4th Sunday of Lent 18.3.07 Prosperity
Some Christians hold to what is called the Prosperity Gospel. They believe that if you have sufficient faith in God then He will bless you with material and physical blessings.
You will have good health, a long life, and a large bank balance. And then you go to heaven as well.
Sounds too good to be true? It needs a little correcting here and there.
We don’t say that to be healthy and wealthy is a bad thing. It is not compulsory to be poor and sick if you are a Catholic.
It’s just that earthly happiness is not guaranteed to the disciple of Christ.
We may achieve it some of the time. It comes and goes. If we have it, fine. If we don’t have it, also fine. St Paul said he could cope with full stomach or empty, rich or poor.
Happiness, to a Catholic, is a state of union with God. If we are in union with Him we are happy; if not, unhappy.
It does not matter if we have ten houses and twenty cars – if we are apart from God we are miserable, or at least we should be.
Some, it is true, have so far forgotten the importance of the spiritual life that they would look exclusively to the material world for their satisfaction, but these people are lost.
Many people, Catholic or otherwise, would judge God by their own standard of comfort.
If there is money in the bank and food in the fridge, then God is good.
If there are bills piling up and sickness, then God is not so good - maybe He doesn’t even exist.
With this approach faith goes up or down like the stock market. There is no real logic in this position.
Either God exists or He does not. If He is good when He blesses us with food then He must still be good when He withholds food.
The Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.(Job)
Why does God not guarantee earthly happiness?
1) Because this earthly phase of our lives is preparation for something better.
The miracle in today’s Gospel, the multiplication of the loaves, is a sign of this. The people were ready to crown Our Lord King because He could give them free food.
But He was about to teach them that they should look for food that lasts, heavenly food.
Happiness does not consist in having lots to eat. You can eat ten dinners a day and still be empty inside, hungry for something more. What is it? It is union with God. Only He can fill the void.
2) Because to get to where we are going we have to travel light, and not become attached to our surroundings or possessions.
The more attached we are to the things we have now the less we are seeking what we could have.
We have to be like pilgrims, ready to move, anxious to press on to our final home.
It is because of this tension that we have Cross as well as Resurrection in this life.
God sometimes appears as God of the Resurrection, blessing and healing and multiplying,
and sometimes as God of the Cross, taking away from us, asking for discipline and sacrifice.
Whichever side is uppermost – joy or sorrow – it is still the same God, no less real.
We have to be patient with Him while He leads us to where we need to be. Otherwise we will never have more than a superficial understanding of Him and never be able to love Him properly, let alone cope with life.
We are very fortunate people, but we cannot guarantee happiness on every point at every time. Not yet, but later, Yes.
