The Gospel of Matthew, chapter 4:10

Have you ever felt weary, unwanted, unfulfilled and unhappy? You don’t have to be unusual to feel this way once in a while. Most of us have felt that way at some time. We wonder if life is indeed worth living. When we feel that way, we have just a glimpse of what it means to be lost. We feel inside us the need for someone or something to reach down and lift us out of our inner chaos. What we want is to be saved from our own emptiness and the world’s apparent weariness. What we want is God: “We were made for you oh! God”, says St. Augustine, “and our hearts are restless ‘til they rest in you.”

Everyone wants to be happy. In a more theological way of speaking, we want to be saved; saved from ourselves, and from the machinations of the world. Jesus told us that the person who loses his life will save it. This happens in two ways:

The first is somewhat obvious and takes place when we try to attain happiness through possessions, power, privilege, or pleasure. These material obsessions will only turn to naught and will leave us even more unhappy than we were before we had them.

The second way is by trying to become perfect all by ourselves. We may study the gospels; we may be the product of a strict religious upbringing; we may imagine that we have it all together and can control every appetite and every inclination of our unruly selves. This, too, is an illusion. No matter how much we try, we must always rely on God and not on ourselves. God is the source of our existence, and without him, we can do nothing.

Only God can save us and fulfill our desire for happiness. Many people think that success is the key to happiness. But, they have it all wrong; they have it backwards. Happiness is the key to success. If you are happy doing what you love; no matter how small or great it may be, you will always be successful.

When we touch base with the source of our being, we have a new feeling about ourselves and the world around us. This feeling is one of excitement, exuberance and the joy of living. Christianity is a happy religion; happy not because we may do whatever we please but because it pleases us to do whatever is best for us.

To see and experience God in all of creation; to know that we can do nothing without his help; is to be part of the grand scheme of things, to be united with the source of our being.

Fr. Hugh Duffy