But Will I be Happy?
- Fr Raphael Ma, CR
- Luke 6: 17, 20 - 26
A Resurrectionist Vocation Minute for February 16, 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time
But will I be happy?
One of the great hesitations most young people have about discerning a vocation to religious life is the question: “but will I be happy?”
My one dream growing up – as the only child of reasonably happily married parents – was to have a family of my own. That was my one goal in life. That was where I believed I would find happiness.
Where did you think you would find happiness when you were growing up? Where do you think you will find happiness now?
When I began thinking about whether God might be calling me to the priesthood (my vocation to religious life came later), the question of celibacy meant that if I became a priest, I would not have a family of my own. So, if God was calling me to be a priest, was God calling me to sacrifice happiness?
For those of you who are married, you know that marriage and family life, while sometimes – and hopefully often – is a great source of your happiness, it cannot itself be happiness. Neither can being rich, full, laughing, or all speaking well of you be happiness, – as Jesus says in today’s Gospel, where we heard Luke’s version of the Beatitudes.
The word “Beatitude” means “blessed”, or as some translations put it – “happy.” In his surprising pronouncing as blessed or happy, situations we generally associate with sadness, and woeful or unfortunate the situations that we generally equate with happiness, Jesus is clearly saying that happiness and sadness are not identical with these things, but something still more than any of these.
Although I did not understand it at first, one saying gave me hope during that early period of my discernment: “God wants what’s best for us, and so God will only call you to where God knows you will be happiest.” God calls all of us to beatitude, to blessedness, to happiness – that’s not tied to any one particular thing or things we think will make us happy, because happiness, blessedness, and beatitude can be found even in the most unexpected places.
“Salvation history is a continual manifestation of God's love for us. It was out of love that he created us. It is also out of love that he has redeemed us and made us his sons. In our own day God continues to manifest this love for us in the person of the Risen Christ, who is still present among us and sanctifying us through his Church, especially in its liturgical celebrations. A very special manifestation of God's love was made to our founders and to all who have followed them in the Congregation of the Resurrection because we have received Christ's invitation to leave all and follow him”