GOD’S WORD FOR THE DAY (based on Catholic Liturgical Readings)
DATE: 12TH JUNE 2017
MONDAY OF THE TENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
FIRST READING: 2 Corinthians 1:1-7
PSALM: Psalm 34: 2-9
GOSPEL: Matthew 5: 1-12
THEME: IN SEARCH OF HAPPINESS
If you desire a change, you must change your desires. Desires have the power to drive a person to particular destinations in life. Some desires would drive you to a place of happiness and others would bring you to the doorsteps of gloom. We all have desires but we are all not driven by the same desires in life because our value systems are not the same.
A personal value system is a set of principles/ideals that guide one’s life. It gives structure and purpose to one’s personal world. Latent desires in each one of us become potent depending on one’s value system. A change in a value system would lead to a change in desires and a change in desires would cause a change in one’s world.
In our Gospel text for the day, Jesus proposes a value system that leads to happiness and blessedness. It is traditionally referred to as the Beatitudes. It forms part of what is known as the “sermon on the mount”. Jesus addresses this sermon to his disciples, i.e. those who aspire to learn from him and follow in his footsteps. A close look at the text shows that the beatitudes are counter-cultural: the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers and those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness are said to be blessed. The vision that Jesus shares with his disciples goes against the spirit of the world which engenders pride, hedonism and hatred, and places value on what the world scorns.
Happiness has eluded many of us because although we search for it so hard, we do so at the wrong places and in the wrong things. The search for happiness must start from within. As we submit our inner person to the transforming power of the Word of God, something would change in us and a new desire would well up from within and lead us to where true happiness can be found.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, you are my happiness and in you my soul is content. I give you all I have and I am and I receive from you all that you have and are. May the joy I have found in you be my strength his day. Amen.
Andrews Obeng, svd
DIVINE WORD MISSIONARIES
BIBLICAL PASTORAL MINISTRY
(Ghana Province)
“May the darkness of sin and the night of unbelief vanish before the light of the Word and the Spirit of grace. And may the heart of Jesus live in the hearts of all people” (St. Arnold Janssen).