Prospect of Happiness?
Letter 2001
If we could realize that a life of happiness is possible, even
in hours of darkness…
What makes life happy is to head towards simplicity:
simplicity of our heart, and of our life.
For a life to be beautiful, extraordinary abilities or
great expertise are not required.
There is happiness in the
humble giving of oneself.
When simplicity is closely linked
to kind-heartedness, then even people without resources
can create a
space of hope around themselves.
Yes, God wants happiness for us!
But he never invites us
to remain passive,
or indifferent to the suffering of
others.
On the contrary, God encourages us to be
creators,
and to manage to create even in times of trial.
Our life is not subject to the whims of fate
or to a
blind destiny.
Far from it! Our life finds meaning when
it is above all the living response to a call from God.
But how can we recognize such a call
and discover
what God wants from us?
God wants us to be a reflection of his presence,
bearers
of a Gospel hope.
All who respond to this call
remain aware of their own
frailties,
and so keep these words of Christ in their heart:
"Do not be afraid; just believe !"
There are people who perceive,
however faintly at first,
that God's call for them is a vocation for their entire
lifetime.
The Holy Spirit has the strength
to sustain a yes
for our whole life.
Has he not placed in us a desire for
eternity and the infinite?
In the Spirit, at every age, it is possible to find new
vitality
and to say to ourselves, "Be steadfast of heart,
and keep going forward!"
And then, by his mysterious presence,
the Holy Spirit
brings about a change in our hearts,
rapidly for some,
imperceptibly for others.
What had been obscure or even
disturbing starts to become clear.
Until the end of our days,
a yes spoken in trust can
bring so much clarity.
Although we are called to make the gift of ourselves,
we are not really built for such a gift.
Christ understands
our inner resistances. By overcoming them, we demonstrate
our love to him.
Attentive to God's call,
we understand that the Gospel
invites us
to take on responsibilities to alleviate human
suffering.
The faces of the innocent,
of a great many poor
people across the earth,
question us:
how can we share a
hope
with those who are so deprived of it?
And Christ's words
in the Gospel offer a crystal-clear
reply:
"Whatever you do for the lowliest, you are doing
for me."
All God can do is give his love,
and suffering never
comes from God.
God is not the author of evil;
he
wants neither human distress,
nor wars, nor natural
disasters, nor violent accidents.
God shares the pain of
all who are undergoing
times of trial and enables us to
comfort those who are suffering.
God wants happiness for us:
but where is the source of
such a hope?
It lies in a communion with God,
alive at
the center of each person's soul.
Can we understand what we will be given?
The day
will come when the mystery of this communion with
God takes hold of us.
It touches what is unique and
most
intimate in the depths of our being.
God is Spirit
and his presence remains invisible.
He
lives within us always,
in times of darkness as well as
when everything is bathed in light.
Could there be chasms of the unknown in us,
and
also an abyss of guilt
that comes from who knows
where?
God never threatens anyone,
and the forgiveness
with which
he inundates our lives
brings healing to
our soul.
How could a God
of love impose himself by threats?
Could God be a tyrant?
If doubts assail us,
they are sometimes only interludes
of unbelief, nothing more.
Keeping watch over our
thoughts can help us
stand firm amidst the distractions
that pull us in all directions.
Could the impression arise
that God is far from me,
as if
for a fleeting moment
the inward eye could no longer
see?
We should remember that
God never withdraws his
presence.
The Holy Spirit never leaves our soul:
even at death
communion with God remains.
Knowing that God
welcomes us forever
into his love
becomes a source of
peaceful trust.
Our prayer is a simple reality.
Is it perhaps no more
than a poor sigh?
God hears us all the same.
We should
never forget that,
at the heart of every person,
the Holy
Spirit is praying.
And remaining in silence
in the presence of God is in
itself an inner attitude
which opens the way to contemplation.
As we enter the third millennium, are we sufficiently
aware that,
two thousand years ago,
Christ came to earth
not to start a new religion
but to offer
every human being
a communion in God?
The second millennium was an age
when many
Christians
became separated from one another.
Will we
commit ourselves at once,
yes, without delay,
from the
beginning of the third millennium,
to do all that is necessary
to live in communion
and to build peace in the
world?
When Christians remain in great simplicity
and in an
infinite kindness of heart,
when they seek to discover
the
profound beauty of the human soul,
they are led to be in
communion
with one another in Christ
and to become
seekers of peace everywhere on earth.
Are we aware that
“every baptized person who
disposes themselves inwardly
to place their trust in the
Mystery of the Faith
is in the communion of Christ” ?
To be in communion
with one another
means loving
and being loved,
forgiving and being forgiven.
When that communion
which is the Church
becomes transparent
by striving to love
and to forgive,
it
enables Gospel realities
to shine through with the freshness
of springtime.
Will we enter soon into a spring-time
of the Church?
Christ calls us, the poor of the Gospel,
to live out the
hope of a communion and of peace
and to let it shine out
around us.
This is something even the very simplest can
achieve.
A prospect of happiness?
Yes, God wants happiness
for us!
And there is happiness in the humble gift of
oneself.
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© 'Con Nosotros' 2001
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