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Text Box: WHAT MAKES PEOPLE HAPPY; WHAT MAKES THEM SAD Holiness has never and will never make anyone unhappy. That is one of the most simple of truths, one of the most simple of facts. Who could possibly be unhappy at earning a living wage? No one. A person who wishes to receive vast amounts of money for doing little or nothing will not be satisfied with receiving a living wage, but that person is not holy, that person is sinful, because that person desires to receive wages without earning them. That person desires to be a thief. Who could possibly be unhappy at paying a living wage for wages earned? No one. But a person who wishes to pay as low a wage a possible will be unhappy paying an earned living wage, for that person is sinful, desiring to steal the labor of his employees. In each situation the person who is unhappy is unhappy because of his own sin, and the one who is happy is happy because in the particular circumstances not only is he without sin, but he actually is holy. Sin always causes unhappiness. If the person receiving wages received a living wage but did not earn it, then the one paying wages would be unhappy because of the sin of the one to whom wages were being paid. If the one paying wages did not pay a living wage even though it were earned, then the one who received the wages would be unhappy because of the sin of one paying the wages. All unhappiness is caused by sin, and all happiness is the result of holiness. Even illness, injury, and death are the result of sin - of the original sin of Eve and Adam. It is impossible to think of a happy situation where the happiness was caused by something other than holiness. Likewise, it is impossible to

Text Box: think of an unhappy situation where the unhappiness was caused by something other than sin. The sin need not be glaring. It may be miniscule and virtually unnoticed. The holiness need not be magnificent. It may be a simple as intuitive simple courtesy. For instance, a flat tire is always caused by some sin. It may be the sin of improper maintenance when maintenance could have been performed, or improper maintenance caused by lack of income due to receiving a non-living wage, or tire defect caused by poor workmanship which is the sin of the one making the tire, or inferior material which is the sin of the one obtaining or supplying the tire material. If the flat tire resulted from a puncture by a nail, the one who allowed the nail to be in an improper place sinned through carelessness or possibly intent. And if the puncture was caused by a natural object then the driver should have been more observant, or should have seen to proper tire maintenance, and in not so doing, sinned. This is merely an exploration of different possible causes of a single unhappy situation. It serves as an example of how unhappiness always has a cause link to sin. And in this example we are shown why we should avoid sin if we wish to avoid unhappiness. But it is not sufficient then to proclaim that happiness naturally results from lack of sin; for happiness is the result of holiness, and holiness is not simply lack of sin, but is the active pursuit of, and actually thinking good and acting or doing good in a Godly manner. Therefore, the person who rotates his tires, keeps them properly inflated, and replaces them when they are worn, simply so that he will avoid a flat tire, is not being holy. But the one who does these things because they are the proper things to do with the tires with which God has entrusted him, is being holy. This shows one can sometimes avoid unhappiness by doing holy things, but

Text Box: that happiness is derived from being holy. There also is a difference between not being happy, and unhappiness. The critical factor in the difference is access to and reception of the Sacraments. For this we must relate a little history. A little simplified history. The high priest Caiphas lead many of the Jews to reject Christ as the Messiah even after the resurrection of Christ and His appearance to many thousands over a forty day period, and His very public Ascension. Caiphas rejected Christ because Christ posed a threat to the power and authority Caiphas and his associates held - he and they rejected Christ because of the sin of self glorification in worldly acclaim, power, and authority. The non-Christian Jews therefore have no access to the Sacraments, particularly the Blessed Sacrament. Because of this they as a people and as individuals do not have the source of life, can not eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ, and have been generally very unhappy ever since. Individuals may experience very transitory joy which they term happiness, but their underlying foundation is unhappiness and besides being unhappy they are generally not happy. This is best observed in the Jewish tendency to seek happiness in the physical world while basically ignoring the spiritual world. In the Jewish rebellion against Rome in 70 A.D., the Jews sought to shake off the yoke of Rome. They failed. They failed because they pursued their goal through military and economic means but lacked the military and economic might necessary to accomplish their goal. The Jews were disruptive, their disruptions were not tolerated, and they were defeated. Christians of the same time period sought to practice their religion. The principles of their religion were not only not disruptive to society, but actually were beneficial to society. Where the Jewish religion lead the Jews to seek material gain even through what

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