Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C Lk 6,17- 18, 20-26

With your feet, you probably know the feeling when you come home from work in the evening, tired and sometimes angry, make coffee, open a beer, put your feet out comfortably, and say to yourself: Well, finally, well-being! Some students must have experienced the feeling of victory when they received an A after writing a hefty paper, and the teacher praised them in front of everyone. It was a feeling of bliss. But is it true bliss? In today’s Gospel, Jesus also speaks of bliss: Blessed are the poor, blessed are hungry, blessed are weeping, blessed are persecuted and dulled. Many of us are now confused and ask ourselves again: What exactly is bliss? It was a kalogathie for the ancient Greeks – to live well and blissfully. For many people, it’s beer, a cigarette, number one in school. For Jesus, bliss is poverty, hunger, crying, persecution, numbness… And now choose from it. Who is right? What is true bliss?

Saint Thomas Aquinas says that bliss is the ultimate perfection of man. The Holy Scriptures claim that the bliss of man lies in God, the last goal of all creation. If we put together the claims of the Bible and Thomas, what will we get? Blessed are all who died in sanctifying grace and have come to see God in heaven. However, the one who lives here on earth in union with God, i.e., unencumbered by grave sin, is already blessed. Bliss as a state means the fullness of all natural and supernatural goods and is promised to all people who believe in God. So Jesus himself said: Let not your heart tremble! Believe in God, believe in me too. There are many dwellings in my Father’s house. And St. Paul writes to the Romans: No one who believes in him will be disappointed.

You might tell yourself that it’s good for the spirit; after all, we are believers, and that’s why we also go to church to have a great chance to be blessed. Sure. But this is also clear in the letter of St. James: What will it help, my brothers if someone says that he has faith but no works? Can such faith save him? Just as a body without a spirit is dead, faith without works is dead. This is the second condition for obtaining bliss – we must confirm faith by fulfilling God’s will. God’s will is contained in the Ten Commandments. And now, say for yourself: Do I have a clear conscience? Can you see that I am a believer? Do I live my faith? Let us not forget the words of Jesus: Not everyone who says to me: „Lord, Lord!“will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my heavenly Father. And Paul again adds to the Romans: Those who hear the law are not righteous before God; those who fulfill it by their actions will be justified. And so we figured out that a life filled with good deeds is needed to gain bliss and faith and live according to it.

But does he mean to flash the argument about why Jesus talks about poverty, hunger, crying, and persecution? Indeed, he has a reason for that. He wants to say that there is one more condition for gaining bliss – persistent enduring life trials, suffering, and hardships. Jesus’ words were correctly understood by Saint James when he wrote: Blessed is the man who stands the test; when he proves himself, he will receive the laurel of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him. James confirms Jesus’ will to gain bliss; it is necessary to strive to acquire virtues, especially those that Jesus recommends in today’s Gospel. He speaks of humility, silence, meekness, patience, purity of heart, and mercy.

So, is he right? Ancient Greeks, the world we live in, or Jesus? The ancient Greeks and the world we live in recommend a path to bliss that is the opposite of Jesus’ path. He recommends the path of pride, egoism, well-being, immoderateness, and sensuality. Therefore, perhaps in the confusion that this situation, when the world and Jesus Christ give us a recipe for bliss, causes us, let us not be afraid to exclaim together with Peter: Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life! Suddenly, we solved the questions we had asked ourselves in the introduction. To be blessed is to possess God. Already in this life, thanks to the living faith that is supposed to hold us even in the difficulties and sufferings of life. But the pinnacle of bliss is To possess God in eternity, to which we all come. In the reputation of the ancient Norse family in the novel trilogy of the Norwegian writer Trove Gulbranssen, the old Dag appears as the main character, who adhered more to the principles of the world in his life than to God’s commands. Although he gained power and property, he gradually lost the love of people and the joy of life. Only the blows of fate will lead him to understand that the most important thing is victory over his own egoism, over himself. As he lay on his deathbed and felt the end coming, he called his bride to him and said to her: What we are trying to do, that is bliss in this life and not in eternity.

There is only one way to eternal bliss. A journey into the interior, through the goodness of the heart. The path to the meaning of life leads through reason and thoughts to God’s commandments. There is no other way besides Christ. There is no true and eternal bliss but Christ, his teaching, his commandments. You see, evaluating his life, even old Dag figured out that there is no other bliss besides God. Let us believe it and submit our thoughts, words, and deeds to this fact. In this spirit, let’s also live the coming week – and all the days of our lives that we still get as a gift from God.