As humans, we all desire happiness at some level. We do not want to remain in anxiety or depression and long to find something that will bring us joy on this earth.
The modern-day world presents many possibilities to us, claiming that if we do this or that one thing, we will be happy. Nearly every business claims that its product, whatever it might be, will fill a hole in our hearts.
Yet, typically, despite what we try, we still feel empty inside. Our heart yearns for something more.
True happiness
St. Robert Bellarmine wrote about this topic in a treatise On the Ascent of the Mind to God that is featured in the Church's Office of Readings.
He explains how the goal of our lives should consist of being united with God for all eternity and how that is where true happiness can be found:
If you are wise, then, know that you have been created for the glory of God and your own eternal salvation. This is your goal; this is the center of your life; this is the treasure of your heart. If you reach this goal, you will find happiness. If you fail to reach it, you will find misery.
Bellarmine doesn't end there. He goes on to provide some concrete advice on how to reach this goal of happiness:
May you consider truly good whatever leads to your goal and truly evil whatever makes you fall away from it. Prosperity and adversity, wealth and poverty, health and sickness, honors and humiliations, life and death, in the mind of the wise man, are not to be sought for their own sake, nor avoided for their own sake. But if they contribute to the glory of God and your eternal happiness, then they are good and should be sought. If they detract from this, they are evil and must be avoided.
It is a simple litmus test for our lives. We need to carefully examine everything we do and discern if it leads me to God, or if it leads me away from God.
Its important to think critically about every aspect of our lives and to examine it in this light. For example, we might ask ourselves, "Does my use of social media lead me closer to God, or away from him?"
We could also ask, "Do my friends lift me up in positive conversations, or do they tear me down in offensive talk that gossips about what everyone else is doing wrong?"
Even the movies, TV shows or books that we consume should be looked at in a critical lens.
Bellarmine urges us to do whatever is necessary in our lives to stay on the track towards God, making good choices that contribute to true happiness that will endure.
