Do you find yourself constantly searching for that one thing? That one thing that will make you happy? For some of us it may be a job. Or a house. Maybe that next gadget. Or maybe just simply making more money will make us happier. Maybe it’s a new spouse, or that next activity we want to be involved in with our kids. And all too often in todays world, we and our families have too much going on, we’re involved in too many things because we have to be doing something, and involved in something, all the time.
Now I’m not saying that any one of these things are bad. We need a job. We need a house. It’s great to have a spouse that we love and adore. It’s great to use the technology that is available today, and it’s great for us and our families to be involved in groups, activities and sports, because those things can teach us an awful lot and allow us to help others. It’s great to enjoy life and we should strive to do what we enjoy and are passionate about, because if we do, then we can use that energy to better serve others.
But if we are looking at any one of those things to solely define our internal happiness, we will continue to get bored, we will continue to be disappointed, and we will continue to look for more in other places, and for that greener grass. And this can lead us to places we never intended to go. It’s all too easy to get consumed in the material and temporal desires of this world for a quick fix, an instant satisfaction. And it’s easy to turn these things, and yes, even our families and church ministries into those idols we worship – if we don’t keep a larger perspective. Happiness is not in all the things we have or do, it’s in one thing.
It’s about one God. It’s about being part of one body in our Catholic Faith and as Christians, our parish communities, and in the domestic church of our families. And it’s about loving one another in this world by treating others with respect, dignity, and integrity – as we would like to be treated. I think if we seek to do that in all we do, we can find that one, true happiness that we feel may be missing in our life and that everything we do and those we love and serve will have meaning and purpose. Happiness is not in having everything, it is in having one thing – and that one thing is in Christ. It took me the greater part of my 38 years, including some tough experiences the last 4 years or so before I really started to realize this.
So, why all the talk about one? Today was a little tricky to write a reflection for. In many parishes, the Ascension was celebrated on Thursday of last week. For others, including my own, we celebrate the Ascension today. So, there are two sets of readings for today – those celebrating the Ascension of the Lord and those for the Seventh Sunday of Easter. Rather than choosing one or the other, I decided to pick a theme that transcends all the readings and the word “one” really stuck out to me, because if you read all the readings, this is a common theme – becoming one with God and forming one body in Christ.
The readings talk about the Apostles adding one more to replace Judas so they could become whole again – 12 individuals forming one powerful body that launched Christianity across the world. They talk about Jesus once again proving to the Apostles he is the one Son of the one true God, this time in the most magnificent way by ascending into Heaven. They’re about Jesus becoming the one head of the Church, and how we’re all baptized once with the Holy Spirit and all come together to form the one body of the Church. And they discuss loving one another, and seeing God in each other and serving Him in all we do. It’s “one bread, one body”.
Thinking back, I thought material things and worldly desires made me happy. I felt that if I just had the perfect job, or that new deck on the house, or that new iPhone, or made just a little bit more money, that I would be happy. I always had this void, this empty spot in my heart. And no matter what I tried to fill it with, it just seemed to go away and left me desiring more. But it was always temporary. It was always unfulfilling. It lead to some pretty down times in my life. But through it all, I grew close to God. I leaned on God because that was my one, true solace.
And at some point, I’m not even sure when it was, I realized that that void in my heart was starting to be filled, and I wanted to do more at church, I started seeing God in others, I started looking at my job as service to Christ, and I was blessed with the opportunity to reach readers like you across the world, sharing experiences from my life and tying them to scripture, letting the Holy Spirit guide the way. And most recently, I was awakened to the oneness with Christ through my marriage to my wife. This is truly one world, one church, and one body in Christ. We are all intertwined and our actions affect those we may not even realize – for better and for worse. Through my trials and tribulations the last few years, searching for that one thing that would make me happy, I actually found it in the one thing I could lean on, but the last thing I expected to fill that void in my heart – God.
This one aspect is really what all the readings are about for today – that our true happiness lies with Christ. He is the one true Son of God that ascended to Heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father. That we together form one Church through Christ, and that although we are many individuals, we each have gifts and talents we can contribute to this world and each other, and form one body in Christ. That to be truly happy, we only need to look in one place – building a spiritual relationship with Jesus. That to get through the tough times, we only need to look in one place – Jesus. Once we do that, the other things will start to take care of themselves and through Him, we ourselves will ascend to heights we never thought possible.
