Where is happiness?

Every year, on All Saints’ Day, the Gospel calls our attention to the Beatitudes.

Unfortunately, however, since we hear them so often, the Beatitudes are sometimes reduced to the level of dull clichés. We listen to them, but we don’t hear them. If you were at Mass today, did you truly hear them as they were proclaimed, or did you perhaps “zone out” as they passed by?

It is hard to focus on them. They turn what we consider the “natural order” of things right upside down. Those who are blessed, or “happy,” or “fortunate,” at not those we have been brainwashed into choosing. Just look at the list of those Christ calls “blessed:”  the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure of heart, the peacemakers and the persecuted.

Things get shaken up; false notions are shown to be empty promises; our basic drives are called into question—the drives for security, power, approval, aggrandizement, notoriety, self-esteem, control; happiness is not what it appears to be or what think it should be. We may think we are climbing the ladder of success only to discover that we have set it up against the wrong building.

I turned to the Catechism of the Catholic Church to see what it had to say about this “reversal of fortunes:”

. . . true happiness is not found in riches or well-being, in human fame or power, or in any human achievement—however beneficial it may be—such as science, technology, and art, or indeed in any creature, but in God alone, the sources of every good and of all love. (#1723)

 At first sight, I find this difficult to embrace, but when I hold it up to the picture of my own life I can see how true it is. I have sought happiness in so many things, and never truly found it. And yet, I consider myself to be a happy man. Deep down inside, I think the happiness comes from my existence as a monk which demands a radical orientation towards God and the things of God, especially at this point in my life when I am no longer doing those things which in the past brought me honor and prestige and a bit of fame.  But enough about me. What do you make of all this, and how can you apply it to your own life? That’s the important question for you to consider on this All Saints’ Day.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this, either by commenting below or by sending me an email (bcamera@anselm.edu).

God bless.

Getting back on track

I will be away for a few days. The next reflection will be on October 27.

He is searching for God. He has a good prayer life, leads a reflective life, and surrounds himself with loving, supportive friends who support him in his quest.

And yet there are times when he gets disconnected from the Source of all peace and happiness, and begins going after things which will ultimately fail to satisfy. At times he falls prey to the illusion that <this> or <that> really matter at lot more than they really do. These times of dis-connection open a gate within him and he becomes prone to disappointment, regret, jealousy, envy, judging others, the urge to control his reality or that of others. He experiences feelings which are far from the peace and happiness he seeks. During these times he becomes like a fool playing with what is toxic, what is treacherous, and, ultimately, what fails to satisfy.

                                 

When he was younger, this dis-connection was the norm and not the exception—that is, until God reached out and touched him and “made his footsteps firm.”  St. Paul called him back to spiritual reality: ”. . . what profit did you get then from the things of which you are now ashamed.” (Romans 6:21)

Now things are different. He still gets dis-connected from time to time, but he has found a remedy: he simply things of times when he has said, done or thought things which brought him inner joy. And reflecting on these things, the shadows are dissolved in the light of Christ.

Thus restored, he gives thanks. To the God who is love.

Finding true peace and happiness

finishing Paragraph 27 of the Catechism:

“. . . only in God will he find the truth and happiness that he never stops searching for.”

I remember a quote from somewhere about a man who worked to climb to ladder of success only to find that when he reached the top he discovered that the ladder had been put up against the wrong wall.

We all do that at times. Don’t take my word for it: check out your life. Have there been times when you have been in pursuit of something that you thought would make you happy, only to discover that once you got what is was your happiness was either short-lived or even nonexistent? The same thing is true for peace. How many times, how may remedies do we try that are designed to give us peace of mind, only to discover that the peace we sought so desperately eluded us?

Only in God. That’s the answer in all its simplicity and in all its complexity. Only In God.

Cistercian monk Fr.Thomas Keating teaches that we have a number of “instinctual needs” that we are continually searching for: “survival and security, affection and esteem and approval, and power and control.” How do we try to get these things? How often are we thwarted in our quest? How many false solutions do we seek?

What is the remedy: Well, when we are searching for God, we discover that we have an “enormous capacity” for “growth, love, freedom, peace, service of others, and reaching out to those in need.” Those are the things that bring us what we have been searching for all along! And how do we learn to devote our lives to those things? Well, back to paragraph 27.

By the way, Fr. Keating also points out that when we push these things aside and search for false remedies, we often get ourselves into a great deal of trouble. This is how obsessions develop, or even addictions. Again, there is a remedy: back to paragraph 27.

Have a nice day.

Advance notice: I will be away next week and will not have access to a computer. I intend to post (with God’s help) tomorrow and Sunday. The next reflection after that will be on October 9. Please keep me in your prayers. Thank you.

The Desire for God

The “Catechism of the Catholic Church” is not a book meant to be read from cover to cover, but rather one to be consulted or browsed through with the help of the index in the back. It also provides a lot of nourishment and food for meditation.

One of my favorite passages is Paragraph 27, and I’ve often quoted it in homilies and talks.

 “The desire for God is written in the human heart, because man is created by God and for God; and God never ceases to draw man to himself. Only in God will he find the truth and happiness he never stops searching for.”

Each phrase of this paragraph can be a meditation onto itself, and would like to explore its riches in the next few reflections.

For today, you might like to think it over and look for specific instances in your life when this teaching has been proven true for you.

More tomorrow.

By the way, the COCC is available on line and I believe it has a searchable index as well. 

Talk2003

I won’t have time to write a reflection today, so here are some excerpts from a talk I gave on campus about 12 years ago.

• The world preaches a way to happiness. But most of the time, it’s lying.  Check this rule out carefully: think of all the things that are being promoted to you on campus and in the dorms which are supposed to make you happy, but which turn out to be big, ugly disappointments. Or maybe even nightmares.
• Most people who spend their lives chasing the world’s route to happiness, whether through money, fame, sex, stuff, power, or whatever, never end up being happy.  In fact, they carry around an emptiness inside that never goes away, that can never be filled as long as they continue living the way they’re living.
• Portraits of human greatness: They all found ways to serve the world.
  Let’s talk about sin. After all, sin is a big part of our lives. We all do it, every day. In fact, most of us probably do far more sinning than we do serving. Then we wonder why we’re so seldom happy.
• Yeah. Not happy.  Sin causes suffering.
• We suffer because of our sin.  Sometimes it’s easy to see. Sometimes it’s not so easy.  Example: You’re nursing a grudge. Have you ever realized how much suffering that grudge is causing you?
• The greatest thing about God is that He knows what it’s like to be human.  Not because He made us, but rather, because in Jesus Christ He’s gone through it with us.
• He knows what you’re like. He knows what it’s like to be human.  He knows what it’s like to be hungry, and thirsty, to be tired and smelly.  He knows what it’s like to have a broken heart.  He knows what it’s like to be suffer terror. He knows what it’s like to struggle against temptation—remember what Hebrews says, He was tempted in every way that we are. He knows what it’s like to have people not understand him.  He knows what it’s like to be abandoned or betrayed by his friends. He even knows what it’s like to feel like God has given up on him. He also knows what it’s like to be punished for something he didn’t do.
• The most powerful place on the planet where you can receive the mercy of God and the relief from sin—a relief that he suffered to give you-- is in the confessional. Make sure you use it. It’s part of the plan God put into place to get you into heaven.
• God loves you. Accept the gift.

From my daily readings I: participation and aliveness

This comes from a book of daily meditations called 356 Tao by Deng Ming-Dao:

Whatever comes to you, you must engage it somehow. You receive it, you may alter the circumstances and let it go, you may interject something of your own into it, or you may knowingly let it pass. Whatever you do, there is no need to be apathetic toward life. Instead, full participation in all things is the surest way to happiness, vitality and success . . .

When we're depressed we systematically shut down those things which bring us aliveness. It becomes a vicious cycle. This is a good quote to have handy when you're going through a low period.