The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1902-06-21


may succeed in the new and practical
life in which you are about to enter.
| wish you all success, but first it is
we'll for us to understand what sue
cess is. There is only one real sue
cess in life. and that is to attain the
end, to accomplish the purpose of our
being. II success means happiness
surely it cannot be said that we are
successful, so long as we are not hap
py. Every action and achievement that
does not tend to or result in happt-
ness, is simply vain. A man by his
very nature desires and seeks happt-
ness, and so much so that all his
thoughts and energies, from the cradle
to the grave, are directed in one way
or another to the attainment of this
purpose For this he lives and moves
and has his being. To this end he
strives, even for success, because he
believes that therein he finds happi-
ness. Now, mans happiness consists
in the possession and enjoyment of
good; but how much good does he
want? How much of it is necessary to
satisfy the thirst of his soul, and to
bring it rest and peace and happiness?
Why, he wants it all; he wants all
there is. Give to a man 80 per cent of
all good, and he wants that other 1
per cent. and is not happy until he
has it. This is simply mans nature,
and his cravings in this respect are
simply boundless. We need no proof
of this fact 1t is known to us all. 1t
is announced to each one of us every
moment by the aspirations of the soul
confirmed by individual experience and
by that of all men. We know from the
nature and history of man that no
mere earthly or finite good can sat
isfy him. He, like Solomon, Alexan-
der and others, may possess and en-
joy as best he may. all the goods that
this earth can give him. and yet there
is a longing and an emptiness in his
soul. There still remains a conscious
ness that he has not all good, and
that consciousness renders him miser-
able. He has still the fear within him
of losing a part or all of what he has,
a fear of losing his wife. his children.
his friends; a fear of pain. of sickness,
of accident, of death, and worst of all,
he has the fear OF tina justice of
God Tor at least possible Cod. These
fears and this consciousness. and that
he does not possess ALL and that there
is still a void in his soul, these and
other annoyanceS incidental to mans
life on earth. together with the crush
ing thought that very soon he shall be
torn away from all he possesses-these,
L state, must fill him with alarm, and
render him wretched and unhappy in
the midst of all his earthly goods and
possessions.
The nature of man is such that he
will desire and crave so long as there
is anything to be desired or craved, and
therefore nothing but the supreme
good, the infinite. eternal good, a good
excluding all fear of loss or change,
or of end. can satisfy his otherwise
Unsuitable desire and bring to his soul
that peace, rest and happiness for
which it naturally hungers and thirsts
Nothing but God, nothing short of the
infinite good can fill the capacity of
human soul. and there bring happi-
ness and render it's life on earth sue
cessful.
The great st. Augustine understood
this truth clearly. when. after his con-
version, and after a long and intimate
acquaintance with all the goods and
pleasures of this earth he exclaimed:
The soul of man is ever restless I'M
til it rests in God, the center of all"
Pagan philosophy realized and admit
ted it. It's ables,t expOunder. in the
beginning of his ethics, says, THE hap
piness OF man. which is the end of
moral sciences, consists in supreme,
perfect and Incompatible good" which
is God.
Now, my dear young friends. if you
achieve success. and which 1 hope you
will. for nobody wishes you success
more sincerely than l do; if, 1 say,
You want to succeed, then you must
in some manner or other possess God.
But, you say, how am 1 to possess
God? Why. very easily. The great
Master has said: Whoever keeps my
commandments, my Father will come
to him and abide with him. 1t is
within the power of us all to possess
Cod and we are never successful I'M
less we possess him. Divorced from
him, or apart from him, we are not
successful. All 1 want from you. my
dear young ladies. is honesty. Be hon
est in your life. be honest with the
gifts of nature and of grace that you
have received. honestly keep the COM
mandments that the Great Master has
laid down. Use all the powers that
you possess to find out those laws, and
when you have found them out. hon
estly observe them. Then you will
possess God. whoever keeps my com
mandments." In other words whoever
leads q cody life, a life true to con-
science, and to the light that he may
have. possesses God. You have con-
y
est with those lights. Take care you
don't shut your eyes against any lights
you may have. You must follow ev-
cry little ray of light, and you must
follow it whithersoever it leads you.
regardless of the. consequences. Other
wise. it might be said one day in your
condemnation: You had eyes and you
saw not" You have a conscience. as all
human beings have. Then be honest
with that conscience. That conscience
is your very self, it is your very soul
pointing out to you the path to sue
cess, and also the path to faith. The
voice of that conscience is the voice
of your God. Try to establish within
your soul his kingdom, kingdom of
peace and of happiness and of success
1t is true that this kind of a life. the
life near to God. lived in his presence,
under his eyes and according to his
will. may not make you friends, may
not bring you wealth, may not bring
you worldly influence. may debar you
from many of the pleasures of life.
Better YOU weeping alone with these
principles than tooe a queen on a
throne. You are a success as long as
God is with you.
It is mentioned in the New Testa-
ment where Peter and his friends
were, out all night iii 2 BOAT on the
lake, trying to catch fish. They came
to shore in the morning, and the first
person they met was our Lord, Jesus
Christ. He knew. of course. that their
whole life was a failure. so far as fish
ing was concerned. He knew they
wanted fish: perhaps they were hun
CRY. perhaps they had to earn little
money to support their families, and
he had compassion on them. and said:
Go out into the deep again. And
Peter said why. it is useless; we
have spent the whole night and have
CAUGHT nothing. but in Thy name will