{"id":4612,"date":"2016-07-31T11:03:49","date_gmt":"2016-07-31T16:03:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scarboromissions.ca\/?p=4612"},"modified":"2016-07-31T11:33:27","modified_gmt":"2016-07-31T16:33:27","slug":"the-pursuit-of-happiness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scarboromissions.ca\/spiritual-reflections\/the-pursuit-of-happiness","title":{"rendered":"The pursuit of happiness"},"content":{"rendered":"
A reflection by Fr. Ivan Campana, for the Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time. First reading: Ecclesiastes 1.2; 2.21-23, Second reading: Colossians 3.1-5; 9-11. Gospel: Luke 12.13-21. In a modern society defined by activity, productivity, and business, most people are tempted to measure their happiness by how rich they are, by how much salary they receive, or by how connected they are with technology and fashion. This modern mentality encourages people to build up a lifestyle that is more materialistic than spiritual\u2014a style of life that makes people consumers, even of things that they do not need.<\/p>\n Based on a US Commerce Department report, Americans spend $1.2 trillion on goods and services they don’t need. In Cambodia where I live, even though people get just $120 dollars per month to support their families, they, too, like to buy material things.<\/p>\n So why do we do that? Based on a psychological definition of modern-day people, it says that \u201cwe are nesting, possessive creatures.\u201d You need only to look around your home and see how many things you have bought that either you don’t need or have rarely used. We can say that our private spaces can tell us something about who we are.<\/p>\n What would happen if there was a hurricane coming or a fire raging close to your house? What would you take? Depending on our personalities, we would take the things that are meaningful to us such as family photos and personal identification, and a few believers might take a religious item. We may also take money. After a disaster, people make the harsh realization that everything they have accumulated is gone.<\/p>\n The first reading reminds us that people cannot place their trust in any material thing in this world in the hope that it will make them completely happy. Some material things may be necessary for our survival, but we cannot allow them to control and manipulate our lives. It is only God who can give us real happiness. We work to support our families, buy a nice house to live comfortably, buy a car to get around easily, but we may come to realize that these things cannot give us true happiness, the happiness that comes only from our relationship with God.<\/p>\n
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In a modern society defined by activity, productivity, and business, most people are tempted to measure their happiness by how rich they are.<\/h5>\n<\/blockquote>\n