# The Key to Happiness - Bishop Barron's Sunday Sermon

An episode of [Daily Sermons With Bishop Robert Barron](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/6783446284), 5 Aug 2026, 15 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/73269763/the_key_to_happiness_bishop_barron_s_sunday_sermon.mp3



## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: Peace be with you friends. We have one of the
[0:02] Speaker 1: great passages in the New Testament today for our reading,
[0:06] Speaker 1: namely the Beatitudes taken from the fifth chapter of the
[0:10] Speaker 1: Gospel of Matthews, the very beginning of the Sermon on
[0:13] Speaker 1: the Mount. I'm going to go through all eight beatitudes.
[0:17] Speaker 1: I'm aware that as I record these words, Francis has
[0:20] Speaker 1: just said that he thinks a lot of Catholic preaching
[0:23] Speaker 1: is terrible, and one reason is it's too long. And
[0:26] Speaker 1: he said, keep it to eight minutes. Well maybe, Holy Father,
[0:29] Speaker 1: I can't guarantee eight, but I promise you it'll be
[0:31] Speaker 1: around twelve or thirteen as usual, but I'll get through
[0:34] Speaker 1: all eight. So, first of all, you know, there's so
[0:37] Speaker 1: important because be out of tudo. It just means happiness.
[0:41] Speaker 1: I don't care who you are, what your background is.
[0:43] Speaker 1: That's the one thing we all want. Everyone has that
[0:46] Speaker 1: in common. We all want beat a tudo. We all
[0:48] Speaker 1: want to be happy. Everybody. Well, here's the Son of
[0:51] Speaker 1: God telling us how to be happy, so we should
[0:55] Speaker 1: pay close attention. He says, first, how blessed happy again?
[1:00] Speaker 1: How happy are the poor in spirit? The reign of
[1:03] Speaker 1: God is theirs? Why is this the first beatitude. Well,
[1:07] Speaker 1: because pride's the greatest sin. What does pride say? Basically,
[1:11] Speaker 1: I got to fill myself up to be happy. I've
[1:14] Speaker 1: got to aggrandize my ego. I've got to fill myself
[1:17] Speaker 1: up with good things. The basic spiritual principle is No,
[1:23] Speaker 1: it's actually by emptying the self out that I become
[1:26] Speaker 1: baiatus I become happy. It's by letting go, emptying out,
[1:33] Speaker 1: living for the sake of the other, not filling up
[1:36] Speaker 1: the cage with all sorts of things, but rather giving oneself. So,
[1:41] Speaker 1: being poor in spirit means that don't think of it
[1:44] Speaker 1: primarily in sort of monetary terms. It's a spiritual idea,
[1:48] Speaker 1: poor in spirit. The more I give my life away,
[1:52] Speaker 1: the happier I become. Okay, next blessed too are the
[1:57] Speaker 1: sorrowing they will be consoled. I know this can sound
[2:02] Speaker 1: a little odd like is this sort of a masochistic
[2:05] Speaker 1: idea or sadistic idea? You know that the unhappier I become, well,
[2:11] Speaker 1: that's that's what I should shoot for. No. No, the
[2:14] Speaker 1: great spiritual tradition read it this way. How happy are
[2:18] Speaker 1: those who are sorrowing for their sin? And we feel
[2:25] Speaker 1: bad about all kinds of things. We feel bad because
[2:28] Speaker 1: our dreams have it come true. We feel bad because
[2:30] Speaker 1: we didn't get the job we wanted. We feel bad
[2:32] Speaker 1: because you know, this relationship fell apart or whatever it is.
[2:37] Speaker 1: But what's the one thing we should really feel sorrow over?
[2:42] Speaker 1: Our own sins? What do you mean? I'm I'm I'm okay,
[2:46] Speaker 1: and you're okay. I'm beautiful In every single way, our
[2:50] Speaker 1: culture today is telling me never to be sorry about
[2:53] Speaker 1: my sins, Never feel bad about myself, No, affirm myself
[2:57] Speaker 1: at every turn. That working out for you? You look
[3:02] Speaker 1: around the culture, how's that working out for us? Affirming
[3:06] Speaker 1: ourselves at every turn, never admitting any kind of problem
[3:11] Speaker 1: to make you happy, It makes you miserable. In fact,
[3:13] Speaker 1: the key to happiness is being sorrowful for the right thing.
[3:19] Speaker 1: Sorrowing for our sins, they shall be consoled. The Lord says,
[3:23] Speaker 1: quite right, that's the first step toward repentance and toward
[3:27] Speaker 1: the acceptance of forgiveness. How often we think about that.
[3:31] Speaker 1: The key to our beatitudo is being forgiven for our sins. See,
[3:37] Speaker 1: our sins are like a great burden. Our sins are
[3:39] Speaker 1: like chains. Well, the first step in loosing those chains
[3:46] Speaker 1: is to be sorry for our sins and thereby open
[3:49] Speaker 1: to forgiveness. Okay. Third beatitude, blessed are the lowly. They
[3:57] Speaker 1: shall inherit the land. Again, it's so counterintuitive. Who inherits
[4:03] Speaker 1: the land? The last time I checked it was it
[4:05] Speaker 1: was powerful people, self assertive people, those with you know,
[4:09] Speaker 1: no concern for the other. Nietzschean, you know, superman. I
[4:13] Speaker 1: there was a will to power, and don't get my way.
[4:16] Speaker 1: I'm the one that will inherit the earth. Powerful nations,
[4:20] Speaker 1: you know, willing to wield great, great weapons of destruction
[4:24] Speaker 1: against their enemies. They're the ones who inherit the land, no,
[4:30] Speaker 1: says Jesus. Rather the lowly think of it this way.
[4:37] Speaker 1: Those who have emptied themselves, forgotten about themselves, are the
[4:43] Speaker 1: ones who actually are closest to the earth. They're closest
[4:49] Speaker 1: to reality. We're talking here about humility. I don't think
[4:54] Speaker 1: you know that phony false humility. Someone who's humble says,
[5:00] Speaker 1: I'm not preoccupied with my own ego, how I'm doing,
[5:05] Speaker 1: what impression I'm making. Rather, I forget about all that.
[5:08] Speaker 1: I get that monkey off my back, and I lose
[5:13] Speaker 1: myself and whatever it is I'm doing, I give myself
[5:19] Speaker 1: to it. I get lost in whatever I'm doing. Notice, please,
[5:24] Speaker 1: I'm lowly, and therefore I'm close to the earth. Humble
[5:32] Speaker 1: is from the Latin hummos humilitas. Humos means the ground,
[5:36] Speaker 1: the earth. When I'm preoccupyed with my ego and my
[5:40] Speaker 1: status and how I'm doing and all that, I'm divorced
[5:43] Speaker 1: from reality. But when in the simplest way, I forget
[5:46] Speaker 1: about myself and I give myself to a book I'm reading,
[5:50] Speaker 1: or a person i'm talking to, or a task I have,
[5:53] Speaker 1: I become happy. Isn't it true? Everybody? Think about it?
[5:56] Speaker 1: The best moments in life are when you're least aware
[5:59] Speaker 1: of your least aware of your hang ups and preoccupations.
[6:04] Speaker 1: How happy are the lowly? They indeed will inherit the land.
[6:10] Speaker 1: See they're humillion, they're humble, they're close to the homemost
[6:14] Speaker 1: to the ground. Wonderful. Let's really a wonderful beatitude, I think.
[6:21] Speaker 1: Next one, Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for holiness?
[6:27] Speaker 1: They shall have their film. Oh my goodness, we're hungry
[6:31] Speaker 1: and thirsty for so many things, aren't we hungry. I'm
[6:35] Speaker 1: hungry for success, I'm hungry for more power. I'm hungry
[6:40] Speaker 1: for material goods. I'm physically hungry for food, I'm hungry
[6:44] Speaker 1: for attention. Right, all the things we have these hungry hearts.
[6:50] Speaker 1: As Bruce Springsteen said, right, everyone's got hungry heart. We're
[6:54] Speaker 1: always looking for what's going to satisfy us. One of
[7:00] Speaker 1: the most important questions to ask about yourself is this,
[7:02] Speaker 1: what are you primarily hungering for? So amidst all these
[7:08] Speaker 1: different hungers, there's one that you really you really want.
[7:14] Speaker 1: It's success, you know, it's it's money, it's it's power,
[7:17] Speaker 1: it's fame, it's whatever. Whatever. We've all got something, the
[7:23] Speaker 1: Lord says. None of those will make you happy. They
[7:28] Speaker 1: won't give you beatitudo, what's the one thing? Now? They're
[7:31] Speaker 1: not bad in themselves, as I've said many times. You know,
[7:34] Speaker 1: power and success and money, they're not bad in themselves.
[7:37] Speaker 1: But the thing you should be hungering for above all,
[7:42] Speaker 1: the primary thirst of your life should not be for
[7:46] Speaker 1: those things, but should be for holiness. What's holiness? It's
[7:55] Speaker 1: friendship with God. Friendship with God. That's the one thing
[8:02] Speaker 1: you should want above all. As you're facing a decision
[8:07] Speaker 1: in life, you know, hey, if I decide this it'll
[8:09] Speaker 1: make me richer, yeah, but will make you more of
[8:11] Speaker 1: a friend of God? Yeah? Boy, if I choose that,
[8:15] Speaker 1: it's gonna make me more famous for sure, uh huh.
[8:18] Speaker 1: But will it make you a friend of God? Boy?
[8:21] Speaker 1: That's gonna make everyone everyone liked me? Yeah, I know.
[8:25] Speaker 1: But will it make you more a friend of God?
[8:27] Speaker 1: That's all you should be worried about. So how happy
[8:31] Speaker 1: are those who hunger and thirst for holiness? Listen, they
[8:35] Speaker 1: shall have their fill? See because every other thing you
[8:40] Speaker 1: hunger for in life, you get it, and it's fine,
[8:44] Speaker 1: but it wears off right, it goes away, it evenesses.
[8:49] Speaker 1: But you hunger and thirst for holiness. Friendship with God
[8:53] Speaker 1: that doesn't fade away, That intensifies. Next one. Blessed are
[9:00] Speaker 1: they who show mercy? Mercy shall be theirs? Mercies he
[9:06] Speaker 1: said in the Hebrew Miseri kodia, right in Latin mercy mercies.
[9:12] Speaker 1: What God is? Mercies? What God is? He's marked by
[9:18] Speaker 1: tender mercy. And that beautiful translation of Hes said, that's
[9:22] Speaker 1: in the in the King James, the tender mercy of God.
[9:25] Speaker 1: What is that? Well, it's compassion. Look at that word
[9:30] Speaker 1: come passion from Kumpatsi or in Latin that means to
[9:33] Speaker 1: suffer with miserri kodadiya right, means the pain in your heart.
[9:40] Speaker 1: It's this, it's the suffering that you feel in your
[9:42] Speaker 1: own heart when you identify with the suffering of somebody else. See,
[9:46] Speaker 1: that's what love, willing the good of the other looks
[9:49] Speaker 1: like in this world of suffering. Is that you enter
[9:53] Speaker 1: in in a sympathetic way. Look at that word again.
[9:57] Speaker 1: Simpatane means to suffer with the same idea. You enter
[10:01] Speaker 1: in a sympathetic, compassionate, merciful way into the suffering of
[10:07] Speaker 1: the world, you'll be happy, extraordinary. You know how many
[10:14] Speaker 1: of us want to run from the suffering of the world.
[10:18] Speaker 1: Take me away from that, make me immune to that.
[10:22] Speaker 1: Give me something that will drug me so I don't
[10:25] Speaker 1: experience it, says the Lord. The happier you will be
[10:32] Speaker 1: if you identify in love with the suffering of the
[10:36] Speaker 1: other wall trust me, everybody, Your whole life will change
[10:41] Speaker 1: if you let that sink in. If you see, that's
[10:44] Speaker 1: my task today is to when I see suffering, to
[10:48] Speaker 1: enter sympathetically into it. That's the merciful Next. Blessed are
[10:56] Speaker 1: the single hearted, for they shall see God that's lovely.
[10:59] Speaker 1: The single hearted. I think I've quoted to you before
[11:01] Speaker 1: that great line from kuer Kugar the philosopher. He said,
[11:04] Speaker 1: the saint is someone whose life is about one thing.
[11:09] Speaker 1: That means he's he's a gathered person. He's involved with
[11:13] Speaker 1: all sorts of things. Might have a very busy life,
[11:15] Speaker 1: very active life, but all of it is centered around
[11:19] Speaker 1: one thing. It's the anchor in the in the rose window,
[11:24] Speaker 1: right around which the whole design is arranged. If you
[11:28] Speaker 1: can't name what that is, you won't be happy. If
[11:31] Speaker 1: you I'm a busy guy, I'm doing this and this
[11:33] Speaker 1: and bup all over the place, and boy, I'm admired
[11:35] Speaker 1: and look at all that he's accomplishing. Yeah, but if
[11:38] Speaker 1: there's no anchor in your life, there isn't one thing
[11:41] Speaker 1: that gathers all the things that you do, then you'll
[11:44] Speaker 1: be like the demoniac in the gospel. What do you
[11:48] Speaker 1: want of us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to
[11:51] Speaker 1: destroy us? Right? And that's a single person talking, but
[11:54] Speaker 1: he speaks in the splintered plural. How blessed are this
[12:00] Speaker 1: single hearted? What's the one thing you want amidst all
[12:04] Speaker 1: the desires of your life? It should be to please God. Again,
[12:10] Speaker 1: it's related to what I said earlier, right, if you're
[12:12] Speaker 1: doing X, Y and Z, But yeah and all that,
[12:15] Speaker 1: am I pleasing God? That's the one thing that matters,
[12:19] Speaker 1: single heart. Blessed too are the peace makers. They shall
[12:26] Speaker 1: be called the children of God. Shallom that lovely word
[12:30] Speaker 1: right that echoes up and down the scriptures. The risen
[12:33] Speaker 1: Christ says it to his disciples, Shalom, peace, peace. God
[12:37] Speaker 1: makes the world in a great, non violent act, not
[12:41] Speaker 1: suppressing some rival power. The crucified and risen Jesus returns
[12:47] Speaker 1: not an avenge, in avenging violence, but in forgiving love.
[12:54] Speaker 1: God is peace. One of the great marks of his
[12:59] Speaker 1: followers is that they are makers of peace. Not only
[13:03] Speaker 1: are they peaceful themselves, but they produce peace. Try it sometime,
[13:09] Speaker 1: if you find yourself unhappy, how much time do you
[13:13] Speaker 1: spend in the course of the day making peace, Not
[13:18] Speaker 1: just tolerating wickedness or not looking the other way and
[13:21] Speaker 1: not walking away from it, but entering mercifully into it
[13:26] Speaker 1: and making peace. Trust me, it'll make you happy too.
[13:32] Speaker 1: That's Jesus' point, last one. And Pope Francis, I'll close
[13:36] Speaker 1: with this. We'll keep this homily short, blessed are those
[13:41] Speaker 1: persecuted for holiness sake? The reign of God is theirs. Again,
[13:45] Speaker 1: how counterintuitive. Who wants to be persecuted? Yeah, but but
[13:49] Speaker 1: if you're persecuted for righteousness sake, that means you're walking
[13:54] Speaker 1: the right path. We're living in a fallen world. We're
[13:57] Speaker 1: living in a compromised world. If nobody ever criticizes you, you
[14:01] Speaker 1: are not in a good spiritual space. Woe to you.
[14:06] Speaker 1: If all men speak well of you, says the Lord.
[14:08] Speaker 1: They treated the false prophets in just that way. One
[14:11] Speaker 1: of the great marks that you are on the right path,
[14:14] Speaker 1: the path of happiness, is that you will endure persecution,
[14:19] Speaker 1: but do it as a happy warrior, not falling into resentment.
[14:24] Speaker 1: But say, hey, that's a sign that I'm on the
[14:26] Speaker 1: path the Lord wants me to be on. Okay, got
[14:29] Speaker 1: through all eight in just about thirteen minutes. Go to
[14:33] Speaker 1: Matthew chapter five. Walk through these They are the key
[14:37] Speaker 1: to what we all want be out of Tudo and
[14:42] Speaker 1: God bless you.

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