What leads to permanent and lasting happiness? As Jesus points out, becoming “rich in what matters to God” is the key. When we place God first, and love our neighbor as another self, we soon begin to experience a perceptible, lasting happiness that is not of this world. It is “other-worldly” because it does not originate from our interior, from creatures or material possessions, but from God himself, whose bountiful love fills us with true and lasting peace, joy and happiness.
Love of God
Death: The Unspoken Yet Unavoidable Experience In Your Future
Death often remains the unspoken, unthinkable subject. While we tend to refrain from discussing or thinking about frightening, unpleasant topics, such a habit is indeed an unfortunate one. I propose that thinking about death is one of the more intellectually and spiritually healthy things a person can do. It’s the sane thing to do, and it’s the human thing to do. As we mediate on the reality of death, and learn what God has revealed about death, life and the human person to his Church, we learn a great deal about what it really means to live.
Jesus Claims His Divinity: I Am the Resurrection and The Life
In the gospel this Fifth Sunday of Lent (Jn 11:1-45), we hear about Jesus raising his friend Lazarus from the dead. On seeing Lazarus, Jesus as true man wept for him and, as eternal God, raised him from the tomb (see Fifth Sunday of Lent Preface).
Third Sunday of Lent: Come to the Well of Jesus and Drink Living Water
On this Third Sunday of Lent the first reading from Exodus (17:3-7) recalls Israel’s journey through the desert. In many ways, the journey of Israel toward the Promised Land is presently our own journey. As Israel thirsted, so too do we thirst, although perhaps in a different way and for different reasons. The people Israel frequently fell into unfaithfulness, idolatry, and distrust in God. Do we not do the same types of things? Even so, driven by divine love, God continued to lead his people toward the Promised Land, as he does with us, which is in fact not merely a place to put up shelter, nor a plot of ground upon which to temporarily live, but is a Person: Jesus Christ.
Jesus Does Not Issue Impossible Demands
To be perfect is both a command and a promise. We become perfect in becoming like God. Such a sublime gift is made possible by the Son of God becoming man, that we may be justified before God, that we may receive the Spirit of God, that we may share in the divine life of God. Yet while God does the divine work, we must do the human work by following Jesus Christ who commands us to live a life of authentic, Christian discipleship and love.