How are we to
be happy in this life? There are certain expectations that are taught
to us from an early age that in order to be happy we need to work
hard, educate ourselves, acquire a certain amount of money, and
purchase material goods. We are constantly bombarded with
advertisements and images that reinforce this point of view. Society
tells us that it can make all of us happy if only we surrender to our
passions, needs, and wants. These all revolve around someone or
something stimulating our senses and providing some sort of
entertainment. If we take a moment and reflect on how many
advertisements we encounter on a daily basis we can easily come to
the conclusion that from the moment that we wake up to the moment we
fall asleep, someone is trying to sell us something so that we can be
happy. Are we really that miserable that we have to constantly strive
to enjoy ourselves to that extent? Do we really have to structure our
lives around seeking physical and mental pleasure?
When we focus
on materialism and pleasure we risk the danger of becoming lost in
this world. The focus becomes less on God and more on society. God is
removed from his creation; selfish gain and the pursuit of passions
are put in his place. With this comes intense anxiety as the goals of
self-gain and prosperity are sought after while our spirituality is
ignored. We convince ourselves that to be happy we must fulfill the
expectations of a society that only wants us to produce and consume
at an alarming rate. Everything becomes a business where one person
gains while another person loses. The individual person and his or
her value is lost.
Everything in
this world has the danger of becoming an addiction. We form patterns
of behavior around the simplest of things from the kind of liquids
we drink to where we prefer to buy clothes. Things are purchased for
pleasure and not out of necessity. We convince ourselves that the
more that we consume the happier that we will be. The measure of a
good person is based upon how much earning potential he or she has
and the items that are owned. Meanwhile, other people suffer because
of this sort of behavior. There are those who are considered the
winners and there are those who lose. The ones who lose are the ones
who do not have the capability to produce or consume enough in the
world to be noticed. A person's self-worth is calculated on how much
money they have.
Is this what
God intended? Since our creation we have struggled to emulate God by
convincing ourselves that we can transform his creation into our own.
To an extent this is acceptable since our free will was indeed a gift
from God and through the exercising of it we have made great use of
everything that makes us unique to advance civilization and lift up
the human condition. We as persons have done great and glorious
things. Yet, we have also failed miserably when we forget about God.
People are suffering and dying every day. Through our own actions and
inaction we have brought about much pain and torment into this world.
The suffering of the individual is forgotten if it does not provide
some sort of value for the whole.
The only thing
eternal in this world is God. We were created by him out of love and
we are called to love him. When we do love him and live our lives
loving him then the proper way to conduct ourselves in this world
comes into focus. Each individual becomes a unique and important part
of our existence. No one person is more important than another. No
one becomes forgotten. Jesus tells us that we cannot serve both God
and Mammon. In other worlds, we cannot keep focusing on earthly
desires while professing that we love God. Material wealth should
never matter in comparison to the person. Material gain and pleasure
cannot compare with the pleasure of loving God. Our relationship with
God is eternal. Everything else in this world will expire.
To fully enjoy
this love we must live it together as one family with God central in
all of our actions and emotions. The more that we strengthen our
relationship with him the more we can appreciate how precious our
life and the lives of all those around us are. We can then pursue the
thing that has evaded us the most in this life: true happiness and
joy.
Deacon Tom
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