Is that
happiness? Not in a worldly sense. But Jesus’ happiness was in doing the will of
His Father. This obedience, this perfect
fulfillment of His divine mission, brought a happiness beyond our human
comprehension—a deep, abiding joy rooted in perfect love and surrender to God’s
plan.
As we begin
Lent, a good question to ask ourselves might be: “Am I happy?” Many people struggle with this question. Like our Lord, we endure trials, suffering,
and disappointment. Jesus wasn’t exempt
from these; He faced the full range of human experience. He likely faced rejection as a boy because He
was different. He knew the sorrow of
losing loved ones and faced the daily demands of work to help support His
family.
In the
mystery of the Incarnation—God becoming man—the Son of God intimately shares in
every human suffering. He understands
our struggles and sorrows firsthand. This
is why Jesus can look at us with compassion and say, “I understand.” He is not only divine and transcendent, He is
also intimately close, having lived through the very trials we face.
It’s this
reality that makes His words so powerful: “Take up your cross daily and follow
me.” The Cross is the roadmap to true
happiness. Our human nature might seek
to avoid suffering, but Jesus invites us to embrace it with grace, uniting it
with His own suffering. Through the
Cross, we find victory and fulfillment in ways that our natural reasoning could
never grasp.
