From the great Archbishop Fulton Sheen, “humility is truth.  Humility is not the underestimation of our talents or gifts or powers nor is it their exaggeration…Humility is truth or recognition of gifts as gifts, faults as faults. Humility is dependence on God as pride is independence of  Him.” (p 44, from “The Seven Capital Sins”)
In case you missed it…humility is truth!  It is depending on God to see the newness and life that surrounds us.  The above quote came to mind as I read Chapter 19 of “Resisting Happiness” that talks about boredom and how we are called to seek life within life.
Matthew Kelly talks about how the chant of “I’m bored” becomes a selfish call to say “entertain me,”  “look at me,”  “I’m more important than everyone else.”  Or in the words of Archbishop Sheen…we want “independence of Him.”
How do we move from independence to dependence?  By being attentive to life.  All the steps outlined in the earlier chapters brings us to this point…what do we do?
I believe it can be summed up in three very simple words…”Get a life.”  But not in the sense of filling the days with busyness but rather begin to recognize how blessings surround us in abundance; recognizing our talents as gifts.
More often than not, when people tell us to get a life they want us to fill our days, to find something to do or to change something so that we will be happier in a worldly sense.  What I am thinking about is the idea of focussing on the areas that bring true happiness and then working towards the blessings surrounding us in life.
You may remember that a few year ago the Catholic Church made a minor change in the celebration of the Mass…we changed some words we pray.  It didn’t seem like a big deal on the outside but for many Catholics it was a huge deal as “liturgy wars” broke out and complaints rang out from the pews…but here was the blessing that I and many others received…we began once more to listen and pray the Mass.  Sometimes boredom is from taking for granted the blessings that surround us.  As I began to pray the new translation of the Mass I had to be more attentive to the prayers and what God was saying to me and to all of us as we celebrated the Sacrifice of the Mass.  The words that I had heard for the past 40 plus years of my life began to take on new blessings and filled my life anew.
The reality was and still is that the Mass didn’t change.  What we are doing and celebrating are exactly the same but we were invited to look again…to recognize the gifts as gifts and renew our acceptance of the blessings we receive.
Now think about this in each part of our lives.  When we choose to look with renewed eyes, ears and heart to our relationships, with God and others we find how full of life our life truly is.
Resisting happiness is discarding life in thinking we can replace the happiness of life with the happiness of new and busy.  It is vice that fills many peoples lives as the continually seek the newest, fastest and most exciting to distract them from the foundation of true happiness in God who shares us with the abundance of life.
Matthew Kelly’s “Action Step” at the end of the chapter puts forth this challenge, “If you are ever bored, look for a way to get outside yourself and serve others.” (p 100)
As we hear the words in the first quote of Archbishop Sheen echo in our hearts let us with humble love and mercy seek to serve and love our beloved in generosity and joy.
God Bless
Fr. Mark
ps…don’t forget that you can follow my reflections on “Resisting Happiness” at www.frmarkcarnzen.com