4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff – they comfort me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord my whole life long. [Psalm 23:4-6, NRSV]
Psalms 23, by Kirby Mccarley
This post is written in the first place in response to a brilliant piece forwarded to us by Whatsapp under the mistaken caption of a homily on “Being Happy” by Pope Francis. Our search at the Vatican website did not yield the existence of this “sermon”. It is quite certain that the many online attributions to Pope Francis are a mistake. The fact of it having gone viral in the Philippines (which did not start the mistaken papal-attribution) has to do with a combined effect of the Filipino love for the Pope and the brilliance of the piece. Even the official website of the Diocese of Westminster, London, has on its Marriage and Family Life News published on 28/07/2020 erroneously referred to a quote from the piece as having been taken from Pope Francis’s 2018 New Year sermon. Since then, short-quotations said to be from the Pope on Facebook are beyond count. None of that was true!
Further web-searches revealed that the beautiful message, said to be written by Fernando Pessoa, a Portuguese poet of the early 20th century (1888-1935), has in fact been circulating on the internet for some time. Yet, even that poet-attribution is probably mistaken as well, the authorship of Fernando Pessoa havingt been challenged by critical scholars who could cite some original sources(s) but nevertheless could not make a definitive call as to who the actual author was. Nor can it be said that the piece had its origin in one completed work from a singular source.
In light of that, there is a story that sounds somewhat authentic which says a certain Brazilian blogger first penned a few lines and posted them on the net. And then what little he wrote started to take on a life of its own and it grew from there. By now, there are several different versions of it, with different paragraph breaks and different English translations. One version reads as follows:
“You can have flaws, be anxious, and even be angry, but do not forget that your life is the greatest enterprise in the world. Only you can stop it from going bust. Many appreciate you, admire you and love you. Remember that to be happy is not to have a sky without a storm, a road without accidents, work without fatigue, and relationships without disappointments.
To be happy is to find strength in forgiveness, hope in battles, security in the stage of fear, love in discord. It is not only to enjoy the smile, but also to reflect on the sadness. It is not only to celebrate the successes, but to learn lessons from the failures. It is not only to feel happy with the applause, but to be happy in anonymity.
Being happy is not a fatality of destiny, but an achievement for those who can travel within themselves. It is to be able to recognize that life is worth living, despite all the challenges, misunderstandings and periods of crisis. To be happy is to stop feeling like a victim of the problems and become your destiny’s author. It is to cross deserts, yet to be able to find an oasis in the depths of our soul. It is to thank God for every morning, for the miracle of life.
Being happy is not being afraid of your own feelings. It’s to be able to talk about you. It is having the courage to hear a ‘no’. It is confidence in the face of criticism, even when unjustified. It is to kiss your children, pamper your parents, to live poetic moments with friends, even when they hurt us.
To be happy is to let live the creature that lives in each of us, free, joyful and simple. It is to have maturity to be able to say: “I made mistakes”. It is to have the courage to say, “I am sorry”. It is to have the sensitivity to say, “I need you”. It is to have the ability to say, “I love you”.
May your life become a garden of opportunities for happiness… That in spring may it be a lover of joy, in winter a lover of wisdom. And when you make a mistake, start over again.
For only then will you be in love with life. You will find that to be happy is not to have a perfect life. But use the tears to irrigate tolerance. Use your losses to train patience. Use your mistakes to sculpture serenity. Use pain to plaster pleasure. Use obstacles to open windows of intelligence. Never give up… Never give up on people who love you. Never give up on happiness, for life is an incredible show.”
— “Palco de vida” (Stages of Life), by Fernando Pessoa (1888-1935). [Source unverified]
After reading, a man remarked: “I know this is the season of Lent and I am supposed to grow in my interior life. But this piece, though beautiful, is too optimistic. I can’t do it. I am full of negativities and I have too many flaws and weaknesses. I can’t just be happy as the writer suggests with seeming ease.” In a fitting way, as the Lenten calendar rolls towards the Holy Week, this man heightens our consciousness on “flaws and weaknesses” and a sense of guilt over an undeserved existence in “being happy” despite the many challenges and periods of crisis, not least the current Covid-19 pandemic.
Despite the threat of serious suffering on the horizon, the Lord Jesus kept on with his life mission regardless. He would celebrate a last supper with his friends come what may. He would not let human weakness keep him down at Gethsemane. He would rise after every fall along the Via Dolorosa (The Way of the Cross). If we take the Incarnation seriously, we will accept the true humanity of Jesus and not be blinded by his divinity. Then, we may, with humility of course, accept that the Lord knows the weaknesses of the flesh. That is to say, in human flesh, we suffer from all those weaknesses and imperfections mentioned by the writer of the above brilliant piece. We may never completely overcome those weaknesses and imperfections, however hard we try. And the Lord knows that too, just as he knows that however sincere we may be in desiring to “do a good Lent”, we never score a perfect 10 out of 10 at the end of the forty days. But, in true Christian spirit, “good” Christians would try to do better each day, even if we should fail each day.
Take another example, that of charity. In all sincerity and torment, a man once said to me at a seminar tea-break, “Why is it so difficult to give?” The reason for him saying that was because he knew he had a lot of money and he felt that he was not generous enough in doing Christian charity. He was surprised when I patted his back and said to him, “Congratulations!” I said it was a good thing he suffered a bit in that realization, as it showed that he was struggling to be more generous. Most rich people would not even care. I meant that he ought to keep struggling, for that was the only way to do better. When we sincerely struggle, the Lord knows, and I would like to think that the Lord is pleased with our struggle. We may never be perfect, but the journey of human effort in trying to live a noble and beautiful life after the model set by the Lord is certainly pleasing to him. He died to show us the way. An honest and sincere participation in that process is the key. We could safely assume that the Lord would be pleased to see us – with all our flaws and weaknesses – work on that.
Copyright © Dr. Jeffrey & Angie Goh, April 2022. All rights reserved.
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