It is no secret that, anthropologically speaking, every human being longs for happiness. It is, after all, how we’re wired. People want to feel good, and will do whatever they can in order experience exciting, uplifting, or satisfying feelings. In fact, one can even argue that every single decision a person makes in his or her life is made because, in some way, he or she thinks it will increase their happiness. Yes, this even includes decisions made in seemingly negative situations, like one’s choice to get up for work or school in the morning. Although at 6 am, waking up doesn’t seem like a delightful decision to make (for sure!), nevertheless, the person waking up does so because he or she would like to keep their job or education, which they believe will help them to be happy. The fact that all people are constantly striving to be happy simply is an undeniable reality of the human experience.
What, then, results from this universal drive for happiness? In the 21st century, the result is a world that offers thousands of different opportunities, of all kinds, to attempt to find this happiness. Whether these opportunities involve necessary aspects of life, like choosing a career, or sinful distractions, like gambling, excessive drinking, etc, there are endless possible choices one can make to attempt to become happier. People change jobs, move to new locations, build or end friendships, find new ways to spend leisure time, search for new religions, and find new hobbies all for this reason.
It is true that many of the things mentioned are not moral evils, and are even good things (like finding a good job). And yet, how many people do we know personally who are, through and through, completely fulfilled and happy, all the time? If we’re being honest, hardly anybody. Even if you can name one or two people who seem ecstatically happy all the time, they may be still struggling with something known only to themselves. Why is this the case? The answer, it would seem, is because no human being (by their own thinking) has ever found a true and complete secret to happiness.
This is not a reason to be concerned, though, because there is one who does know the key to become truly fulfilled and truly happy: Jesus Christ. What, then, does He say on the subject? Well, quite a bit. One only needs glance at one of the Gospels to see. One maxim, however, might be especially helpful:
“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides.”
Jesus, as God and as someone who shares our human nature, knows that above all, the human heart needs one thing to be truly satisfied, happy, and at peace. This one thing is divine love, which comes from God. The one similarity between all worldly ways of finding happiness (even if they are not sinful) is the fact that they are all fleeting–that is, they will all eventually stop providing us with nice feelings, or they will eventually go away. God, however, will never fade, will never change, and will never stop loving us. Thus, in order to be happy, what is needed on both an individual and societal level is a major shift in priorities. If we try to shift our happiness and trust away from fleeting things and onto to God, we will begin to find a deeper, permanent happiness that the world cannot give.
So how do we make this shift? Through our sheer faith in His love, through heartfelt prayer, through the Sacraments, through spiritual direction and holy friendships, reading the Bible, invoking the communion of saints, and through many other God-given channels available to us via the Church, we are given a never-ending supply of grace, love, and hope by which we can find joy in God. Furthermore, once this shift is well underway, we will begin to notice a certain freedom as a result of our newfound source of joy. When we are no longer attached to the temporary things of the world, we find that we are less bothered by things that used to frustrate us, in a better general mood each day, and more available and eager to be an encouragement and witness of Christ to others. Less and less will we find ourselves self-absorbed and worrying about what we want or need, while more and more we will find ourselves simply content with God’s will in our lives and in the lives of others. Our mission and joy becomes to allow God to use us to dispense the gift of His divine love to others. All we need to do, then, is to trust Jesus by letting Him shift our priorities away from what does not truly satisfy, and onto Himself. Once our hearts belong fully to Him, He will provide all the material necessities we need to fulfill His mission for us, and help us to be truly happy, no matter what sate of life we are in.
“People are made for happiness. Rightly, then, you thirst for happiness. Christ has the answer to this desire of yours. But he asks you to trust him.”
-St. John Paul II
Daniel Palmieri
Latest posts by Daniel Palmieri (see all)
- A Shift in Priorities - October 27, 2015
- A Broken and Contrite Heart, O God, You Will Not Despise - June 11, 2015
- You Give Freedom To My Heart - January 26, 2015
