Friday 32nd week in ordinary time
"Lk 17:26-37"
Jesus said to his disciples, "Whoever seeks to gain his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will preserve it. I tell you, in that night there will be two in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. There will be two women grinding together; one will be taken and the other left."
A paradox is a statement that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a truth. Jesus explains that those who are concerned about their happiness will lose it. If you want to enjoy life, you have to suffer; if you want to win, you have to lose; if you want to live, you have to die. Only those who give themselves to others can really keep their life; only those who use their freedom to serve God become really free.
Human beings long for happiness. God created us in such a way that only love makes us happy. Some people forget this and try to achieve happiness in many different ways: money, pleasure, vengeance, hatred, drugs... All those alternatives have something in common: they never satisfy the human heart. Human hearts can't be fooled. As a plane only flies on fuel and you can't make it run on milk, so our heart runs on love and nothing else can make it fly. Saints have always been the happiest people in the world, for they have known how to love God and others the most. Many people still don't understand how St Teresa of Calcutta, who spent her life serving the poor in the slums of that city and undergoing many spiritual hardships, could be happier than all the rich men in the world put together.
A man went to hell in a dream and found many miserable people trying to eat their food with very long spoons, so long that they couldn't put them into their mouths and were starving in front of a table covered with food. Then he visited Heaven and saw the exact same scene, except he saw everyone beaming with joy because each person was using the long spoon to feed the person opposite them. A loving concern for the welfare of others meant everyone was fed. By giving everything, everyone received all they wanted. Mary, Queen of All Saints, help me to remember that only by giving everything will I get everything; and only by giving myself to the full will I be fully happy.
