Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - If our happiness depended only on creatures of created things, it would inevitably fall into momentary, short lived relativity; every joy linked only with today, passes, as it is lived, carried away by time, and only a vague memory remains … of what is past! Man often lives of memories, pleasant but broken by time, and of hope for a better future which is never as desired and often, instead, becomes a present filled with nostalgic sadness, because that immense good, call happiness is never reached!
When the Lord Jesus speaks in his Gospel of His joy, His love, His peace, he reveals the secret of happiness which consists in the possession of eternal things, which last through time, since they come from Him. We should write these timeless gifts with capital initials to distinguish them from earthly goods, which perish and pass. Joy, Love and Peace are unchangeable goods since they come from the Lord of Life, who is Alpha and Omega, or the Beginning and Fulfilment, of the existence of every creature and of all creation. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever ” (Heb 13, 8) and He alone, the Son of God who came down from Heaven, can give man eternal things, as he revealed to his apostles before returning to the Father's House: “I leave you peace, my peace I give you. a peace which the world cannot give, this is my gift to you” (Jn 14, 27), “I have told you this so that my own joy may be in you and your joy be complete” (Jn 15, 11).
Human creatures, precisely because they are created in the image and likeness of God who is eternal, thirst for lasting things: joys and loves which never end, infinite spaces and unlimited moments… the worst thing which can happen is for man to seek these things on earth, among the loves of this world, which, however beautiful and great they may be, are a drop in the ocean compared with the boundless ocean of the Love of God, who allows the angels and the blessed to live in His Paradise of glory and happiness.
Unless we convert our hearts to the Lord who renders the Saints happy, we will never free ourselves of our exterior man in favour of our interior man; our interior 'sight' will never develop, it will remain blinded by appearances, our interior “hearing” stunned by the noise of the world will be deaf to the things of God and we will go begging from door to door, from event to event, from creature to creature … crumbs of happiness, here and there, worldly artefacts, which can never satisfy our heart: “you made us for yourself O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you” (S. Augustine).
God left the imprint of his life, his infinite and everlasting love, in the insatiable thirst of our heart; but to recognise God we must encounter Jesus, who shows us the real Face of the Father, who is the Truth of our deepest longings for endless Life and Joy. We cannot love death since we were created for eternal life. We cannot love sadness because we were created for eternal joy. We cannot love the void, because we are created for being! Only Christ's grace can restore in man the original order willed by God, the hierarchy of values and gifts, shattered by sin.
Sin is the real enemy of man's happiness. It is like a “lava” exhaled from the heart of man which, after ceding to passions, becomes a “volcano” in eruption; a “lava” which carries death wherever it flows: “For it is from within, from the heart, that evil intentions emerge: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, malice, deceit, indecency, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things come from within and make a person unclean.' ” (Mk 7, 21-23). Only the Lord Jesus has to power to stop this “lava”, to destroy sin which orients man towards earth and distracts him from Heaven. This is why children in the purity of their childhood and without the malice of sin, are fascinated by the beauty of Jesus when he is announced to them; children never become enemies of God choosing what is unclean, because their heart is free of passions and desire what is good.
How many people unfortunately, continue to say that sin does not exist, it does no harm, it is an inevitable thing in life… This manner of thinking allows the “lava” to continue to flow down into the valley, rendering human life ever heavier. If in the heart of the Christian the desire for sacramental confession grows weak, he is blinded by the ashes of sin and the eyes of his soul cannot see. He no longer notices the different between the “whiteness" of a life lived in the grace of God and the “blackness” if a life of unconfessed sin; he sees a general greyness which seems harmless but which instead is lethal!
In the midst of this lunar scenario of a life which is grey or black, the Lord never gives up and now and then, to the extent to which human freedom allows, he lets us hear that eternal truth, meekly calling: “ look not outside yourself, search within your heart; truth lives in your interior man and seeing that your nature is changeable, transcend yourself…strive to reach the very point from which the light of reason receives its light ” (S. Augustine). (Agenzia Fides 14/11/2007; righe 58, parole 931)
