One
thing that all of us have in common, is the search for happiness.
Everyone wants to find happiness. We may have very different ideas as
to what happiness is, but all of us are searching for it. God shows
us exactly where to find it and how to get there, but we are not
always convinced. If I asked how many of you here want to be rich,
probably everyone would say yes, because we have become convinced
that we will have happiness if we have enough money. Our problems
will go away. They won’t. In fact, Jesus says ‘How hard it is for
the rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven.’ The kingdom of
heaven is where we will find happiness and ironically wealth, often
becomes an obstacle to it, because it distracts us and holds us back.
Many
times I have heard people who have worked in third world countries
say, that it is always in the poorest countries that people have the
greatest joy, even where there is terrible in justice. It is in first
world countries where you will find the greatest anger, depression
and despair. Why is that? Because in the poorest countries they don’t
get distracted by wealth and they realize that they will only find
happiness in God, beginning in this life and fulfilled in the next.
We will only find happiness in God. When Our Lady appeared to St.
Bernadette in Lourdes in 1858, she said to her ‘I cannot promise
you happiness in this life, but in the next.’ If we understand
this, we will begin to find peace, because we won’t be expecting to
find complete happiness here. We will only have complete fulfillment
in the world to come.
The
wonderful thing is that God has created us for happiness. God created
us to be happy. The Holy Trinity was perfectly fulfilled in every way
before He created us, but God wanted to share that happiness with us.
So, God created us to be able to enjoy that happiness and total
fulfillment, which we will, if we remain open to God. Think of times
in your life when you were happy: birthdays, weddings, the birth of a
child, graduations. Our instinct is to share it, to celebrate it with
others. So we invite others to share in our happiness and we have a
party. That is why God created us, because He wanted us to share in
his happiness. And that is what awaits us unless we reject it. Why
would someone reject it? Because we think we know better and refuse
to listen to what God teaches us and commands us to do. The death and
resurrection of Jesus was so that we could reach that happiness. He
reopened the possibility of heaven for us, after we had lost it
through Original Sin. Now it is offered to us, but we still have to
choose it.
How is it that
nearly all of us want peace and happiness, but our world is full of
war and hatred? We want equality, but we are continually faced with
discrimination. The reason is because there is a war going on that we
can’t see, but it is mentioned in Scripture many times. Satan
rejected God and hates God’s creation us. He wants to take
everything away from God, especially us, his children.
In
the book of Genesis, after the fall of Adam and Eve, God said,
I will put
enmity between you [Satan] and the woman, and between your seed and
her seed. She will crush your head, and you will strike her heel (Gen
3:15).
And it says in the book of Revelation:
And the
dragon was enraged at the woman and went to make war with the rest of
her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the
testimony of Jesus.’ (Rev 12:17).
The
woman is Our Lady, the Mother of all God’s children. At the
crucifixion, Jesus said to saint John—who is the model disciple and
represents all of us who follow God— ‘Behold your mother.’ And
to Mary, ‘Behold your son’ (John 19:25). He gave us his
mother as our spiritual and heavenly mother.
If
you think of evil people in the world. If they want to cause pain to
someone, they will try and harm their children, the ones they hold
dearest in the world. What is abortion, except that? Satan destroys
God’s children from its beginning. That is what is behind abortion.
Satan has convinced us that it is a good thing, so that we needn’t
be inconvenienced. But think of the words of consecration at the
mass: ‘This is my Body, which will be given up for you.’ Think of
what abortion says: ‘This is my body and it will not be given up
for you.’ It is the opposite of the mass. That’s how you know
what is behind it. There is no species on the planet that kills its
own young.
So
we are in the middle of a war, a spiritual war, where Satan wants to
take us away from God in any way possible. St. Paul puts it this way:
For
we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil
rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in
this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places (Eph
6:12).
How
did he know that? Because Jesus taught them all these things. I have
no doubt that between the time of the resurrection and the ascension
into heaven, these were some of the things that God was teaching the
Apostles and later for St. Paul. Jesus was piecing it all together for them. That is why God
inspired them to write it down and why we have it in the Scriptures,
the word of God.
What
is the casting out of demons, except taking back God’s children?
How do you destroy an enemy: turn them against each other? Look at
what is happening in our world right now. We are turned against each
other and killing each other, often for no particular reason. It is
because we are in the middle of a much bigger war than we can see. When people turn their back on God and on God’s teachings, they
lose their way and are open to every kind of suggestion. That is what we see happening.
But
as always, God gives us all the tools we need to fight back. He shows
us that living the Commandments and the teachings of Christ is what
keeps us safe. If we listen to what God says to us, then we will not
get distracted from the path to our happiness. If we live by the word
of God, then we will remember what is important and we will see
through the lies that we are constantly being told: ‘Abortion and
Euthanasia are good for society. You don't need to listen to God. You should be able to do whatever
you want.’ That was the lie told to Adam and Eve, which they fell
for.
God
has created us to share in his happiness, but He will not force us to
accept it. I’m often amazed at the amount of parents
who tell me in great distress about one of their children who has
rejected them. They cannot understand why. They did everything they
could for their children and then their children turned their back on
them. Sadly, it happens quite often. We also do this with God. God
offers us everything and gives us everything, but we can still reject
him and people do.
I
think one of the most difficult sufferings in the
life of Jesus must have been knowing that some people would still reject him in
spite of the terrible sufferings he was going to go through for them. His death and resurrection
re-opened the way to heaven for us, but we can still reject it.
We
are created for happiness and that’s what awaits us unless we
reject it.
God so loved the world that He gave his only Son,
So that all who believe in him might not perish,
but might have eternal life (John 3:16).
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