Just as we are limiting our potential if we neglect to rely on God, we are also limiting our potential if we neglect to cooperate with Him. Saint Augustine reflects that “God created us without us: but he did not will to save us without us.” In loving friendship, God gives us the grace to enable our divine-human collaboration. He awaits our consent without controlling our decisions, our perceptions, and our habits. He equips us with the freedom to rationally and actively determine and select the things that we believe promote our happiness and prevent our misery. Every choice we make has the potential to either bring us closer to God or to drive us further away from Him. God does not abandon us, but we risk abandoning Him when we neglect His will through sin.
Benjamin Franklin popularizes the expression “God helps those who help themselves.” The best way we can help ourselves is by placing God first and following His commandments. Aligning ourselves with the will of God opens us to receive His help. Saint John Vianney explains: “When our heart is pure and united to God, we feel within ourselves a joy, a sweetness that inebriates, a light that dazzles us. In this intimate union God and the soul are like two pieces of wax melted together; they cannot be separated. This union of God with His little creature is a most beautiful thing. It is a happiness that we cannot understand.”
In order to pursue this form of happiness, we work for God as He works through us. The Reverend Hans Urs von Balthasar observes that “What you are is God’s gift to you, what you become is your gift to God.” We return our gift of self to God with increase when we set our sights high for the Most High, live for the unseen and eternal rather than the visible and temporal, and become the best versions of ourselves that we can be for the glory of God.
Bishop Robert Barron says that “The slightest cooperation with God’s grace can provoke a massive spiritual change.” The closer we grow to God, the more He reveals His goodness to us. We begin to appreciate God’s beauty and providence in everything we see and in everything we do. The Reverend Father Mike Schmitz remarks: “The secret to finding happiness in every circumstance is to remember that God is present in every circumstance.”
Finding God, therefore, is finding happiness. And sharing that happiness with others promotes even greater happiness for us and for them. Saint Francis of Assisi teaches: “for it is in giving that we receive.” We give as a gift what we receive as a gift; then, we receive more of that gift in return. This is not only the secret to our happiness on earth, but it is also the secret to our salvation and our happiness for all of eternity. Pope Francis discloses that “The saints were not superhuman. They were people who loved God in their hearts, and who shared this joy with others.”
Please follow our “Weekly Challenge” section this month to learn more about how our cooperation with God is essential to our well-being and flourishing. And please comment on your secrets to finding happiness and joy.
