immediate, eternal happiness
"A woman from the crowd called out, 'Blest is the womb that bore You and the breasts that nursed You!' 'Rather,' He replied..." —Luke 11:27
Happiness is not so much conceiving Jesus in the womb, giving birth to Him, or nursing Him. Happiness is not so much being like Mary in her motherhood. Rather, happiness is being like Mary in her obedient discipleship, for happy "are they who hear the word of God and keep it" (Lk 11:28). Happiness is not based on extraordinary privileges but on extraordinary obedience.
Therefore, happiness is always available to everyone. We are all limited in our abilities and opportunities. We can't always help the poor, console the sorrowing, say something powerful, change the circumstances, have a great idea, or even stay awake. We are limited. However, we can always obey. Therefore, we can always be happy. No matter how bad the circumstances, we can always obey by conforming our wills to God's will.
We don't have to wait to be happy. Happiness is waiting for us to obey the Lord. Even if we've messed up our lives through years of disobedience, we can make one act of obedience by repenting and immediately become happy. Obedience to the Lord brings happiness right now.
Prayer: Father, thank You for the power to immediately be happy always.
Promise: "All of you who have been baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Him. There does not exist among you Jew or Greek, slave or freeman, male or female. All are one in Christ Jesus." —Gal 3:27-28
Praise: St. Denis travelled far to share the good news. He gladly gave his life for the faith.
Reference: (For a related teaching, order our Risen Life series of tapes starting with Meeting the Risen Christ, a set of seven audio tapes starting with AV 4A-1 or two-set series of video tapes starting with V-4A.)
Rescript: †Reverend Joseph R. Binzer, Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, April 6, 2010
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