Our Search for Genuine Happiness

Homily for Fourth Sunday of the Year

Did you know that there is something called the World Happiness Report? Since 2002 a special survey gathers data from 147 countries, and generates a World Happiness Report based on income, social support, health, freedom, generosity, and levels of corruption. In 2025, the report concluded that Finland was the happiest country in the world, for the eighth year in a row. Interestingly, the top seven happiest countries in the world for 2025 were all northern European countries, with number 8 and 9 being Australia and New Zealand, respectively.

Not surprisingly the least happy country in 2025 was again Afghanistan. The next least happy country was South Sudan, then Zimbabwe, then Lesotho, and then Lebanon. You may be interested to know that out of 147 countries, South Africa was listed number 95. In other words, we are in the lower third globally of countries in the world in terms of happiness.

Of course, what is significant is the criteria used for determining happiness, and while the criteria used in determining happiness in World Happiness Report are by no means unimportant, the criteria that Jesus gives for happiness in the Gospel today, are remarkably different; but then so is Jesus’ understanding of what true happiness is.

This is of such great importance to us. Fundamentally, each one of us just wants to be happy. In fact, we could say that all our activities and desires are ordered to what we think will make us happy. The problem is that while we really want to be happy, we often get wrong what will make us happy. This is a good moment for us to evaluate our own happiness report: how happy we are, what we think happiness is, and what we think we need to be happy.

This Sunday’s Gospel reading is the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew's gospel. Jesus is presented as the new Moses. Just as Moses went up on Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments, this teaching of Jesus is given on a mountain, and Jesus, in the pose of the traditional teacher sits in a position of authority.

St Matthew presents five long sermons by Jesus, which can be seen to match the Pentateuch, the five first books of the Bible which are traditionally attributed to Moses as their author, and which contain the Jewish Law. Just as the Pentateuch teaches the Jewish way of life, so these sermons give Jesus’ vision of the life he proposes for us as his disciples. The Sermon on the Mount, which begins with the Beatitudes, is the first of these five sermons in Matthew’s Gospel. It is a collection of sayings and teachings focusing on the personal qualities expected of a disciple of Jesus.

Just as the Ten Commandments are the core of the Jewish way of life, so the Beatitudes are the core of the Christian way of life. Even so, they are often not understood as such, because they are rather mysterious and take some careful discernment and explaining.

Strictly speaking, the Beatitudes are not commandments. They are not so much things to be done or rules to be kept; rather they are deep-down attitudes of mind and heart. And, in fact, their observance is only possible with a deep love of God and of other people. They can never be kept fully; they are goals that are always calling us further. They never leave any room for complacency or self-satisfaction or smugness. One can never say about the Beatitudes what the rich man said to Jesus, namely, that he had kept all the commandments since he was young.

Each Beatitude begins with the word “Blessed”. ‘Blessed’ is a translation of the Greek word that Matthew uses, makarios. The meaning of this word is a combination of happiness and good fortune. So, we could translate makarios either with "Happy are those..." or "Fortunate are those...".

Another title for these beatitudes would be happinesses because they speak of the sources of true happiness.

Happiness does not, as the conventional way of thinking for many in our world would suggest, consist in being rich, successful, and powerful; but rather, in the teaching of Jesus in the Beatitudes, happiness is to be found in the poor and lowly, the merciful and pure of heart. The Beatitudes are a complete reversal of the wisdom of the secular world as we know it, of the things that people seek instead of God; where money, pleasure, power, and glory are promoted as the sources of happiness. And that is why to enter the Kingdom of God requires metanoia, a radical change in the way we see life and its values.

This turned-upside-down logic of Jesus is forcefully pointed out by St Paul in today's Second Reading from the First Letter to the Corinthians. He writes that “God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, ... so that no one might boast in the presence of God.”

These values are emphasized in the first reading. The prophet Zephaniah says, “Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land, who do his commands; seek righteousness, seek humility.” Zephaniah goes on to advise the people to seek God in humility and lowliness. These are necessary conditions to find God. God is close to those who are humble and depend on him.

This is picked up in Jesus’ teaching on what brings true happiness. In each of the eight paths that Jesus gives us, what is being blessed or put forward as a condition for happiness, is reliance on God. Those who know their need of God, and live life as God would have them live it, are truly blessed. They are the most fortunate of all people, because God will give them all that they need.

Only God can fill our emptiness. We might like to believe that we can manage our lives, that we are self-sufficient, that we can make it on our own, but those who put their trust in human resources will be let down. Only those who trust in God will never be disappointed.

The Beatitudes all flow from one simple truth: recognizing our need for God. When we're poor in spirit, we stop pretending we have it all together. We mourn because we know we can't fix everything ourselves. We're gentle with others because we've needed that same gentleness. We hunger for what's right because we know we're not there yet. We show mercy because we desperately need it too. We pursue God with our whole heart instead of chasing after everything else. We make peace because we've learned we don't have all the answers. And we're willing to suffer for doing good because we've let go of always needing to be right or comfortable.

Jesus invites us to true happiness. Only in God and trusting ourselves entirely to him do we find happiness.