CHRISTIANITY often has been taught to us as a list of rules, commandments to obey, to be “serious,” straight and rigid. I remember growing up I was told to look serious and expressionless especially at Mass. We have forgotten to smile and how to be joyful as Christians. Christianity today is a contradiction to what Jesus intended it to be.
Pope Francis at a morning mass commented that “Christians have good reason to be joyful and should let it shine in their faces rather than sport sad, pessimistic looks. He added that although "the root of Christian joy" lies in the fact that Christians are forgiven and redeemed, it can be perceived by others only through joyful behavior.
This is what Jesus wants for all of us. He cares that each one of us find true joy. In his first homily in the gospel of Luke, he wants to tell us exactly what he wants for us - blessedness. He wants us to be blessed.
In the Bible: blessedness means a kind of happiness that only God can give, the kind he created us for. The kind we look and desire for in our hearts but can never find somewhere else. St. Augustine once said, “My heart is restless until it rest in you.”
Joy, a meaning, a fulfillment that goes much deeper than happiness that comes with money or popularity - this is what Jesus wants for us. He came to show us how to live to the fullest and not end up wasting our lives away. That’s what he wants for us - to grow and bear fruit, not just to survive but to flourish.
In the first reading from the book of the Prophet Jeremiah - happiness is describe in two contrasting images: the happy man is like a tree planted near a deep, flowing stream. Its roots always give it enough moisture to grow, even in times of drought it stays green. This is the image of what Jesus wants for us - a flourishing, fruitful, healthy life. It can only come from rooting ourselves in friendship with him: Jesus is the flowing stream.
Those who do not follow the Lord, Jeremiah compares them to a dry shrub in the wild. The tree Jeremiah mentioned is a dwarf juniper tree, a sad, stunted plant, hard, with scale-like leaves that cling close to its short trunk. In the book of Psalms - people who do not follow the Lord are like the chaff or dried out stalks of wheat, empty peanut shells blown away by the wind - fruitless, no substance and no value.
This is what happens to those who find their happiness on material things like money or popularity instead of finding it in the friendship with God. Are you a fruitful tree or an empty peanut shell? Jesus wants you to be blessed and fruitful in life.
Friendships today have taken on a new form through social media like Facebook. In an instant you can be friends with anyone and be anyone. You can easily like or dislike - unfriend or befriend someone. Friendship with Christ is much deeper and different. And it will not always be easy. It means living by his standards which are very different from the standards of this world. Following Christ means taking up our crosses every day.
How is this possible? How can we keep going in this friendship with Christ, even when it is easier and more tempting not to?
We need strength. And that comes from the Eucharist.
Christ’s heart, his strength is in the Holy Eucharist - it is Jesus Christ himself not a mere symbol of Christ. It is his true presence. When we receive him in communion - our hearts are nourished and renewed. If we are not able to receive him in communion, we can receive grace by visiting Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. Jesus patiently waits for us. When we are before him - his desires entire and transform us.
Pope Francis reminds us that only the body and blood of Jesus Christ, the food of life, can satisfy the hunger of hearts for love, a universal experience. He added that “The Eucharist is simple food, like bread, yet it is the only food that satisfies, for there is no greater love.” It is in the celebration of the Eucharist that we encounter Jesus really; we share his life and we feel his love.”
He further encourages everyone to “choose this food of life! To make mass our priority! When we receive him now, let's thank him for this great gift. And let's promise that we will make us of it this week, so that he can make our lives truly blessed, as he wants.