Happiness

When I was preparing myself for today’s homily I found a

very interesting article on happiness by Scott Young. He asked:

«How many times have you caught yourself thinking that you would

be happy when/if? “I’ll be happy when I achieve my goal.” “I’ll be

happy if I get more money.” “I’ll be happy when I have a

boyfriend/ girlfriend/ spouse.” “I’ll be happy if I have better

friends” ». Then he sharply observes: «The problem is that solving

problems doesn’t make you happier. Happiness isn’t reality but a

way of interpreting reality. If you can’t find happiness right now,

then solving a million problems won’t uncover it. » Then he sums

up with a Buddhist quote: “There is no way to happiness.

Happiness is the way.” Challenges and problems create the means

for growth and happiness not the obstacles to them.

At first it seemed to me very enlightening! That is what

Jesus meant when he said: “Blessed are the poor, those who mourn,

who hunger and thirst etc.” You are happy in any kind of

circumstances, just look at the difficulties as an opportunity for

growth and more happiness! Just change your mind, your way of

viewing the situation. But then I realised that it can be done all by

myself, without anybody’s help! All is needed is just a little shift

in focus in my mind! And I asked myself: is it really what Jesus

meant? Why then does the prophet Zephaniah say: “Seek the Lord,

seek humility”? There must be something more than that in Jesus’

answer!

To St Paul and St Matthew, Jesus’ faithful disciples, to be

poor, weak means to be chosen by God. Here is the first difference:

God plays an important role in our happiness! Moreover, according

to the beatitudes our dependence on others seems to be an

indispensable condition for happiness! Why is it so?

We may think that offering help to others is noble, but

accepting help from others is humiliating. While the former

underlines our ability in something, the later points out to our

weakness in something! It’s embarrassing!

Not in the eyes of God! He created people different on

purpose: so that they may exchange their gifts, so that they may

give and receive, so that they may be interdependent on each other.

You can give only when there is somebody who is willing to accept

the gift. Whenever such connections between people are opened,

we are happy! We can offer something to others and be completed

by others; we can love and be loved in return!

What is your beauty worth when there is nobody to

admire it? What is your talent worth if there is nobody to whom

you can serve with it? The world is full of promising, brilliant

people whose talents nobody appreciated and who ended up taking

drugs or drinking alcohol!

Really happy are those who are in friendship with God

and people. Happy are those in whom God lives and in whose

hearts there is place for others. The situations described in

beatitudes are not mind-switches but rather heart-openers: they

open the gates to human hearts. Every situation in which we have

to depend on somebody else is a chance to inviting God to our lives,

it is a chance to be friends with somebody else.

Our hell begins whenever we try to be independent from

everybody, when we think that we can do it on our own; when we

feel powerful enough to do it by ourselves. Then our happiness is

over. The devil claimed such independence and power at the

beginning of times and ended up as the most unhappy creature in

the universe. There is no happiness without God! There is no

happiness without others! Happiness is like a river that springs out

from God and flows from heart to heart! Are you ready to let it flow

through your heart?

Fr. Janusz Roginski, S.A.C.