I craved four things as a teenager: success in sports, food, fun and the attention of popular people. However, I noticed that as I acquired them, I was more unsatisfied than before. So, I’d strive even more energetically, achieve more, and the sense of emptiness was greater still. These four things started to feel like burdens or even curses. Soon after, I encountered Christ in my high school youth group. Experiencing his love was totally different than anything those four things previously produced. It produced a lasting happiness.

Jesus utters a kind of four-fold curse in this week’s Gospel of Saint Luke’s “woes”:

“Woe to you who are rich...who are filled now...who laugh now...who are well-spoken of” (cf. Luke 6:24- 26).

How marvelous that these correspond perfectly to the four things that obsessed my teenage soul: riches, food, laughter and good reputation. The “woes” the Lord speaks are warnings: when those things are the purpose of your life, you’ll be miserable. He is saying, “You’ll be happy, or blessed, in the measure that these things do not determine the shape of our lives, and the kingdom of God does.” To some degree, we’re all spiritual teenagers, addicted to one or more of those four “woes.” 

How splendid that the Lord wants his to bless us — that is, to satisfy us, make us laugh with joy, and in the kingdom of God, offer us what will truly satisfy us.

But first let’s admit what is causing our “woes.”