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Happiness, by John Carberry

Aristotle called happiness the end or goal of human nature. It lies in virtuous activities
and philosophic wisdom, which underlie the pleasantness of virtuous activities.1 Saint Augustine
said that all men agree on desiring the last end, which is happiness.2 For Saint Thomas Aquinas,
man’s ultimate happiness or beatitude consists of his contemplation of the highest intellectual
object, and that is God,3 the cause of happiness.4 He compares the many mansions referred to by
Christ (Jn 14:2) as the many degrees of happiness,5 and he says that God is the last end of man
and of all other things, because rational creatures reach their last end by knowing and loving God
(Ps 1:1-3, 144:15).6 Christ quenches our thirst for this life in abundance (Jn 10:10).7 Happiness
is man’s essential reward, consisting of perfect union of the soul with God.8 Rightness of the
will is necessary for happiness.9 A person is not perfectly happy as long as there remains
something to desire and seek.10 Happiness is the perfect good, quieting a person’s appetite
completely. The object of the will, man’s appetite, is the universal good, just as the object of the
intellect is the universal true. These are found in God alone.11 Supernatural happiness is
obtained by the power of God alone, where we participate in the Divine Godhead (2 Pt 1:4, 1 Cor
15:49, Ps 82:6) and are made partakers of the Divine nature.12 Saint Augustine said: “God was
made man, that man might be made God.”13 We await the last and perfect happiness in the life
to come,14 your kingdom come (Mt 6:10, Lk 11:2), that brings the fullness of life or perfect joy
(Jn 16:24, Jer 31:13).15 The Beatitudes include (Mt 5:3-12) those who are poor in spirit, who
mourn, are meek, who hunger and thirst for righteousness, are merciful, clean of heart,
peacemakers, persecuted for righteousness sake, and insulted because of following Christ. While
we don’t often associate some of these actions connected to Christ’s Cross16 with happiness,
when they are analyzed as a means to eternal life, their ultimate end becomes clearer.

The world often equates happiness with pleasure while the spiritual tends to relate
happiness to joy. Pleasure is more temporal while joy can be eternal. The intellect perceives
happiness which propels the will to move toward either worldly or spiritual ways.

Isaiah distinguishes worldly wisdom from true wisdom. Worldly wisdom maximizes
pleasure and minimizes pain. Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die (Is 22:13, Wis 2:5-
11, 15:12, Lk 12:19, 1 Cor 15:32, Phil 3:18-19, Sir 26:12, 37:21, Jer 4:22, 8:8-9, Ez 28:1-10).
Saint Louis de Montfort compared the trade of Esau’s birthright for a bowl of pottage to his
brother, Jacob (Gn 25:29-34, Heb 12:16-17), as a trade of the pleasures of paradise for the
pleasures of the earth.17

Divine wisdom pursues goodness and avoids evil: do good and avoid evil (Ps 34:14-15,
37:27, 45:8, 97:10-12, 106:3, Dt 6:18, Tb 12:7, Prv 14:16, Sir 7:1, 17:12, 19:17, Is 1:16-17, 7:15,
56:1-2, 61:8, Am 5:14-15, Mi 6:8, Mk 3:4, Rom 12:9, 1 Thes 5:21-22, 2 Tm 2:19, 1 Pt 3:11-12, 3
Jn 1:11). God tells the Israelites not to follow the abominations of the people that they are about
to meet up with (Dt 18:9-12).18 Saint Paul and Saint James distinguish worldly and divine
wisdom. “And we speak of these things in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the
Spirit, interpreting spiritual things to those who are spiritual” (1 Cor 2:13). “‘For who has
known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?’ But we have the mind of Christ” (1 Cor
2:16). “But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of
mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy” (Jas 3:17).

One can distinguish worldly wisdom and divine wisdom by its ends: worldly wisdom has
a selfish end or the desires of the person (1 Cor 3:20, Jas 3:14-16), whereas divine wisdom has a
divine end, or eternal life (Wis 8:17-18, 9:9-10, Jas 3:17, Ps 37:30). The wisdom of this world is
foolishness in God’s eyes (1 Cor 3:19, Prv 3:7, 26:12). True wisdom considers the highest cause,
God.19 The foolish, or those without wisdom, will go down to Hades, or suffer hellfire (Bar 3:19,
Jdt 16:17, Prv 5:22-23, 9:6, Wis 3:11, Sir 22:9-11, Jn 15:6). Christ distinguishes worldly
wisdom from true wisdom in the “Parable of the Unjust Steward” (Lk 16:1-13) by pointing out
that worldly wisdom allows the unjust steward to get ahead by using actions that the children of
the light would not even consider (Lk 16:8, Dt 8:17, Sir 5:10).20 True wisdom is hidden from the
wise and learned, but revealed to the childlike and innocent (Mt 11:25-27, Is 26:5, 29:14, 2 Cor
4:3-4). The Father does not will the wise and understanding to see him, but the simple and the
pure of heart (Mt 5:8).21 The Lord sees the worldly wise as foolish, brought about by deceit,
trickery and vanity (1 Cor 3:18-20, Eccl 2:12-14). Saint Paul’s advice regarding wisdom was
simple: “… test everything, hold fast to what is good” (1 Thes 5:21). Paul distinguishes wisdom
from the empty seductive philosophy that the world offers (Col 2:8, Eph 5:6). He presents the
Cross as the ultimate paradox regarding wisdom. The Cross of Christ saves those who believe,
while unbelievers consider it foolish. However, the foolishness of God is wiser than human
wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength (1 Cor 1:18-25). God chose
the foolish of the world to shame the wise (1 Cor 1:27). Christ offers us the better choice: to
enter through the narrow gate (Mt 7:13-14, Lk 13:24, Jn 10:9, Ps 118:20).22

In the Parable of the Rich Fool, a rich man has a bountiful harvest. He also has a
hedonistic philosophy: rest, eat, drink and be merry. Hedonism is a theory that pleasure is the
highest good, or aim, of human life. Scripture rejects hedonism on several occasions because it
ignores God’s justice (Is 22:12-14, Jb 20:18-22, Prv 21:17, Eccl 2:1-12, Wis 2:5-11, 15:10-14,
Sir 23:16-19, 1 Cor 15:32, Rom 14:17, Phil 3:18-19, 2 Tm 3:4, Ps 37:16-17, 21).23 The rich man
wants to build larger bins for storage, but Christ indicates that the rich man will die that night,
having stored up treasure for himself rather than what matters to God (Lk 12:16-21, 1 Thes 5:3,
Ps 49:11, 18, Prv 11:28, 28:6-8, Eccl 2:26, Sir 11:19, 31:3, 41:1, Zep 1:18). Do not store up for
yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust decay and destroy, but store up treasures in
heaven, which cannot be destroyed or stolen. Where your treasure is, there will your heart be
(Mt 6:19-21, 1 Tm 6:17-19). Sell your belongings and give alms. Provide moneybags that do
not wear out (Lk 12:33, 3:11, Sir 3:30, 29:8-13, Tb 4:7-11, 12:8-10, Ps 41:2-4, Prv 14:21). The
rich man sees his wealth as independence, while his spiritual wealth, which depends on God,
lacks the things of this world (Rv 3:17). Saint Paul calls love of money the root of all evil (1 Tm
6:9-10, Sir 27:1, 31:5). We brought nothing into the world, and we will take nothing out (1 Tm
6:7, Jb 1:21, Prv 11:4, Eccl 5:14). The wicked exchanged God’s truth for a lie and worshiped the
creature rather than the creator (Rom 1:25).24 Saint James likens the accuмulation of wealth
while withholding from the worker’s wages as a fattening up of the heart for the day of slaughter
(Jas 5:1-6, Jer 12:3). Upon death, the rich will take none of their wealth with them (Ps 49:17-21).
Ezekiel admonished the prince of Tyre regarding how his pride, arrogance and worldly wisdom
has allowed him to accuмulate wealth, but this will lead to his eventual downfall and death (Ez
28:1-10, 2 Mc 7:36, Eccl 5:9). Pope Leo XIII said that man should not consider his possessions
as his own, but as common to all, so as to share them without hesitation with those in need.25
Christian morality powerfully restrains the greed of possession and the thirst for pleasure, twin
plagues, and promotes one to be content with frugal living.26 Pope Pius XI said that prayer will
remove the fundamental cause of present-day difficulties, that is our insatiable greed for earthly
goods.27 In a world obsessed with endowment funds, deferred pension plans, and wealth
accuмulation, one must question one’s individual needs. Pope Pius XII says that materialism,
present in an unrestrained search for pleasure, aims to seduce souls that are still pure. It shows
itself in lack of interest in one’s brother, in crushing selfishness, and injustice depriving others of
their rights.28 Pope Saint John XXIII stressed that love should animate human society, so they
consider the need of another as one’s own.29 Pope Saint Paul VI teaches that materialism should
never be an ultimate objective, because progress can be a two-edged sword, necessary for some
men to grow as human beings while enslaving others who consider their possessions to be the
supreme good, and they cannot look beyond it.30

John Carberry is the author of Parables: Catholic Apologetics Through Sacred Scripture (2003)
and Sacraments: Signs, Symbols and Significance (2023).

1 Aristotle, Ethica Nicomachea (Nicomachean Ethics), I, 7 & X, 6. The Basic Works of Aristotle, pp. 942 & 1102-1104. Aquinas, Thomas, Summa
Theologica, III Supplement, Q98, A6.
2 Aquinas, Thomas, Summa Theologica, II, I, Q1, A7C.
3 Aquinas, Thomas, Summa Theologica, I, Q62, A1 & II, I, A4, A5. CCC, 1818 & 2651.
4 Aquinas, Thomas, Summa Theologica, II, II, Q26, A2.
5 Aquinas, Thomas, Summa Theologica, III Supplement, Q93, A2.
6 Aquinas, Thomas, Summa Theologica, II, I, Q1, A8.
7 Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth, From the Baptism in the Jordan to the Transfiguration, p. 245.
8 Aquinas, Thomas, Summa Theologica, III Supplement, Q96, A1. Vatican Council II, Gaudium et Spes (Joy and Hope), 21.
9 Aquinas, Thomas, Summa Theologica, II, I, Q5, A7.
10 Aquinas, Thomas, Summa Theologica, II, I, Q3, A8.
11 Aquinas, Thomas, Summa Theologica, II, I, Q2, A8 & Q84, A4.
12 Aquinas, Thomas, Summa Theologica, II, I, Q62, A1.
13 Aquinas, Thomas, Summa Theologica, III, Q1, A2.
14 Aquinas, Thomas, Summa Theologica, II, I, Q3, A5.
15 Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth, From the Baptism in the Jordan to the Transfiguration, p. 353.
16 Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth, Part Two, Holy Week, p. 124.
17 Louis de Montfort, Saint (1693-1716), True Devotion to Mary, translated from the original French by Frederick William Faber, DD., priest of
the Oratory (Spring Grove, PA: The American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property, 2021), p. 83.
18 Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth, From the Baptism in the Jordan to the Transfiguration, p. 2.
19 Aquinas, Thomas, Summa Theologica, II, II, Q45, 1. Aristotle, Metaphysica (Metaphysics), I, 2, The Basic Works of Aristotle, pp. 691-693.
20 Pius XI, Caritate Christi Compulsi (The Love of Christ Impels Us) [Encyclical Letter on the Sacred Heart] (Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana,
1932), 5.
21 Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth, From the Baptism in the Jordan to the Transfiguration, pp. 342-343.
22 CCC, 1970.
23 Leo XIII, Libertas (Liberty), 16.
24 CCC, 844.
25 Leo XIII, Rerum Novarum (Of the New Things), 22.
26 Leo XIII, Rerum Novarum (Of the New Things), 28.
27 Pius XI, Caritate Christi Compulsi (The Love of Christ Impels Us), 18.
28 Pius XII, Le Pelerinage de Lourdes (The Pilgrimage of Lourdes) [Encyclical Letter Warning Against Materialism on the Centenary of the
Apparitions at Lourdes] (Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1957), 47.
29 John XXIII, Pacem In Terris (Peace On Earth), 35.
30 Paul VI, Populorum Progressio (Development of Peoples) [Encyclical Letter on the Development of Peoples] (Vatican City: Libreria Editrice
Vaticana, 1967), 19.