Happiness

“Blessed are the poor in Spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
– Matthew 5:3
Why is true happiness so hard to find? What do truly happy people look like? Well, it’s not what culture wants us to believe, that’s for sure. Culture says that happiness is all about what we have – our stuff. What we control, what we do, etc.
The trouble with many of us is this: We demand that the world give us happiness and peace of mind in just the order we want to get it; by the control route. And if we are honest, we recognize we are not successful by using this route. But when we take time to find out some of the spiritual laws, familiarize ourselves with them, and put them into practice, then we do get happiness and peace of mind. Happiness and peace of mind are always here, open, and free to anyone.
Here is a simple prayer, “We surrender and admit we can't control people, plans, places, or even all our circumstances, but we can yield those things to You, and focus on Your goodness."
A friend and brother in Faith I know name Attila Ecsedy has a saying that I reflect on often; I paraphrase here, “God makes good of all situations.”
This is so very true, God especially makes good on all the people, plans, places, and circumstances that I screw up by trying to control them all.
In today’s Scripture, Jesus begins by saying that the poor in spirit are blessed. Some people are confused by the phrase “poor in spirit. Do not get it twisted up with Holy Spirit, Jesus is talking about your spirit (the lower case ‘s’ kind of spirit). To be "poor in spirit" is to be poor in focus on only self-confidence and self-reliance, especially in any spiritual sense. The poor in spirit recognize they are incapable of providing solely for themselves by their own strength, goodness, or righteousness. They know themselves to be spiritually bankrupt of true goodness and happiness. They cannot hope to bargain or earn their way into the Kingdom of Heaven.
Jesus says that they who rely not on their poor spirit but rather the Holy Spirit are blessed because the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs already. In other words, an admission that one does not deserve a place in God's Kingdom can be viewed as a necessity for entrance into that kingdom. This is the opposite of assuming one has earned citizenship by their own merit.
A corresponding attitude to salvation that we can all embrace is that of being poor in spirit. The Kingdom of Heaven will be populated by the humble, not the arrogant. In that way, the poor in spirit are truly blessed.
Let us pray:
(Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi)
Lord make Me an instrument of Your peace
Where there is hatred let me sow love.
Where there is injury, pardon.
Where there is doubt, faith.
Where there is despair, hope.
Where there is darkness, light.
Where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master grant that I may
Not so much seek to be consoled as to console
To be understood, as to understand.
To be loved, as to love
For it's in giving that we receive
And it's in pardoning that we are pardoned
And it's in dying that we are born...
To eternal life.
Amen.

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