and all the comforts of home to follow Jesus. But then Jesus goes on to say, “Happy are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you, on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice and leap for joy on that day! Behold, your reward will be great in Heaven”. I can imagine the disciples after hearing this last declaration of what it means to be happy, were like ‘I don’t want to think about people hating, excluding, and insulting me. Uh Jesus, can you go back to what you said earlier, those are more comforting?’

But my brothers and sisters, we can’t pick and choose what words of Jesus we listen to, we must heed all of them. Instead of comforting them, or softening his words Jesus ramps it up. He continues with the woe statements- woe is an old English word for a curse. Jesus begins, “woe, cursed, are you who are rich, for you have received your consolation”. Think for a second at that such strong statement. Woe to you who are wealthy now with the things of the world, because you have already received everything you will get. Woe to you who have stored up treasures on earth but not in heaven. Cursed are you, there is nothing else for you, there is no happiness to come, this is the extent of your happiness. Frightening, huh? Jesus goes on to say, “Woe to you who are filled now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will grieve and weep. Woe to you when all speak well of you, for their ancestors treated the false prophets in this way”. The false prophets were there, they were at peace, nobody was persecuting them, but it didn’t mean that they were right with God. It meant that they were lying and that they were acquiring peace through their falsehood, leading others astray, possibly with them to their utter torment. Ouch, I don’t know about you, but I want to be happy and to have more blessings than I do now. I don’t want to grieve and weep or be treated like a false prophet. If you don’t either, we better listen up and follow what Jesus is saying.

So, my brothers and sisters, what exactly is Jesus saying with these ‘Blessed are you’ and ‘Woe to you’ statements? In the teaching of Jesus from this sermon, the blessings are the curses. Let me repeat that. The blessings are the curses. That is so contrary to how we think. In other words, the way you will build up treasure not on earth but in heaven, is precisely through suffering. It’s through poverty and simplicity. It’s through hunger. It’s through sacrifice. And it’s ultimately, above all, through persecution for the sake of the gospel. Jesus is saying that focusing on earthly blessings can be dangerous. Earthly blessings can be spiritually dangerous if they become our focus, and we do not acknowledge that everything comes from God, and be good stewards of what we have. After all, Jesus says elsewhere, “where your treasure is, there will your heart be also”. And so, riches have the power to drag our hearts down from heaven and focus us on earthly goods. Those who are full now, can get self-satisfied with earthly goods and feel all sufficient, like they don’t need God. People who are hungry know how weak and dependent they are on God; but the rich and the full can get very complacent, very quickly. Therefore, in this teaching of the beatitudes, the blessings are rooted in what appear to be curses. It is strange, and kind of counter-intuitive for Jesus to say, “Happy are you who are now weeping”, indeed it is strange, it is a contradiction, it is a paradox.

So, listen to how the Catechism of the Catholic Church speak about these beatitudes: “The Beatitudes depict the countenance of Jesus Christ and portray his charity. They express the vocation of the faithful associated with the glory of his Passion and Resurrection; they shed light on the actions and attitudes characteristic of the Christian life; they are the paradoxical promises that sustain hope in the midst of tribulations; they proclaim the blessings and rewards already secured, however dimly, for Christ’s disciples; they have begun in the lives of the Virgin Mary and all the saints”.

Let us unpack that quote a little. First, the Beatitudes depict the ‘countenance (the profile) of Jesus Christ and portray his charity’. Here is the perfect visual for this. Look at this Crucifix, and ask yourself: how did the ultimate blessing of blessings come to the world? How did the kingdom of heaven come to earth? It’s through the cross. It’s through a man who looks like he’s cursed. It’s through a man who is poor, who has nothing, who is mourning, who’s been stripped of everything, who’s been persecuted; He is the most blessed man of all. Look at the Blessed Mary, and all the Saints- they all lived this poverty and simplicity of the beatitudes.

The Catechism also said, “they express the vocation of the faithful and shed light on the actions and characteristics of the Christian life”. So that is where the rubber meets the road. We need to ask ourselves, how are we living or not fully living these beatitudes. Are you timid in practicing or sharing your faith, and afraid of persecution or how you’ll be treated? If you are poor materially or spiritually, and hungry in any way, thank the Lord that he has given this grace to become dependent on Him. Look around at your blessings and be truly thankful and better stewards of what you have been given. But also, if you are rich and full in many ways, what are the ways you need to become more detached from earthly things and live simply, so that you can trust more and be able to receive fully of heavenly things? Perhaps a perfect way to start now is to think about your participation in the CDA, and perhaps give more for the thousands of people in need in our Diocese. In a couple of weeks will be the season of Lent, so I encourage you to reflect on these beatitudes, reflect on how you can better be detached to your earthly comforts so that you can be more attached to God, and not afraid to live more for Him beginning in this upcoming Lenten season.

So, if you want to be happy, which I remind you all raised your hand that you did, let us listen to and obey Jesus. Let us ask for the grace and strive to live these beatitudes with all our hearts. If we do, then we will truly be happy, not only in the life to come, but here and now, for we will have become His disciple.