The Catholic times. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1951-current, 1953-01-02
Just Among Ourselves
Posing Comment censidsred or Ineensissrsts

We echo the seasonal cry: Happy New Year
People wish each other happiness by sure in
Stinct/ for the just word. Happiness is what we
made for. II is the end of existence II is the full
fillment of human life. II is what all desire,
though many like to call il by other names.
For there are persons who find the word hdpp-
ness little soft and sentimental. They reject is
sissy word. They deny with manly vigor, that they
seek after happiness; they declare that in
their lives have they acted with happiness their
conscious end intention.
Blu this is merely quibbe about words And
with Justice the great Shakespeare cries, What's
in name?" Everyone wants what he wants He
wants what he judges will give him kind of fulfill
ment, serve kind of satisfying expression Let
him call il satisfaction instead of happiness Let
him call it fulfillment Let him call il Ftd0 if he
likes. II is the same thing And the philosophers of
every age have named this thing happiness
bedt,t1tde.
No avoid the quest for happiness. Our
Declaration of independence numbers among
"unaienable rights" the right TO pursue happiness
OF course the writer's OF tho Declaration meant that
we have the right TO seek happiness without LET
or hindrance on the part OF government. But even
men whom tyranny ensayes seek happiness. II
may be that the slaves seek merely TO be rid OF
then Shackles or that they seek quiet of mind TO
bear the shackles patiently But the striving to be
rid Of miseries and the effort to be patient under
oppression, pursuings of happiness
To be rid of evil is good And the possession Of
good is the essence of happiness. Man IS
made TO achieve good. and the Supreme Good which
is the Infinite God This is the Object whose pos
session boundIess and endless happiness
And since this Object cannot be had permanently
,tI. tI J,.,pc kI,
existence is always fleetng and imperfect
In every conscious act, seek what is desir
able what is good Saint and sinner in acts of
virtue or of crime, after what they rightly or
wrongly Judge will bring satisfaction; what will
swer desire; what is good to have The who is re
signed under affliction the man who is consumed
with lawless and foul desires the man who wants
10 serve Cod the man who doesn't want TO be both
cred with serving Cod the lover of life the suicide
who Graves eXtinction,-one and all they are seek
ing what seems good TO have. They seeking
good they are striving for happiness
Since only the Supreme Good can bring true
fulfiIlment and perfect happiness it is this good
for which necessarily hunger. But men seek
this good in varying ways Like people destined
inevitably to seek the same city, they have their
choice OF roads And some may perversely take the
road that leads directly away from the city of their
destiny, But nevertheless il is the city that they are
seeking
Put the matter another way Suppose a race of men
tnescapably destined to seek diamond of great
price. Wise members of the race will look for the
diamond where IL really may be found,-in a dia
mond mine Others NAV blindly seek il in many other
places even in the garbage heaps and refuse spiles
about their city But il is the diamond they are seek
ing no matter where they look That is what they
IL far .nIt tknu nat hair In hair
sentia quest they not free; they must seek the
diamond. They free only in choosing the places
in which 10 look for it,
Man is not free to seek any ultimate goal; he
is made for God the Supreme Good Mans freedom
is freedom Of the ultimate end; II is freedom OF
choice. And choice means the choice OF means. not
of the last end Whether man seeks God reasonably
in striving TO know to love and to Him; or
whether man seeks God in worldhness and sin. IT
is God he is seeking.
This fact points up the essential horror OF sin.
For the sinner actually makes the foul object of his
immediate desire into the likeness of God. The sin
ner perverSely turns his own inevitable drive and
tendency 10 God into tendency TO what God alb
horS He puts defilement the altar l., the place
III God Accurately does 81 Paul describe certain
sinners those whose God is their belly Sin
adds unspeaksbe insult to unlimited injury.
When we wish each other Happy New Year,
we arc wishing for all men happy life And hap
py life is life spent its Creator intended, In the
studious and patient quest of Himself Our WISH
is PRAYER that men will turn at last to the Goo
who made them for Himself and leave off seeking
the Diamond in the trash heaps of personal passion
or worldly wealth prominence, or ease. Our
New Years wish is PRAYER for the return of man
kind TO sanity.
Even though the measure of happiness We may
have on earth is not to be compared to the perfect
happiness of heaven for which We consciously o.
unconscously are forever striving, We are meant Il
seek and find happiness here. The only place we
can find IT is in the knowledge, love, and service
OF God That all mankind will recognize this truth
and act upon IL is our prayer when We wish ou