The Catholic Midlife

Happiness sets us up for success - in Work, Love, and Play. In spiritual life. In doing the right things. In all of the above. 

Create an ethic to strive for happiness. 

Martin Seligman, the positive psychologist was out in his yard doing yard work. His daughter was maybe five or six. She said, “Daddy, do you remember when I was four? And I had to learn to stop ...

We’ve been discussing happiness. 

Aquinas views the desire for happiness as ingrained in and being inseparable from, our humanity. We want to be with God because we desire happiness. We are made for Him. 

There are some schools of thought based on an idea that we should be disinterested in happiness and entirely focused on serving God and others. That’s not how human nature works. 

Happiness is sometimes used to refer to just feeli...

Happiness helps us be what God intends. We use the word “happiness” to refer to thriving, flourishing, and cooperating with grace. Purpose has an important role to play in happiness. 

You have spiritual, mental, and emot...

Saint Augustine was asked a difficult question: what to ask of God? He said Ora beatam vitam: meaning “Ask for the happy life.” What?? It’s good to be happy. It’s important as spiritual beings, as Christians, as Catholics, to strive for happiness. Humans desire happiness as an inseparable aspect of their nature. There are quite a few misconceptions about happiness. Find out if it’s really OK to pursue happiness. 

We would love to...

We have a role to play in the Kingdom of God, now. With His Easter resurrection, Jesus inaugurated His new Kingdom. We each have a role and identity in this Kingdom. Listen to Karen explaining how this Kingdom is part of a two-stage process of God unfolding His purpose and, by implication, our roles. Then listen while Curtis uses analogies to the Lord of the Rings to grapple with what it’s all about. Trigger warning: Karen uses the...