I think it safe to say that, during the past few weeks, it would have been virtually impossible for anyone not to have heard something about what the press is now calling the "Enron scandal."

If the news is being reported fairly and accurately, the story goes something like this. Enron’s corporate titans proved themselves eminently successful during the past two years at driving up the price of the company’s stock far beyond its fair value. And, as the stock price skyrocketed, Enron employees more than willingly jumped onto the bandwagon, pouring millions of their own IRA plan dollars into Enron stock. The employees had other options, of course, but the dream of "making the big hit" with Enron stock as well as the vision of retiring with substantial wealth proved all too alluring. Evidently, many employees pinned all of their hope for future happiness on Enron because it seemed such a sure bet.

Then, without notifying the employees about some rather serious cash flow concerns that had the potential to deflate the stock’s price, some of the corporation's titans started selling their Enron shares prior to the stock’s precipitous decline several months ago. At the expense of overstating the obvious, these executives must be very happy to have gotten out just in time. But, for the hapless Enron employees, the once "high flying Enron," the "darling of Wall Street," is bankrupt. As the news insinuates, these evil corporate titans left the hapless employees "holding the bag" which, in reality, was nothing other than an empty bag. And, the employees, especially those who accrued big-time losses, must be very unhappy.

While this may be a fair and accurate interpretation of the Enron scandal as it unfolded, if you listened carefully to today’s gospel, you can deduce a different scandal emerging from the Enron debacle. It’s a scandal conveying a lesson about discipleship, a very hard lesson, and not only for the Enron employees but for you and me, too.

In today’s gospel, Jesus doesn’t use the word nor does he promise "happiness." Instead, Jesus observes that those who strive to be "blessed" in their lives experience "peace." The point Jesus is asserting is that human beings oftentimes accord first place to fulfilling the desire to be "happy" when human beings should instead be striving to be "blessed."

What is "happiness" anyway?

The root of the word "happiness" is the Middle English word, "hap," which denotes a person’s "luck" or "lot in life" all of which is due primarily to chance, accident, or just plain old luck. For example, we don’t chose our parents or our genetic pool. We also don’t choose whether we’ll be born into poverty or riches. And, we don’t choose our basic temperament or our personality. The word "haphazard" suggests this notion, in the sense that many of the things that come our way in life very much depend upon chance, accident, or just plain old luck. Perhaps we’d be happier if we had different parents and genes, or were born into riches rather than poverty, or even if we were endowed with a different temperament or personality. But, we weren’t and there’s not an awful lot we can do to change those things. So, it wouldn’t be wise for any of us to pin our happiness upon anything that may come our way through chance, accident, or just plain old luck.

Yet, many people desperately want to be happy and sometimes, by happenstance, some do find it. Even though the odds are very much against them, that’s why so many people purchase lotto tickets or play the slot machines in Atlantic City or Las Vegas. Then there are the people who send in the registration card for the Publishers Clearinghouse sweepstakes while others gamble in the stock market. Once again, the odds are very slim that one will win big, but millions upon millions of people are more than willing to take a chance. Some people get married based upon their hope for happiness and, despite all of the evidence to the contrary, get married only to find out within a short time that they’ve made a very bad decision. Unfortunately, each of these choices are premised upon the desire to be happy and the belief that these things will bring happiness. Yet, if one is to "hit it big" and to be "really, really happy," even the word tells us it will only come through chance, accident, or just plain old luck.

That is precisely what motivated many of the Enron employees. Without any guarantee whatsoever that any one of them would live to retirement and despite all of the free advice available to everyone about the importance of diversifying a portfolio and not "placing all of your eggs into one basket," some Enron employees equated their future happiness with increasing the size of the nest egg they would possess for their retirement years. Seeking happiness and staking future security in the fortunes promised by a piece of paper---after all, that’s all a stock certificate is, it doesn't guarantee anything---all of these employees were very happy, if not delirious, on the ride up. But then, Enron went belly up and now these people are very unhappy. Did any of them ever stop to think that they never were happy, even on the ride up, because all along they knew they could possibly lose it all? That question had to make some of the Enron employees a little bit anxious. And, some surely had to be more than worried by the "What then…" scenarios floating around somewhere inside of their minds. But, sadly, they chose to delude themselves into believing that their happiness would be found in promises of riches and scads of cash that would alleviate unhappiness.

In retrospect, the outcome appears so obvious and logical as to make these people look like pathetic losers in life's lottery. But, tantalized as they were by dreams and visions of happiness dancing before their mind's eye, they lost sight of the true nature of happiness. It's based solely and purely upon chance, accident, or just plain old luck.  In addition, not only do very few people win; those who do discover how fleeting their happiness really is.

Jesus, on the other hand, teaches the people gathered about him in today’s gospel to seek "blessedness" which, in Middle English, means to strive after being "consecrated," or striving to their lives holy. And, when people do so, Jesus observes, they may not be "happy"---which is dependent upon chance, accident, or is the result of just plain old luck---but "peaceful"---which is the abiding sense of personal fulfillment that comes not from material wealth and possessions but from being in a right relationship with God. Jesus knew full well that human beings have very little control over happiness. But, Jesus also knew that striving to make one’s life holy is something over which human beings have very much control.

"Blessed are…" Jesus observes about those who whose quest is to lead their lives in a right relationship with God. Being "blessed" is not something that God bestows upon mere mortals but is, instead, something that even the merest of mortals can achieve by striving to live in a right relationship with God. And, when chance, accident, or bad luck intervene, as they surely will, the blessed do not become unhappy. Why? Because they never placed their hope in being happy in the first place. Instead, they sought to be blessed and, even in the midst life’s woes that make people very unhappy, the blessed continue to experience God’s abiding peace because they are in a right relationship with God. This is the source their true security.

Did you ever notice how happy people are when they get married? It’s not unusual to see the bride and the groom shed tears as they exchange vows. But, we all know that the newlywed’s happiness is very short lived as chance, accident, and luck interfere with married bliss. And, unless the couple strives to be blessed as husband and wife, unhappiness will fester and grow into estrangement and even greater evils. Sadly, too, they will never experience the abiding peace that comes as husbands and wives work individually and together to be in a right relationship with God. Don’t forget lesson of the Enron scandal: having a happy marriage is entirely a consequence of chance, accident, or just plain old luck. But, having a blessed marriage is a choice requiring dedication and commitment day in and day out.

It’s much the same when couples have children, especially their first born. Gosh, I can’t think of one baptism where the parents weren’t filled with happiness. The radiant delight in their eyes is unmistakable as they behold their child. But, even that bliss is short lived, too, as chance, accident, and luck emerge when the little "bundle of joy" learn to exert its will. And, unless the parents strive to be blessed as moms and dads---to be in a right relationship with God---the unhappiness a child can cause parents will fester into estrangement and a host of even greater evils. Sadly, too, these parents will never experience the peace that comes from striving individually and collectively to be in a right relationship with God. Remember the lesson of the Enron scandal: having a happy family life is entirely a consequence of chance, accident, or just plain old luck. But, having a blessed family life is a choice requiring dedication and commitment day in and day out.

To be blessed, Saint Paul wrote to the Corinthians, is to be desperate for something better than what one already possesses. But, he warns the Corinthians, this "something better" is not found in what visions of future happiness and everything else this world places a premium upon. Instead, St. Paul says, blessedness comes as Jesus' disciples "boast in the Lord." That is, these women and men recognize their utter dependence upon God, strive to live in a right relationship with Him and, because of this, experience the abiding peace that surpasses all happiness.

The secular culture in which we live today is constructed upon the false premise that happiness is discovered by acquiring and possessing more and more things of this world. But, as the Enron employees found out much to their dismay and unhappiness, this is a preposterous lie. This is why the Enron scandal is, for Jesus’ disciples, not so much about what the Enron titans may have done to their employees but, more to the point, the false idol which the Enron employees happily worshipped as they poured millions of their dollars into alluring dreams of future happiness.