HAPPY NEW YEAR
The key to happiness is climbing the ladder of the Beatitudes. Each rung is a closer encounter in our
relationship with our lord, JESUS CHRIST our light. The more we climb the
closer we are to surrender. While we read down the beatitudes one through eight
we realize how happy we have become and our personal relationship with the Lord
has become greater.
The world promises
happiness in what we want success in, “money new cars etc”….
Most philosophers think
it is a state of mind: happiness is much more; it is a state of being. It is
derived from being in communion with God. This communion I speak of is given
through the sacraments: My focus is the sacrament of reconciliation with the
priest in the confessional. This brings the soul and the heart to peace. This
peace is true happiness for it brings light to our soul. Being happy all the
time is virtuously not to be in this life but is eternal in heaven. In Mt.
Jesus says repent for the kingdom of God is at hand. Take notice Jesus says
REPENT for the Kingdom of God is at hand. To achieve happiness is to have peace
to have peace is to have been in communion with God. To deepen this peace we
can receive Eucharist with a clean heart. And even in pain we
can be happy, for the love of God is within and we know this
because the Spirit reveals this in our mind.
The Sermon on the
Mount (Matthew 5)
1 When he saw the
crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he had sat down, his disciples came
to him.
2 He began to teach
them, saying: The Beatitudes
3 Blessed are the poor
in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus Talks With a
Samaritan Woman & she becomes happy!!!!!!! (John 4)
1 Now Jesus learned that
the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than
John —
2 although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples.
3 So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.
3 So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.
4 Now he had to go
through Samaria.
5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot
of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph.
6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.
6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.
7 When a Samaritan woman
came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?”
8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
9 The Samaritan woman
said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for
a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)
10 Jesus answered her,
“If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would
have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
11 “Sir,” the woman
said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get
this living water?
12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”
12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”
13 Jesus answered,
“Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again,
14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
15 The woman said to
him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep
coming here to draw water.”
16 He told her, “Go,
call your husband and come back.”
17 “I have no husband,”
she replied.
Jesus said to her, “You
are right when you say you have no husband.
18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”
18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”
19 “Sir,” the woman
said, “I can see that you are a prophet.
20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
21 “Woman,” Jesus
replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither
on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.
22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.
23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.
24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.
23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.
24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
25 The woman said, “I
know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain
everything to us.”
26 Then Jesus declared,
“I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”
After the encounter with
the Lord; the woman is transformed: she becomes excited, happy and wants to
shout from the rooftops what Jesus has told her about herself. The woman can’t
wait to get back to town to tell all she encountered & the truth Jesus
revealed to her.
Now, remember the woman
came to Jacobs well at the hottest part of the day when there is no one else at
the well. The woman didn’t want to be around the town people, for she was
ashamed of herself. Instead she found Jesus and climbed the first rung of the
ladder truly happy she is on the way to holiness.
What truth has Jesus
revealed to us, that we encountered a transformation that set us on the road to
happiness and the first rung of holiness? It is in holiness that
we find humility, and become humble in realizing how poor we are and that there
is a great wealth in the people we encounter for we are truly less.
At this point share on a
holy person that we love! I shared about Marilyn
my wife.
These are the steps of the ladder for there is great wealth in the climb; the gifts of the spirit are above us; the fruits of the spirit are above. Our Lady Wisdom is life.
(Matthew 5: 4 - 11)
4 Blessed are they who
mourn, for they will be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the land.
6 Blessed are they who
hunger and thirst for righteousness,*for they will be satisfied.
7 Blessed are the
merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
8 Blessed are the clean
of heart, for they will see God.
9 Blessed are the
peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
10 Blessed are they who
are persecuted for the sake of righteousness,*for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven.
11 Blessed are you when
they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against
you [falsely] because of me.
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be
great in heaven. Thus they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Deacon
John Clymore
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