L1: SEARCH FOR TRUE HAPPINESS

Secularism

• Letting lay (laicite, laicism) or secular part of the world play its legitimate role, free of improper control or dominance from religious authorities.

• It denies belief in God or proposes a sociopolitical movement to make the roles of faith and religion largely irrelevant in the public arena.

The process of secularization tends to reduce faith and the Chruch to the sphere of the private and personal.

Happiness for a secularist negates the idea that God is its ultimate source and destiny.

Evangelii Gaudium

By completely rejecting the transcendent, it has produced a growing deterioration of ethics, a weakening of the sense of personal and collective sin, and a steady increase in relativism

Individualism

• Interwoven definition with relativism and subjectivism.

• It is “the tendency to magnify individual liberty, as against external authority, and individual activity, and against associated activity.”

• Views that any external authority should not define the meaning of happiness, so it is the I-Me-My-Mine who is in charge of my own happiness, and no one can ever dictate to me what will make me happy

Relativism

• From a point of view, it is the denial of the absolute because everything in reality changes.

• Holds that the meaning of happiness and its attainment depend on the subject or the person alone, hence, subjectivist.

Hedonism

• The doctrine that holds that the Good is whatever gives you pleasure, and therefore, pleasure becomes the standard of morality.

• For the hedonist, pleasure ranges from physical exhilaration to the material things which the world cunningly offers.

Materialism

Suggest that material possession, success, and progress are the highest values in life.

Consumerism

The belief that personal well-being and happiness depend, to a very large extent, on the level of consumption, particularly on the purchase of material goods.

The Christian Joy

• Comes from the Greek word “chara” which means a state of happiness.

• From the Greek word chara comes the word “charisma,” meaning grace or gift.

• In the context of our faith, joy or happiness is grace, a gift given by God.

Happiness is connected to the meaning of life. It is the Absolute Truth that everyone yearns for. Thus, according to St. John Paul II:

• “In the depths of his heart, there always remains a yearning for absolute truth and a thirst to attain full knowledge of it.”

• “Man tirelessly searches for knowledge in all fields. It is proved even more by his search for the meaning of life.”

Happiness: A Call towards the Fullness of Life

• Authentic happiness is not found here on earth but in God.

• Man “is called to fullness of life, which far exceeds the dimensions of his earthly existence, because it consists in sharing the very life of God.” (St. John Paul II)

For St. Thomas Aquinas, Happiness is:

• “Nothing else than to desire that one will be satisfied.”

• And yet, all do not all know happiness because not all know what will really make them happy.

• Informed by both natural reason and Christian revelation, acknowledges that we strive for twofold happiness. (Imperfect and Perfect Happiness)

Twofold Happiness

• Imperfect Happiness → Here on earth

• Perfect Happiness → Consisting of the beatific vision of God in heaven

The Decalogue teaches man’s true humanity (CCC 2070)

• They shed light on the essential duties, and so indirectly on the fundamental rights inherent in the nature of the human person.

• They lead us to act according to our true nature.

Old Testament

Emphasizes the external actions we need to follow.

New Testament

Emphasizes the internal dispositions we need to have.

The Beatitudes

• These are not simply statements of “if and then” or “cause and effect”. They suggest commitment to live out the different suggested attitudes to attain the graces promised by God.

• Gives us an idea that the true happiness that we should pursue cannot be totally attained in this world through temporal things, but eternally resides in heaven.

The Beatitudes of Jesus Christ (Matthew 5:3-10)

1. Blessed are the poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

2. Blessed are the hungry, for you shall be satisfied.

3. Blessed are you that weep, for you shall laugh.

4. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

5. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

6. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.

7. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

8. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.

Blessed are the poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

Refers to the need for detachment either from riches or honours, which results from humility.

Blessed are the hungry, for you shall be satisfied.

Gives to everyone what is due to them because one’s duty to one’s neighbor is a matter of justice, not as one who is pressed into service, but ardently and willingly.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Moderates man’s desire for pleasure by keeping it in proportion, which is the effect on us when we suffer trials, tribulations, and the death of loved ones.

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

Protects man’s irascible nature from falling into excessive anger and keeps it within the bounds of reason

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.

Goes beyond what is strictly due to others and shows them generosity, understanding, and forgiveness, without expecting anything in return.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

The effects of the active life, which lead to contemplation, and which perfect man himself who triumphs over the passions.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.

Man, in his relations with his neighbors, has peace as their effect, as we read in Isaiah 32:17: “The work of justice shall be peace.”