“Happy” or happiness is deeper and richer in meaning than “merry”. Being happy involves more of the inside than the outside.
While eating lunch last weekend, I read an article from Life Today (“Happiness is within us”; Sept 2009) written by Sr Catherine Cruz, OP, a Filipina Dominican nun currently based in Korea. In her write-up she shared her experience of doing missionary work in a foreign land. What kept her focused in her work in Korea, amidst the culture shock and other challenges, was her decision to happy. She encouraged readers to always stay happy even when there are so many problems.
I read this piece with interest, but my interest got more intense towards the end of the article when the nun recalled someone who was “married to a rich man’s son as payment for her family’s debt”. Similar to what’s in a telenovela like that of Bea Alonzo and John Lloyd Cruz in "Maging Sino Ka Man" - the woman came from a poor family and got married to a Mama’s boy who didn’t love her. You would have a feeling that the marriage is doomed from Day 1. But this woman decided not to be miserable. “She made a firm decision to be happy…” by doing the following:
1. She told herself, “I will be happy by loving myself.”
2. She lived simply.
3. She lived up to her title as “Wife and Mother”
4. She was patient and forgiving towards herself and others
5. She trusted in God.
Sr Catherine wrote that this woman recently celebrated her 75th birthday, describing her as a “fulfilled wife, mother, and grandmother”. Her husband, seeing how his wife conducted herself, had a change of heart – he loved her very much and confessed to the nun that he only had one prayer: that both of them die together. Five months after the woman’s birthday celebration, both died when their bus fell into a deep ravine on their way to Baguio. Both died “embracing each other”.
“Choose to be happy” is an advice that I always tell my friends and loved ones. It can be a struggle, but if the woman in the story made it so can we! Let's follow her good example as shown on the five points above.
As I turn 36 tomorrow, I thank the Lord for guiding and strengthening me all the time. I thank too my loved ones (my wife Nidz and our daughter Chiara most especially), friends, and colleagues who have been there for me through thick and thin. May happiness be with them all wherever you go!
Here’s to more happy years ahead!
I cannot celebrate my life without mentioning another person whose birth to eternal life coincides with my natal day. Lola Piling, as I have written before, was not only my paternal grandmother; she was also the physician who assisted Mama in giving birth to me that fateful Monday afternoon 36 years ago. She was really a helping hand to us when she was here. I remember when we would hear Mass at the St Rita Hospital Chapel, she would always mention people who asked her for prayers during the Prayer of the Faithful (which she used to read; Lolo Paul does the Mass readings). On my birthdays then, she would say a brief prayer for me - her eyes gazing on me as she utters those words of supplication. I'm sure she'll be a powerful intercessor now that she is with God. May the good Lord bless her soul!
Happy 1st wedding anniversary to Jim and Kristina Budney on the 23rd! May God who called you to this vocation continuously inspire you to share that love with each other and with the family that you will be building in the future.
