The blessings
17 He went down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coastal region around Tyre and Sidon, 18 who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by impure spirits were cured, 19 and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.
20 Looking at his disciples, he said:
“Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.
21 Blessed are you who hunger now,
for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.
22 Blessed are you when people hate you,
when they exclude you and insult you
and reject your name as evil,
because of the Son of Man.
23 “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.
What is happiness?
Boethius, The consolation of philosophy, 2nd Book0, II, Prose IV, in Church Fathers and Writers (1992), vol. 72, p. 87
Of how much bitterness is not splashed the sweetness of the human happiness. Even if it seemed pleasant for the one who enjoys it he could not stop it to leave when it desires. It is obvious how ephemeral is the happiness of the perishing things which doesn`t delight completely those who lack equilibrium. Therefore why do you mortals seek outside a happiness which is found in you?
Your roving and ignorance darken you. I will show you briefly the essential point of the highest bliss. Do you have anything more precious than yourself?
Nothing, you will say. Thus if you control yourself you will possess something you will not want to lose at all and the destiny could not steal it away from you. To understand that it can`t exist any happiness in these random things listen: If happiness is the highest good of a being who lives according to intellect and if the supreme good is not something which could be stolen as it is among the first which can`t be stolen it is obvious that the instability of our destiny could not lead to gaining happiness. Then who is captivated by this ephemeral happiness does he know or not that it is ephemeral? If he doesn`t know what kind of happiness can exist in a blind ignorance? If he knows he is always afraid not to lose what he knows it can be lost and from here it comes a worry which doesn`t allow him to be happy.
Boethius, The consolation of philosophy, 3rd book, II, Prose II, in Church Fathers and Writers (1992), vol. 72, p. 101
Any human endeavor which is fed by the pain of the various desires starts on different ways but it seeks to reach the single goal of happiness. But this is a good which if gained you can`t wish for anything else anymore. It is the peak of all goods containing in itself all goods and if it missed one it could not be that way because there would still be something outside it which could be desired
It can be seen that hapiness is a state resulting from the reunion of all goods. Source: http://ziarullumina.ro
