The Living Bread: John 6: 52-59

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 12:14:31 -0400

“Then Jesus said to them: Amen, amen I say unto you: Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you.”

A Culture of Discontent: John 6: 52-59

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 07:22:00 -0400

Each year, McDonald's serves well over 40 million Happy Meals to children hungry for something more, not just a meal, but also a novelty. And, if my experience with my grandchildren is any indication, the toy they get is never as good as the toy that the kid at the next table just got. Far from making them happy, the meals leave them feeling cheated and depressed.“

We enter the culture of discontent at an early age.

Before we know it, our kids are in a headlong pursuit of novelty in every shape and form. They want the latest, greatest thingamabob, gizmo, doohickey, designer label and brand that the other kid just got. Our children become "brandchildren."

With their emotions swayed by high-intensity advertising messages, today's kids have become distraught disciples of "muchness." In the Alice and Wonderland world of muchness, we're all present at the Mad Hatter's tea party when the dormouse says to Alice:

"You know you say things are much of a muchness - - did you ever see such a thing as a drawing of a muchness?’"

Alice had never seen such a thing, but today's kids have. It's a bright neon sign blinking "Buy, buy, buy."

And the result of this maddening pursuit for bigger, better, best? According to the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, today's schoolchildren report higher levels of anxiety than children who were treated by psychiatrists during the 1950's.

The abnormal has become normal.

What's true for our children is also true for us, but instead of looking for the next Happy Meal, we seek fulfillment in stuff that can only give us fleeting pleasure.

Our possessions wear out, rust out, tarnish and decay. If our only purpose in life is self-satisfaction, we are destined to be disappointed.

By its very nature, happiness is an intense, brief emotional high. It cannot be sustained (leastways, not in this lifetime). But we can find lasting contentment by seeking a simple life, unencumbered by muchness and dedicated to a higher purpose: serving the needs of others.

Contentment is a feeling that arises within us when we come to the realization that our lives are in accord with God's plan. In order to reach that level of awareness, we have to pray, study scripture and meditate, asking for the Holy Spirit's guidance.

An old proverb says that, "A Sunday well-spent brings a week of contentment." The celebration of Mass is our opportunity to participate in the only Happy Meal that brings true contentment. It is the most important means by which we come to discover our higher purpose in life.

Finding Happiness

The Living Bread: John 6: 52-59

A Culture of Discontent: John 6: 52-59