Homily, First Sunday of Lent

February 10, 2008

This week we began our Lenten journey and it is an opportunity to start so many things anew. I hope you all enjoy this message and realign your pursuit of happiness.

God Bless

Fr. Brendan

·  Homily

Pursuit of Happiness

"We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights. And among these are life liberty and the pursuit of happiness." [1]

Most of us will recognize these words from the Declaration of Independence and we are proud of those words. These words, for American citizens, are not just ordinary words. They are words to defend, words to even lay down one's life for. But these rights the Declaration speaks of are not absolute rights in and of themselves. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are each interconnected with one another. They are, if you would, dependent upon each other. To seek happiness, one has to have freedom, free choice, and liberty. And to have liberty, one has to have life itself. So there is an inherent dependency on each of these rights for each other.

It is not only as individuals are they not absolute rights, but they are not absolute rights in and of themselves as a group outside of other individuals. In other words, our own rights as a group, as citizens of a nation, are shared together in a common community. Put another way, my right to happiness does not override your right to life. For example, if I decide it would make me happy to kill you, that does not override your right to life. My happiness does not subjugate your right to life. There is a responsibility, there is an interconnectedness between each of these rights as individuals and also as a community. Your happiness is connected with mine. Your right to freedom is connected with mine. And, your right to life is connected to mine. This interconnectedness is the very theme in our readings today.

The first reading today is the story of creation. We hear how God breathes life into Adam, the first human being. God is the author of all life. In doing so, God gives Adam and Eve freedom, the freedom or liberty to choose to follow God or to choose to turn away from God. This new liberty is then immediately exercised by Adam and Eve in this desire for happiness. In this particular example, we see an example of making a wrong choice. And what was that wrong choice ? The wrong choice was they sought their own desire, they sought their own happiness, and their own needs were met in isolation to all the other rights.

In today's 2nd reading of Paul's letter to the Romans we hear how we are all interconnected together in Christ. How everyone's sin is affected by everyone else's sin, but Christ renews us all; Christ renews our freedom and our liberty; Christ renews our life because He takes on the sins of the world and we are all made new in this new Adam, in Christ.

And in the gospel we hear about the three temptations of Jesus he was lured into choosing something other than the appropriate pursuit of happiness. For Jesus, He chose to do the will of the Father whereas the devil in this scripture passage tempts him to fulfill his own desires. Show off your power. Show me what you can do. In other words, to self indulge.

We too, as Christians, hold to these same tenets. We are called to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness in a different way. We believe all of these are interconnected and we believe our happiness is interconnected with each other as a community and that is the very baptismal promise we renew in the Lenten journey.

So the question is, how do we pursue our own happiness? What is the way we should go about in pursing our own happiness. Recently, I read an article and I want to quote it exactly because it was so well written. It speaks of this happiness. It says;

"Many of today's books on happiness are filled with advice that anyone would do well to follow: simplify your life; count your blessings; take care of your body; express gratitude; don't forget to reflect on your feelings; find meaningful work and cultivate solid and healthy relationships."

But one question is still missing, says the author. "Can happiness be successfully pursued in such a self-interested fashion?" He goes on to quote a Taoist, Chinese philosopher: "They described happiness, true happiness, as the absence of striving for one's own happiness." He goes on, "those who are happy, are only those who have their minds fixed on some other object other than their own happiness, on the happiness of others, on the improvement of humanity, even on art or some pursuit of some good quality, and does not follow a means to one's own happiness but for the good of others." [2]

Now think about that for a moment. That is really profound. Think about when you were most happy; you are most happy when your loved one gets something they deserve or need. Think about your greatest joy. It is seeing your children accomplished and being happy. When they are happy, we are feeling happy. Or the moment when your spouse celebrates something wonderful. A new job. A new this or a new that. And they are happy then we are happy.

When our parents successfully overcome some problem or some obstacle in their life, then we are happy because now they return to happiness. You see, true happiness is not sought after, not sought after for its own end. True happiness is enabling others around us to be happy. It is what we call loving one another. And when we love one another and the other is happy as a result of that love, then we reach happiness.

So many in today's society have got it wrong and they pursue happiness in all the wrong places. It is not in a bigger house, in a bigger car; it's not necessarily in a better-paying job; it's not in better clothes or nicer toys; it's not necessarily in that new Nintendo, X-box, Wii or iPhone. So many of today's celebrities have got that all wrong: Indeed this last week we heard of a few young Hollywood stars die chasing happiness through drugs.

All of things will never reach happiness in the truest sense. We will reach happiness when we allow others to play with our toys, whether they are computer games or big cars or homes. When we allow others to enjoy the gifts of life then we become happy.

During this Lenten journey, we promise to focus on the pursuit of our happiness, but it is not about us, but by fulfilling the needs of others. That is why we have prayer and fasting and almsgiving. Prayer is to help us to reflect upon what this journey, this recommitment to our Baptismal promises. Fasting-so we can do without something so that we can give alms, so that we can give something to others and have them be happy.

So, today as we live our life in this wonderful country, with life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as our goals, may we us also as Christians focus our pursuit of happiness by serving and loving others and seeking their happiness first.

·  Footnotes

[2] David Bornstein World Ark (Heifer Internaional, Little Rock, AR: December, 2007) 14.

·  Scripture Readings

Reading 1
Gn 2:7-9; 3:1-7

The LORD God formed man out of the clay of the ground
and blew into his nostrils the breath of life,
and so man became a living being.

Then the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east,
and placed there the man whom he had formed.
Out of the ground the LORD God made various trees grow
that were delightful to look at and good for food,
with the tree of life in the middle of the garden
and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the animals
that the LORD God had made.
The serpent asked the woman,
"Did God really tell you not to eat
from any of the trees in the garden?"
The woman answered the serpent:
"We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden;
it is only about the fruit of the tree
in the middle of the garden that God said,
'You shall not eat it or even touch it, lest you die.'"
But the serpent said to the woman:
"You certainly will not die!
No, God knows well that the moment you eat of it
your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods
who know what is good and what is evil."
The woman saw that the tree was good for food,
pleasing to the eyes, and desirable for gaining wisdom.
So she took some of its fruit and ate it;
and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her,
and he ate it.
Then the eyes of both of them were opened,
and they realized that they were naked;
so they sewed fig leaves together
and made loincloths for themselves.

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 51:3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 17

R. (cf. 3a) Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness;
in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense.
Thoroughly wash me from my guilt
and of my sin cleanse me.
R. Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
For I acknowledge my offense,
and my sin is before me always:
"Against you only have I sinned,
and done what is evil in your sight."
R. Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
A clean heart create for me, O God,
and a steadfast spirit renew within me.
Cast me not out from your presence,
and your Holy Spirit take not from me.
R. Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.
Give me back the joy of your salvation,
and a willing spirit sustain in me.
O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth shall proclaim your praise.
R. Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.

Reading II
Rom 5:12-19 or 5:12, 17-19

Brothers and sisters:
Through one man sin entered the world,
and through sin, death,
and thus death came to all men, inasmuch as all sinned-
for up to the time of the law, sin was in the world,
though sin is not accounted when there is no law.
But death reigned from Adam to Moses,
even over those who did not sin
after the pattern of the trespass of Adam,
who is the type of the one who was to come.

But the gift is not like the transgression.
For if by the transgression of the one, the many died,
how much more did the grace of God
and the gracious gift of the one man Jesus Christ
overflow for the many.
And the gift is not like the result of the one who sinned.
For after one sin there was the judgment that brought condemnation;
but the gift, after many transgressions, brought acquittal.
For if, by the transgression of the one,
death came to reign through that one,
how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace
and of the gift of justification
come to reign in life through the one Jesus Christ.
In conclusion, just as through one transgression
condemnation came upon all,
so, through one righteous act,
acquittal and life came to all.
For just as through the disobedience of the one man
the many were made sinners,
so, through the obedience of the one,
the many will be made righteous.

or

Brothers and sisters:
Through one man sin entered the world,
and through sin, death,
and thus death came to all men, inasmuch as all sinned.

For if, by the transgression of the one,
death came to reign through that one,
how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace
and of the gift of justification
come to reign in life through the one Jesus Christ.
In conclusion, just as through one transgression
condemnation came upon all,
so, through one righteous act,
acquittal and life came to all.
For just as through the disobedience of the one man
the many were made sinners,
so, through the obedience of the one,
the many will be made righteous.

Gospel
Mt 4:1- 11

At that time Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert
to be tempted by the devil.
He fasted for forty days and forty nights,
and afterwards he was hungry.
The tempter approached and said to him,
"If you are the Son of God,
command that these stones become loaves of bread."
He said in reply,
"It is written:
One does not live on bread alone,
but on every word that comes forth
from the mouth of God."

Then the devil took him to the holy city,
and made him stand on the parapet of the temple,
and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down.
For it is written:
He will command his angels concerning you
and with their hands they will support you,
lest you dash your foot against a stone."
Jesus answered him,
"Again it is written,
You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test."
Then the devil took him up to a very high mountain,
and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their magnificence,
and he said to him, "All these I shall give to you,
if you will prostrate yourself and worship me."
At this, Jesus said to him,
"Get away, Satan!
It is written:
The Lord, your God, shall you worship
and him alone shall you serve."
Then the devil left him and, behold,
angels came and ministered to him.

Holy Spirit Parish

1200 Redmond Avenue

San Jose, California 95120

bmcguire@holyspiritchurch.org

http://www.holyspiritchurch.org