Finding Happiness

Have you even wanted to know the secret to finding happiness?

It really is very simple. I will share a few thoughts with you and then see what you think.

Lets first take a moment to honestly look at our lives. Most of us are very ordinary creatures with humdrum lives, have work to be done, and every day filled with a multiplicity of trivial decisions and tasks. Our lives are made up of a stream of petty affairs, some pleasant, many boring, and a lot unpleasant and often tragic. There is also a great deal of pleasure, even delight, in life. But there is also much that is irritating and tedious.

However, could we approach life with the concept that everything in life is to be welcomed as the expression of the will of God, and accept what we often cannot avoid, and endure with love and resignation things which could cause us weariness and disgust?

Is it possible to understand that God speaks to every individual through what happens to them moment to moment, and the events of each moment are stamped with the will of God? CAn we see that all that is really necessary is contained in the present moment?

OK, what am I getting at.

We must live in the present moment. The past is the past, the future is yet to be. There is nothing we can do about either, but we can deal with what is happening moment by moment. We must realize that there is nothing at all which happens unless willed by God, and our all-important duty is to cooperate with that will. Every act, every thought of every second, is significant.

Life is really very simple. The necessity of loving God and surrendering ourselves to him completely is all we need in life. God will take care of the rest. If we love God we cannot go wrong. We need do no extraordinary works, show no unique devotion, behave in no uncommon manner, all we must do is our Christian duty continually.

Think of it as the "Sacrament of the present moment." Living in the present moment.

God reveals himself to the humble in the lowliest of disguises, but the proud, who never look below the surface, fail to find him even in the greatest manifestations.

So many of us would like to become holy, but get caught up in the method, the path, the course of becoming such. This trouble is merely because we have the wrong idea about it. In reality, holiness consists of one thing only; complete loyalty to God's will.

This can be accomplished by everyone, everyone can practice this loyalty, whether actively or passively.

To be actively loyal means obeying the laws of the God and the Church and fulfilling all the duties imposed on us by our way of life.

Passive loyalty means that we lovingly accept all that God sends us at each moment of the day.

Not too difficult, in fact, rather simple!

Holy scripture makes it very plain: "Fear God, and keep his commandments, since this is the whole duty of man" (Eccles. 12"13). That is all we have to do. This is active loyalty. If we do our part, God will do the rest. Grace will pour into us and will perform marvels far beyond our understanding, for "no eye has seen and no ear has heard things beyond the mind of man, all that God has prepared for those who love him" (I Cor. 2:9).

To be passively loyal is even easier, since it implies only that we accept what we often we cannot avoid, and endure with love and resignation things which could cause us weariness and disgust.

If we do not concentrate entirely on doing the will of God we shall find neither happiness nor holiness, no matter what pious practices we adopt, however excellent they may be. If you are not satisfied with what God chooses for you, what else can please you? Does the food prepared for you by God himself disgust you? Well, can you say what other food would not seem stale to someone with so perverted a taste?

We must realize that we cannot be really fed, strengthened, purified, enriched and made holy unless we fulfill the duties of the present moment. What else do you want? Why look elsewhere? Are you wiser than God? Why do you seek anything different from what he desires?

God is preparing you right at this moment with the events and situations of your life, no matter how big, nor how small, for His purpose. If we chose to lovingly embrace our lives at this moment, not focusing on the past, nor searching for the future, but with a focus on our actions right now, that is what can make us Happy, Holy, and pleasing to God.