Blessed are or Happy are…?

One translation of the scriptures say “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” Another says “How happy are the poor in spirit.” But there are differences between ‘blessed’ and ‘happy’.

You can be blessed without knowing it. I saw this clearly as I watched a young couple almost competing with each other to hold their baby, while the baby slept through it all. And you can be blessed without appreciating it. “You’re blessed with good health,” someone says to you; but you don’t feel blessed at all, you feel just normal. It is only when you fall ill that you appreciate health. “When you have a toothache,” said Thich Nhat Hanh, “you realise how wonderful it is not to have a toothache.”

Happiness, on the other hand, is just a passing state of feeling. The word ‘happiness’ is related to ‘happen’ and ‘perhaps’: it’s about randomness, it’s about hit and miss. Feelings, like the weather, come and go and are constantly changing. You can't stake a claim to happiness because it’s not firm ground and stakes take no hold there.

Jesus doesn’t tell you that you are happy. He tells you that you are blessed.

Donagh O'Shea, OP
thegoodnews.ie