Happy or Sad - Pope Benedict XVI

This question came up last time:  Is  'blessed'  (makarios) in Matt. 5  a promise for the future, or does it include the present? In the last post discussing  'happy or sad'  I mentioned that  Pope Benedict XVI helped me with this question.  In his book Jesus of Nazareth Vol I (2007), the Holy Father states:  "The paradoxes which Jesus presents in the Beatitudes express the believer's true situation in the world in similar terms to those repeatedly used by Paul to describe his experience of living and suffering as an Apostle: ...."  Page 72.   He proceeds to quote St. Paul extensively  from 2 Cor. chapter 4, where Paul describes his experience of joy in suffering. One of the quoted passages is  2 Cor 4:8-9 which sums it up well:  "We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed but not driven to despair; persecuted but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed."  (RSV). 

Paul had "boundless joy" in the middle of all of his various trials, the Pope says.   (In the book the Pope does not get into these trials in detail, but look at 2 Cor 11 beginning at verse 23 "countless beatings, and often near death" for a pretty shocking list of horribles that Paul lived through.)   Pope Benedict concludes that the 'blesseds' in the Beatitudes are more than a promise for Paul.  They are a present reality, "the lived experience of the apostle."  Page 72.

Busy people have little  time to memorize scripture, but if they did, 2 Cor 4 (17 verses) should be high on the list.  In the middle of a pressure-cooker situation, you could draw on  these encouraging words.  I'm working on this now, and it is tough sledding, but I have found that the best way to memorize is to listen to  an audio replay of the chapter over and over again  in the car.   The listening is a great experience, even if  my progress with the memorization is slow.    That is something worth discussing in another post.

One last point on the subject of 'happy or sad.' The experience of 'troubles' should be dynamic, a growth experience taking you closer to Jesus each day, and here is my authority from St. Paul for saying so:  "So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed every day."  2 Cor 4: 16  (RSV).  And  be careful.  While all of this is true, you don't go quoting Bible verses to people who are struggling.  That's what Job's friends did, and that was a big mistake.