Should a person be 'happy' living in this miserable and corrupt world?

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Looking around this world filled with pain and suffering, should we ignore the negative things of this world and choose ‘happiness’? It seems that we should all be ‘saintly’ and forgo happiness in favor of increased spirituality. Being content in spirituality, one ought not be ‘happy.’ Earthly ‘happiness’ is such an illusion when considering we are living in the lowest of all the worlds God created. We really have nothing to be happy about in this world except in having faith in an afterlife.

Consider the following excerpt:

*The Golden Key to Heaven
by Saint Anthony Mary Claret

The death of the just: Death will reach everyone, the good and the bad; but the destiny of each one is quite different. The just man sees himself in this valley of tears as a prisoner, serving a very hard term. He considers himself a slave in this world, suffering an extremely distressing servitude. He regards himself a sailor caught in a horrible storm. And as death means an end of his confinement, an end of his slavery, and is the port of his salvation, he ceases not to cry with David, “Woe is me that my sojourning is prolonged!. . .” (Ps. 119:5). He ceases not to ask with the Apostle, “. . . Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (Rom. 7:24) *
 
If we’re not happy how can we make others happy? All we can do is spread gloom and despondency! The Puritans were (and are) killjoys…
 
tonyrey said:
If we’re not happy how can we make others happy? All we can do is spread gloom and despondency! The Puritans were (and are) killjoys…
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We can live this life as a Christian sacrifice, not seeking the things of this world, including our seeking ‘happiness.’ Why settle for ‘happiness’ when you can experience the grace and spiritual rewards of the Holy Spirit?
 
Robert_Sock said:
We can live this life as a Christian sacrifice, not seeking the things of this world, including our seeking ‘happiness.’ Why settle for ‘happiness’ when you can experience the grace and spiritual rewards of the Holy Spirit?
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I agree! I should have used the word “joy”. The martyrs were suffering physically but they were filled with joy by their belief and trust in God’s love.
 
Robert_Sock said:
Looking around this world filled with pain and suffering, should we ignore the negative things of this world and choose ‘happiness’? It seems that we should all be ‘saintly’ and forgo happiness in favor of increased spirituality. Being content in spirituality, one ought not be ‘happy.’ Earthly ‘happiness’ is such an illusion when considering we are living in the lowest of all the worlds God created. We really have nothing to be happy about in this world except in having faith in an afterlife.

Consider the following excerpt:

*The Golden Key to Heaven
by Saint Anthony Mary Claret

The death of the just: Death will reach everyone, the good and the bad; but the destiny of each one is quite different. The just man sees himself in this valley of tears as a prisoner, serving a very hard term. He considers himself a slave in this world, suffering an extremely distressing servitude. He regards himself a sailor caught in a horrible storm. And as death means an end of his confinement, an end of his slavery, and is the port of his salvation, he ceases not to cry with David, “Woe is me that my sojourning is prolonged!. . .” (Ps. 119:5). He ceases not to ask with the Apostle, “. . . Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (Rom. 7:24) *
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This is not the Jewish way of life, and I doubt it’s the Catholic way of life either. Judaism does not believe we should separate ourselves from the world; rather, it is our responsibility to be part of it so that we can use our talents to improve the lives of others as well as better ourselves as people. This task is one that should be accomplished with joy. In fact, every moment of our life should be one of gratitude to G-d for allowing us to rejoice in G-d’s gift of life. It is a sin to lead a sorrowful and miserable life without being thankful for life, regretting having been born instead of partaking in the abundance that G-d has bestowed upon us, even during the times of suffering.
 
Robert_Sock said:
The Golden Key to Heaven
by Saint Anthony Mary Claret

*The death of the just: Death will reach everyone, the good and the bad; but the destiny of each one is quite different. The just man sees himself in this valley of tears as a prisoner, serving a very hard term. He considers himself a slave in this world, suffering an extremely distressing servitude. He regards himself a sailor caught in a horrible storm. And as death means an end of his confinement, an end of his slavery, and is the port of his salvation, he ceases not to cry with David, “Woe is me that my sojourning is prolonged!. . .” (Ps. 119:5). He ceases not to ask with the Apostle, “. . . Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (Rom. 7:24) *
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I don’t believe God means for us to be miserable in this world. What kind of message does that send to people we hope to evangelize? “Become a Christian and be miserable for the rest of your life”?

I think the passage is more about finding our joy in God, not in the material things the world has to offer. It’s true that this is not our home and we will only be truly happy with God. But he gave us so many wonderful and beautiful things to enjoy while we are here.

Psalm 100
Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth.
Worship the Lord with gladness; come into his presence with singing.
Know that the Lord is God. It is he that made us, and we are his; %between%we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, bless his name.
For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.
 
I struggle with the same thought, but then realize I am happy for my struggle (if that makes any sense). We can always thank God for a challenge because it once again gives us a chance to choose him. I am reminded of 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18:

16 Always be joyful;

17 pray constantly;

18 and for all things give thanks; this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.
 
You can have a just happiness and peace if you earn your Joy from anything that stems out of Love of God, and love of your neighbor. You will also bear a lot of fruit, since God will guide you :).
 
Love is stronger, much more, than all the bad stuff. Which doesn’t mean the bad stuff isn’t so bad, but that love is very very strong. All powerful. God is love! Jesus is true God and true man and we cling to the cross. We can be happy with Him even suffering with Him. If we obey His commandment to love, we can be happy because we have something greater than the evil and corruption–God Himself.
 
meltzerboy said:
This is not the Jewish way of life, and I doubt it’s the Catholic way of life either. Judaism does not believe we should separate ourselves from the world; rather, it is our responsibility to be part of it so that we can use our talents to improve the lives of others as well as better ourselves as people. This task is one that should be accomplished with joy. In fact, every moment of our life should be one of gratitude to G-d for allowing us to rejoice in G-d’s gift of life. It is a sin to lead a sorrowful and miserable life without being thankful for life, regretting having been born instead of partaking in the abundance that G-d has bestowed upon us, even during the times of suffering.
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Was Job happy or joyful when God had Satan torment him? Was he thankful for life during his torments?
 
Robert_Sock said:
Was Job happy or joyful when God had Satan torment him? Was he thankful for life during his torments?
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Job remained faithful to G-d despite his intense suffering and persevered despite the most tormenting obstacles. He did not renounce G-d but endured the pain. In this sense, he was expressing his thankfulness to G-d for his life. Of course, when we suffer, we are often less grateful and may become bitter and cynical about our lives. However, I think it is a misinterpretation to believe that Catholicism teaches that suffering should be preferred to happiness, even sought out, as a means of identification with Jesus. On the contrary, we–both Catholics and Jews–are taught to alleviate suffering in others as well as be joyous in our own lives.
 
meltzerboy said:
Job remained faithful to G-d despite his intense suffering and persevered despite the most tormenting obstacles. He did not renounce G-d but endured the pain. In this sense, he was expressing his thankfulness to G-d for his life. Of course, when we suffer, we are often less grateful and may become bitter and cynical about our lives. However, I think it is a misinterpretation to believe that Catholicism teaches that suffering should be preferred to happiness, even sought out, as a means of identification with Jesus. On the contrary, we–both Catholics and Jews–are taught to alleviate suffering in others as well as be joyous in our own lives.
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I have great respect for the Jewish way of life. In Catholicism, however, it is common for Saints to prefer suffering over ‘happiness.’ It is said that Saints do there purgatory here on earth. It’s interesting to note these, and other, differences and similarities between these two great world religions.

And again in respect to Job, he was not joyful or happy. This was my main point.
 
meltzerboy said:
Job remained faithful to G-d despite his intense suffering and persevered despite the most tormenting obstacles. He did not renounce G-d but endured the pain. In this sense, he was expressing his thankfulness to G-d for his life. Of course, when we suffer, we are often less grateful and may become bitter and cynical about our lives. However, I think it is a misinterpretation to believe that Catholicism teaches that suffering should be preferred to happiness, even sought out, as a means of identification with Jesus. On the contrary, we–both Catholics and Jews–are taught to alleviate suffering in others as well as be joyous in our own lives.
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👍 We have far more in common than separates us… 🙂
 
We either choose to be happy knowing that we are following and serving the Lord or be miserable and corrupt as world is If it is the second, the devil has won. ::gopray:
 
I think that being “Happy” in the Biblical sense means that happiness stems from our faith and our union with God through Christ and is not based on our material possessions or any specific set of circumstances. I think for the Christian being happy is simply one of the beneficial side effects of knowing that the God who created the universe is the God who created us. And so even though our own world may be “filled with pain and suffering,” we can be spiritually happy in knowing “…that to them that love God, all things work together unto good, to such as, according to his purpose, are called to be saints” (Romans 8:28).
 
Robert_Sock said:
I have great respect for the Jewish way of life. In Catholicism, however, it is common for Saints to prefer suffering over ‘happiness.’ It is said that Saints do there purgatory here on earth. It’s interesting to note these, and other, differences and similarities between these two great world religions.

And again in respect to Job, he was not joyful or happy. This was my main point.
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If it is true that Saints prefer to suffer in this world to the point of Purgatory and are admired for this, then that is a major difference between Catholicism and Judaism. Apart from there not being any Saints in Judaism, we believe that the physical and emotional self is not meant to be diminished in this life, for that would be a rejection of the gift of life bestowed by G-d. As I previously mentioned, we believe it is necessary to immerse ourselves with joy in the mundane affairs of the world in an attempt to make it a better place. This attention to self (as well as to others) also differentiates Judaism from Buddhism and Hinduism. Thank you for the information.
 
Robert_Sock said:
Looking around this world filled with pain and suffering, should we ignore the negative things of this world and choose ‘happiness’? It seems that we should all be ‘saintly’ and forgo happiness in favor of increased spirituality. Being content in spirituality, one ought not be ‘happy.’ Earthly ‘happiness’ is such an illusion when considering we are living in the lowest of all the worlds God created. We really have nothing to be happy about in this world except in having faith in an afterlife.

Consider the following excerpt:

*The Golden Key to Heaven
by Saint Anthony Mary Claret

The death of the just: Death will reach everyone, the good and the bad; but the destiny of each one is quite different. The just man sees himself in this valley of tears as a prisoner, serving a very hard term. He considers himself a slave in this world, suffering an extremely distressing servitude. He regards himself a sailor caught in a horrible storm. And as death means an end of his confinement, an end of his slavery, and is the port of his salvation, he ceases not to cry with David, “Woe is me that my sojourning is prolonged!. . .” (Ps. 119:5). He ceases not to ask with the Apostle, “. . . Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (Rom. 7:24) *
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Fairly easy to say yes why even try to be happy;

But I ask why wouldnt one want to be happy ? The same for the redemption Christ offers us, we say yeah right, or no i have done way to many horrible things in life, and Christ is still there offering us his hand and telling us he will still save us, Christ offers us eternal joy and life with and in Him and in the after life with Him in Heaven. So why would anyone want to reject that ?

Why live for oneself and just accumulate all the wealth you can now when you know you’re going to die and cant take it with you… why not make the world a better place at the very least and help others…

so am i happy every day ? of course not, probably more troubled than anything everyday, but if there is a chance for even a minute or peace and happyness here on Earth, and i can share it with others then im going to.
 
Obviously, anyone over the age of ten years old realises, deep in their hearts, that earthly happiness is impossible. And if the best human being, Jesus, was the “man of sorrows”, how can we expect anything better.

However, some people choose to feign happiness to cheer up other people. This is commendable, as long as they know they are doing it as a sacrifice.

Some people lie to themselves of course. These are the people who seem to be happy, then have sudden outburst of road-rage, or watch mindless rubbish on TV, or something.

However, a state of joy IS possible- when we realise that this world is not real, just an illusion, a passing vanity, a lie, a deception. Keep our hearts on heavenly joys, and remember that the pain of living unites us with Jesus. etc. That’s the way to achieve true joy.

It’s also possible to achieve a kind of Stoic indifference. Just remember, everything is passing, and soon enough, we to will pass.

But remember, unhappiness is actually a great blessing. “Blessed are those who mourn, etc.” And remember, St. Francis prayed above all, that he might share in the suffering of Christ, in body and in soul. Here a helpful tip from Saint Giles:
“If thou wouldst live well, mortify thyself; if thou wouldst gain much and become rich, lose and become poor; if thou wouldst enjoy thyself and take thine ease, afflict thyself, and continually fear and distrust thyself; if thou wouldst be exalted and had in honour, humble and reproach thyself; if thou wouldst be reverenced, despise thyself, and do reverence to those who despise and reproach thee; if thou wouldst always receive good, continually endure evil; if thou wouldst be blessed, desire that all men should curse thee and speak evil of thee; if thou wouldst enjoy true and eternal repose, labour and afflict thyself, and desire every kind of temporal suffering.”

E.M Cioran says that on Judgment Day, only our tears will be weighed. And remember, “Woe unto ye that laugh”.
 
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