Episode Transcript  

One

A Review of Happiness

Have you ever noticed how happiness always seems just out of reach? We tell ourselves, “If I can just get a little healthier, a little more time, a little more rest—then I’ll finally be at peace.” But as soon as we arrive, the finish line, it moves. The peace we imagined turns into another project, another need, another ‘almost.’ Deep down, we keep hoping that once life finally comes together, we’ll be happy. Yet every time we get there, “there” changes. Our hearts keep promising that the next success, the next comfort, the next season of life will finally satisfy us, but what we thought was fullness always turns out to be another kind of thirst.

Why? Because this world was never meant to be enough. In this series, we’re reflecting on a practical guide to happiness, how to reach our full potential as human beings. We’ve said that happiness can be defined as possessing the good things that truly fulfill our human nature. Every one of us longs for the same essential goods: Health, to have strength and rest. Relationships, to love and be loved. Meaningful work, to use our gifts for good. Knowledge, to understand the world. Beauty, to be moved by order and surprise. Inner peace, to rest in the good we have.

But even if you had all of these, if every part of your life was finally in place, would you be perfectly happy?

Two

Never Enough

God designed us to hunger for these six good things: health, relationships, meaningful work, knowledge, beauty, and inner peace. They are not illusions or distractions, they are real goods meant to draw us toward Him. But no matter how hard we try, we never possess them perfectly. Our health fails, our relationships wound us, our work is always unfinished, our knowledge remains partial, beauty fades, and peace slips away.

We live in a world that is good but fallen. Nothing here lasts. Everything cracks. Every good thing eventually unravels. The meal ends, the music fades, the vacation passes, the body tires, the friendship changes. Even our greatest achievements begin to decay the moment they’re complete.

It reminds me of the scene from The Incredibles when Mr. Incredible sighs, “No matter how many times you save the world, it always manages to get back in jeopardy again. Sometimes I just want it to stay saved, you know? I feel like the maid—‘I just cleaned up this mess! Can you keep it clean for ten minutes?’”

That’s what life feels like. Just when everything seems in order, it starts to fall apart again. And so we chase. We patch, repair, strive, and hope that next time it will finally hold. But the truth is, no matter what we achieve or acquire, this world is never enough. Because we weren’t made to be satisfied by this world. We were made to be filled with God, the perfect and everlasting source of every good. 

Three

Cups and the Water

Think of those six good things we all desire (health, relationships, meaningful work, knowledge, beauty, and inner peace) as cups. And what fills them? God Himself, the Living Water. He is meant to flow into every part of our life, to fill every cup to the brim. We need the cups, we need health and relationships and work, and so on. But without God, the cups are just empty. Without God, without the Living Water, we become unsatisfied with the cup, we become unsatisfied with our spouse, our house, our job, our health, and wealth, and everything else. 

Then we think that if we can just get better health or a new house, a new spouse or new job, or just retire, or go on new experiences, then we will be happy. So we replace our cup with a different one. We get a new house, a new spouse, sell our business, go travel around the world, and we are still unsatisfied, still thirsty. We keep changing cups, but what we’re missing is the water. Until the Living Water fills us, every new cup, no matter how beautiful, will leave us dry.

We don’t need different cups. We need God to fill the ones we already have.

Four

The Woman at the Well

Do you remember the story of the woman at the well in John chapter four? She has been trying to find happiness all her life long, but she has been seeking it in just one cup, the cup of relationships. She’s had five husbands, but none of them satisfied the deep longing of her heart. She thought the cup was the problem, so she threw it away and got another cup, another husband, but it didn’t work. So she is still empty, still thirsty. 

So she comes to the well to draw water with an empty jar, an empty soul…and there she meets Jesus. She doesn’t know it, but she is talking to the Living Water. Jesus said to her, 'Give me a drink. ' He actually thirsts for her soul. She can’t believe He is speaking to her. And Jesus replied, “If you only knew what God is offering and who it is that is saying to you: Give me a drink, you would have been the one to ask, and he would have given you living water”.

Now she begins to wonder, “You have no bucket, sir, and the well is deep: how could you get this living water?” Jesus replied, “Whoever drinks this water will get thirsty again; but anyone who drinks the water that I shall give will never be thirsty again: the water that I shall give will turn into a spring inside him, welling up to eternal life.”

“Sir,” said the woman, “give me some of that water, so that I may never get thirsty and never have to come here again to draw water.”

Finally, Jesus reveals to her that He is the Living Water, and now that she has met Jesus, she leaves her water jar behind. She doesn’t need it anymore!

Five

Only the Spring will be ultimately quenching 

Those six human goods are good, but not enough. Every joy here is a drop. God alone is the ocean. In Him, every cup overflows: He is perfect truth for our searching minds, perfect beauty for our restless hearts, perfect love for our lonely souls, perfect peace for our anxious spirits.

So pursue the cups and take care of them, but never forget that without the Living Water, without God whom we receive through the Eucharist and prayer, we will always be thirsty. But if we drink deeply of God, he will fill every desire for happiness. 

As Ps 36:8 promises, “They will be inebriated from the richness of your house. And you will let them drink from the torrent of your delight.”

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