October 15, 2022

Reflection

HAPPINESS

I'm still thinking of the psychologist - Doctor Robert Holden -  who was on Oprah last week.  He has a book out on happiness.  He also got his Ph.D. studying happiness.

I was on the treadmill exercising while watching Oprah.  I was happy to do that - two birds with one stone.

That program was well orchestrated.  Different people were given a test about How Happy Are You? 

There were 5 questions - or statements. People were asked to score themselves 1 to 7 - [7 being the highest].

Here are the 5 questions or statements.

1) In most ways my life is close to ideal. [    ]

2) The conditions of my life are excellent. [    ]

3) I am satisfied with my life. [    ]

4) So far, I have gotten the most important things I want in life. [    ]

5) If I could live my life over, I would change almost nothing. [    ]

From: Ed Diener, University of Illinois

He then had 5 of them standing in front of the TV audience - and Oprah and others were asked to pick who they thought  scored best in the test and who didn't.

The lady whom Oprah scored second lowest - 5 out of 35 - something like that I think.

The questions cand be found on her web site.

This lady - a mother of six - said she was a people pleaser. She said she was well loved - but did nothing for herself. All she did was for others.

The lady who scored lowest - indicated she made many - several wrong life decisions - but now she's finally coming out of that way of doing life.

There was one man in the five who were on stage. He was an undertaker.  He saw his life as someone who helps folks deal with death. He was the one who said that he saw the key to life was  to be more significant than to be successful.

What would it look like to be a significant undertaker, or priest or doctor or mom or dad or friend.

As i pondered that I remembered Martin Luther King's comment: if you're a garbageman, be the best garbageman people ever met.

Words ....

I thought that I have to think about all this.

I have to get back to a book I've been writing all these years: The Eight Secret of Happiness.

I also thought about the dialogue that took place between Oprah and the people being interviewed.

They talked about joy and happiness. They talked about giving and receiving.  They talked about self-pity and pity parties.

The program  brought up and brought into the conversation thoughts about self-esteem, self-evaluation, self-understanding, self-acceptance, self-care and self-happiness.

How happy are you?

 October  15, 2022

Thought for Today

"Prayer is the mortar that holds my house together."

St. Teresa of Avila

 October 14, 2022

Reflection

SIGNIFICANT  OR  SUCCESSFUL

On Oprah today, there was  a guy named Holden on her program. He is a psychologist who has a book out on happiness.  He said what an undertaker had just said: "It's more important to be significant that to be successful." [August 23,  2007]

Significant or successful?

Success:  there is a need to reflect upon that.

For example: to raise a successful family? To have a successful job? To have a successful season?

I suppose the key is to do one's best - to serve and to love - and if one has a kid who chooses otherwise and messes up - one still one's best.

As to baseball and football only one team wins the World Series - or the Superbowl - so how does a team measure a successful season?  To have broken even or made money?  To provide good games - and great plays on the field.  To have had fun and enjoyed their jobs?

Success? Define it? Describe it?

Significant seems the more successful word - when it comes to comparing words.

But what is significant?

It seems significant is more significant than successful.

To be able to sign one's  name to one's painting or work.

To have made a difference.

To be a sign to others.

I'm not trying to be smart - but the sign of the cross is the sign of a failure - or is it the sign of resurrection and the secret of life?

To die for others.

To be a sign for others.

To lay down one's life for others - for a right cause.

Is that the ultimate success and the more ultimate significance?

 October 14, 2022

Thought to Ponder

"Old sins cast long shadows."

Old Proverb

 October 13, 2022

Reflections

MARY

The other day a lady was talking to me about this blog.

She said she liked the things I said about Mary the best.

There's a message there.

However, I couldn't recall anything I said about Mary.

Honestly....

Various people who come here to church in Annapolis, Maryland, come on Wednesday - because that's the day we have some special novena prayers to Mary.  We honor her here under the title of OLPH - Our Lady of Perpetual Help.

Wednesday is the traditional day for Mary in the Philippines - Brazil - and India. Growing up in Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church in Brooklyn. New York I saw this all through my childhood. When I went to the seminary I heard about the same thing happening on Wednesdays in Mission Church in Roxbury, Boston, Massachusetts.

There's a message here.

Question: what does Mary touch in the human heart?

For starters I'd have to say, "Momma".

I would have to remember every time I stood there seeing a mother with a child in her arms. Whenever I would say, "Hi" to the kid - if I was a total stranger - the child would turn their face from mine and bury it in their mother's embrace.

There's a message here.

I would have to say that everyone has a deep desire to always want to return to their mother's womb.

Isn't that why we say in the ancient Mary prayer, the Hail Mary, "blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus"?

We all want down deep: peace and security.

I don't get it when Protestants protest about how Catholics honor the Mother of Jesus.

I've heard people say, "We're making her God."

Nope.

I think the complaint should be against the dogma about Mary being called, "The Mother of God"  - Theotokos - in Greek.

That decree from Ephesus is an ancient decree - way before the Protestant Reformation.

I suggest that Protestants should at least honor Mary as the Mother of Jesus - the Jesus you honor and love.

In the meanwhile - go to Ephesus - delve into the fight over the title of Mary as Mother of God.

Then people might grasp and understand, Part 2, of the Hail Mary prayer: "Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen."

In the meanwhile, if you don't accept the title of Mary as  Mother of God, grab a rosary and say, Part 1 of the Hail Mary prayer: "Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you, blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus."

October 13, 2022

Thought to Ponder

"He that knows little often repeats it."

 October 12, 2022

Reflection

IS  IT  WORTH  IT?

I was wondering if the question, "Is it worth it?" - is a good question to ask?

Is it the bottom line question in much of our decision making?

I don't remember ever asking that question specifically - in any of my decisions.

Yet, come to think about it, it's a good question.  It's worth thinking about whether something is worth doing.

It's a value question.

It's an energy question.

It's a use of one's time question. 

Is it worth getting out of bed this morning.

Is it worth marrying this person?

Is it worth it to become and then stay a priest.

Is it worth it?

The words "cost" and "time" and "life" appear in the background of this background question.

I'll have to re-read Dietrich Bonhoeffer's book, The Cost of Discipleship once again.

Dietrich could have stayed in England a returned to Germany - but he must have decided it was worth it.

Jesus made promises or reward to those who would leave all to follow him. He must have been aware of the question, "Is it worth it?"

Did Jesus have to make the decision in the first place -  whether to become human and whether to follow the way to Jerusalem?

In the garden,  was he asking the question, "Is is worth it?"

At the end of our life, seeing everything, hopefully we'll say,  "It was worth it."

Isn't that "Yes" the secret of happiness?"