Contemporary Americans and perhaps individuals from many other countries display a genuine unhappiness. It surely might be considered to exist in abundance among us today. The recently canonized English scholar and Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, John Henry Newman addressed the issue of unhappiness in one of his writings. The English saint reminded he readers that when a person, from the time of Adam, was created by God, he breathed into each person "the supernatural life of the Holy Spirit. This gift was given to us to instill in our hearts, our lives, a genuine happiness.
Then, once a person separated from God through sin, there was likewise a forfeiting of an individual's happiness. What replaced happiness was and continues to be is emptiness. It is the emptiness that brings and individual into feelings that are so unpleasant. Newman wrote that the sinner becomes "languid, dull or apathetic." And why such feelings? Because the God-created, God-gifted individual has violated his/her nature. He/she feels a genuine thirst or hunger for that gift of supernatural life. As well, separation from God so often results in genuine restlessness. Like a caged canary, the person hops from perch to perch, always searching, never content to remain in one place. The natural reaction is to believe for a time that certain activities are a fulfillment of the need created by the separation from one's divine creator.
As Newman and countless other saints and spiritual writers have pointed out, the God who made us continues his care for us despite our giving into sin. It is the redemption story again. Jesus Christ is the cooling waters for the sinner's thirst. He is indeed the bread of life for the hungering soul. Jesus is the divine gift of forgiveness from the Father. Saint John Henry Newman sums up this redemptive mystery quite well: It is "the secret triumph of the unearthly kingdom of God among the self-willed, self-wise children of Adam." And how so? Because this is the kingdom of God always within my very being! Deo Gratias.
