Fourth Sunday in ordinary time. Today’s readings: Zephaniah 2:3; 3:12-13; Psalms 145; Corinthians 1:26-31; Matthew 5:1-12a
A recently published multinational study involving over 7,000 participants and 45 scholars from universities worldwide revealed that the constant societal pressure to be happy leads to poor well-being and unhappiness. The study – Perceiving Societal Pressure to be Happy is Linked to Poor Well-being, Especially in Happy Nations – was published last year in the open-access journal Scientific Reports which publishes peer-reviewed studies from the natural sciences.
The study reveals that people face “deficits in mental health” as “they experience lower satisfaction with their lives, more negative emotion and higher levels of depression, anxiety and stress”. This is due to the pressure to be happy and avoid sadness. This relatively recent phenomenon is gaining momentum in contemporary culture and stands at the backdrop of the “think positive” clichés.
Not even religion is spared from such contamination. Have you ever encountered Christian clichés like “we are an Easter people and Alleluia is our song”? Have you ever been to a funeral where attendants were expected to be happy and feast rather than grieve? Have you ever felt miserable during Christmastide, struggling with society’s frenzy to smile and celebrate because “’tis the season to be jolly: Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la”?
Philosophers, theologians, political theorists, psychologists and anthropologists have been intrigued by happiness since the dawn of civilisation. For Aristotle, happiness (eudaimonia) is the ultimate purpose one achieves in life by living virtuously. Hence for the philosopher, happiness – which can also be rendered as blessedness – is consequential to virtue and to a life spent well, especially with regard to our relationships. Aristotle’s teachings on happiness in the Nichomachean Ethics agree with the wisdom imparted by other great teachers of humanity, showing that happiness is not a feeling. It also isn’t a particular attitude in the face of life’s circumstances, and it doesn’t depend on whether one is optimistic or pessimistic. So forget about societal pressures for transient happy-clappy or wishy-washy notions of happiness, banalising a foundational element for our well-being.
Happiness, one might say, is political as it encapsulates the well-being of people on a personal and collective level. Let no one be deceived: true, everlasting happiness is not achievable if virtue and other external goods, which enable every human person to flourish and develop, are lacking. Although political theorists distinguish between “ordinary” and “all-in” happiness, both are related to the humus of thriving human existence and relationships.
The eight Beatitudes, handed down to us in the Gospel of Matthew, are, according to Vincenzo Paglia, Jesus’ magna charta or manifesto in the form of a “blessing passing judgment on political structures” and societal constructs. Paglia points out that “to allow ourselves to be provoked” by the Beatitudes “does not render easier the task of governing the polis, but it makes it more decent and humane”. It is only in poverty of spirit, meekness, mercy, purity of heart (or right intention), the effort to preserve peace and justice, and finally, to deeply cry for a world that is structurally so unjust, oppressive, and exploitative, that one can start making a difference for a better world.
Hence, in Jesus’ logic, truly blessed are those who, because of their engagement in promoting the great human-divine values of justice, peace, and harmony which characterise the Heavenly Reign, are insulted, persecuted and lied about. In today’s Gospel, Jesus identifies himself with these high values of the Reign. He is the Reign of Heaven amongst us.
In Jesus’ logic, truly blessed are those who, because of their engagement in promoting the great human-divine values of justice, peace, and harmony which characterise the Heavenly Reign, are insulted, persecuted and lied about
Consequently, all those who dedicate their lives for higher just causes and endure hardships to improve the world and its structures, actually dedicate their lives to Christ. He and his message “does not deflect people from the building up of the world, or encourage them to neglect the good of their fellows, but rather places on them a stricter obligation to work for these objectives”. (Gaudium et Spes, 34)