Happiness comes from inside
Monday, November 18, 2019
*Msgr. Jos� Luis Hernando
There’s a saying in Spanish: La procession va por dentro.A somewhat literal translation: The procession goes on inside. The saying refers to what takes place when we try to hide an illness or discomfort so that nobody will notice. When it comes to happiness, on the other hand, we can rest assured that, if it is authentic, it comes from within and is reflected spontaneously in everything we do and say.
A few years ago, I read a story that I love. I consider it a source of practical wisdom in moments of frustration, when we think everything around us is negative and we want to get away. I present to you a story that can be yours and mine.
An old man spent long hours at a well at the entrance of a town. One day, a young man approached him and said, “I’ve never been here. How are the people of this town?”
The old man answered with another question: “How were the people of the city where you come from?”
The young man replied, “They are selfish and evil, and I am glad to have left.”
“So are the residents of this city,” said the old man.
That same day, another young man approached the old man and asked him the same question: “I have just arrived. How are the people of this town?”
Again, the old man answered by asking the same question: “How are the people of the city where you came from?”
“They are good, generous, hospitable, sociable, honest, hardworking people. I had so many friends there, that I wept when I had to leave for lack of work.”
“The residents of this city are like that, as well,” said the old man.
A resident who had come with his animals to drink water from the well was curiously listening to that strange conversation. When the young man walked away, he asked the old man, “How can you give two completely different answers to the same question made by those two young people?”
This time the old man answered without asking any questions.
“Everyone carries the universe within his heart. No one who has not found anything good in the past, in the places and among the people that he has been with, will find it here. On the other hand, whoever had friends in his former town will also find faithful and loyal friends here. People are what they have inside, and they will always find what they want and expect to find based on their hearts.”
We can reason that all the good and bad that can make you happy in life, what you are looking for anywhere you go, what you need to be happy, can be found within you. The Word of God tells us beautifully in Paul's letter to the Christians of Philippi (Philippians 4, 8) that “whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things.”
Let out the beautiful procession that you have inside you. Whoever does not change, will not grow, will not mature or advance. Do not switch places, school, home, husband/wife, culture, religion or job if you feel frustrated and think that happiness is somewhere else. It may be living inside you. Just let it out.
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