Secret of Happiness
What would make you happy? Some might say that getting married, or having a baby or grandchild would make them happy. Others might say that a new job or promotion would make them happy, or a new house. Quite a few would probably say that earning more money would make them happy. Will these, however, make you permanently happy? We know it won’t, because once the honeymoon is over and those romantic feelings begin to fade, you’ll probably not be as happy as you were the day you got married. When your baby becomes an adolescent and tries to assert his or her independence, then you probably won’t be as happy. As your grandchild grows up and you have less and less time to spend with him or her, then you probably won’t be as happy as you were. After that new job becomes routine and maybe a little dull, then you won’t be as happy as you were. When that promotion becomes a burden and your bosses put you under a great deal of pressure, then you won’t be as happy as you were. And when the economy goes south and its difficult to pay the mortgage and, perhaps the bank threatens to foreclose, then you won’t be as happy. And finally, when more money doesn’t translate into more security, or perhaps not even more buying power because of inflation, then you won’t be as happy as you were.
So if all these things won’t make us permanently happy, should we try to be happy at all? Of course we should! The trick is learning where to find true and lasting happiness. Because we’re Christians we know that true happiness is found in God alone. Yet, let’s face it, even though we know that only God can make us truly happy, we still try to find happiness everywhere else but in God. We often leave Him out of the picture of our lives, or make him a “fall back” position in case other things don’t pan out for us. So, over and over again, we frustrate our own happiness because we don’t look for happiness in God alone.
Here we are at the first Sunday of Advent—again! My, how time flies! What’s Advent about anyway? Well, it’s not about preparing for the secular festivities we call Christmas, that’s for sure. Advent is really an opportunity for us to turn back to God—to the God who loves us, created us, and who calls us to perfect happiness, with Him! The only thing we need do, and it’s the hardest thing we need do, is learn to love God first, above all else, and to learn to be happy with God alone.
So, Advent is our opportunity for that, but what kind of opportunity are we talking about? First, it’s our opportunity to admit to ourselves that God is worth loving above all else. It’s true! It’s just that simple, and all God wants for us is that we learn to love Him in return. Yet, again, let’s face it, although loving God is a very easy thing to do, we spend very little time doing it. So that’s why our prayer can be, at times, only perfunctory, and why our experience of Mass is less than joyful and exciting. It’s all because we haven’t learned how easy it is to love God first and above all else.
During Advent we come face-to-face with the hard fact that we are the reason why God’s desires for us sometimes go unrealized—that we are the reason why we are so often unhappy, or not as happy as we should be, because we haven’t yet learned how to love God first and above all else.
One of the themes that we hear every Advent is the theme of “repentance.” Here’s something we should also keep in mind—repentance is easy and we all have a need of it. Let’s face the stone cold truth of things—there is a little evil as well as good in us. We need, therefore, to have the opportunity to unburden ourselves and know that God forgives us. Even if we don’t admit it, and even if we deny it, it’s still true. We have a need of repentance.
Did you know that repentance is a very positive experience? It’s true. Repentance opens us up to experience God’s love for us again. Sin has a way of shutting us down and closing us off from the Lord. The longer we go without admitting our faults, without repenting, the more difficult it is for us to turn toward the Lord and ask for forgiveness. Sin has a dulling effect in our lives. It also has a blinding effect on us, because the longer we go without repenting, the less sin we see in our lives.
Yet, there’s another reason why repentance is a very positive experience. It’s because when we turn back to God to confess our sins, we’re also turning away from things that try to keep us from the Lord. Let’s be honest—there’s a lot in our lives that gets in the way of our moving toward God. Sometimes we’re too busy and our schedules are the problem. Sometimes we’re too self-indulgent and that’s what causes our turning away, and sometimes it’s other people who may be getting in the way. Sometimes the company we keep, keeps us from God.
That’s why it’s important to embrace repentance again during Advent, because no matter how close we feel we are to God, we can still be a great deal closer.
So, do you want to be happy? Well then, brothers and sisters, I encourage you to try to understand that you’re only going to be truly happy to the degree that you can be truly happy with God.
Why is loving God so easy? It’s simple human nature. It’s easy to love someone who loves us, and God loves us more than anyone we know ever did or ever could! Isn’t that wonderful? He loves us even when we don’t return His love. He loves us even when we turn our backs on Him. He loves us even if we deny His existence. He loves us no matter what, unconditionally. Of course, that doesn’t mean that we can do as we want, because God calls us to try to love Him in return.
So, that’s why we should all try to be happy, and we should try to be happy by learning to be happy with God. It’s easy! It’s a no brainer. Yet, the secret of it all—the secret of loving God is this—we have to want it almost as much as God wants it for us.