14th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year C

Who among us does not wish to be happy? Everything we do in life, in one way or another, is a search for happiness. But we all know that happiness can easily vanish like the wind, replaced either by the monotony of daily life or, worse still, by the burdens that life brings. Therefore, anyone who expects to be constantly happy in life is asking for the impossible.

On top of that, we often think that happiness is a kind of lucky chance that falls from the sky without us having any control over it. But in truth, happiness is also a decision—one that depends on us. The person who decides that they want to be happy in life makes an effort to seek out whatever genuinely brings joy, and avoids what steals it. In all this, it’s easy to go wrong, because we often believe that happiness comes from what is worldly. But a wise person knows that true happiness—or better still, inner peace—is found only in Jesus and in the effort to live out His Gospel.

Today’s readings speak a lot about joy. In the first reading, we heard: “Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad for her, all you who love her!” The prophet Isaiah, in poetic words, is inviting everyone to share in the joy of this city. And what is the reason for Jerusalem’s joy? It is because the Lord, after many years of exile in Babylon, has now set the city free: “I will extend peace to her like a river.” He will restore the peace she had lost through her sin. So one of the joys the Lord offers us is the joy of being freed from sin—our greatest enemy. Sin robs us not only of joy but, more deeply, of the peace of heart that only God can give back.

Today’s Psalm continues the same hymn of joy, this time for freedom from another kind of slavery: that of Egypt. “Blessed be God, who has not rejected my prayer, nor withheld his love from me!” Another reason for joy is that God hears our prayers. This doesn’t mean He always gives us exactly what we ask for, but He surely gives us what is truly good for us. And what is truly good for us?

It is striking that in today’s Gospel, after the Lord sent the apostles out to preach and they returned rejoicing at the success they had seen, He said to them: “Nevertheless, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” Jesus is teaching us that the joys of this world, however great, will pass. But He is inviting us to a joy that lasts forever—one that nothing and no one in this world can give us. This is the joy of eternal life, to which the Lord is calling us, and for which He does all He can to ensure we do not lose it. Because, in the end, everything in this world passes away.

So the Christian, and anyone who is wise, does not tie their heart too tightly to worldly happiness, because they know that today or tomorrow it will be lost. Instead, they anchor their heart in that joy which can never be lost and which they can obtain forever. St George Preca, our own Maltese saint, once said something filled not only with heavenly wisdom but also with deep psychological insight: “The person of God does not rejoice too much in joy, nor grieve too deeply in sorrow, because they know that everything in this world will pass.”

Lord, help us to always remember that if we build our lives on sand—on the things of this world—one day everything will surely collapse before our eyes. But if we build our house on rock—that is, on You and on Your Word—no wave of this life can destroy what is built on solid ground. Help us, so that even when we ask You for something, we may always keep this truth in mind. Amen.