Fervently I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where no water is. Your steadfast love is better than life.

Sometimes we think like this: grab some money, sex and success, pour them into the vessel of our heart, and in the end make a cocktail called happiness. It seems simple, and entirely possible. Why not? It's logical, after all. Everything is within reach. Everyone strives for it. There are so many ready-made recipes. Surely it must turn out good and sweet!

When we drink our fill of that beverage called happiness, we already feel bitterness in our mouth, and nausea forms in our stomach. It is not as simple as it seems at first glance. Money, after all, is only a thing. Sex, when it is merely a source of one's own pleasure, leaves a feeling of sourness, and success creates pressure from every side. Things do not satisfy persons. Bare pleasure does not fill the heart. And what, in the end, is success? Is it when everyone praises me? Flatters me. Fears me. Admires me. Gossips about me. Envies me. Is that what creates a deep sense of peace and contentment?

That blessed trinity - money, sex and success - that attractive trinity, that resounding trinity, is nevertheless in part rotten and deceptive. In the first place, it inflates my ego. And my ego is insatiable. Hollow. It is a bottomless pit. How much money could ever fill it? How much sex? How much success?

Well, let us say, even if it did fill it, would my ego be satisfied, alone in the world? Money isolates me. Bare sex isolates me even more, and success isolates me most of all. But can my ego be happy in separation from everyone else? Does not friendship make us happy? Does not fidelity to another person make us happy? Does not simple cooperation with others make us happy? Does not prayer bring comfort? Peace of soul? Does not union with the Creator confirm me as a creature? Does not doing the Father's will confirm me as a child of God? Does not freedom from all things and desires give me a deep sense of dignity? Is happiness not doing everything without self-interest? Not seeking the glory of this world? Not seeking recognition? Not seeking oneself? Emptying oneself of oneself? Making others happy? Is happiness not found in the other? In the Other? In the Immeasurable One?

Every day I stir this cocktail and drink this drink, and it does not agree with me. Woe is me, it does not agree with me! Perhaps the recipe needs to change? To stir a little more with the mind, and seek the deep source of happiness. The deep reason for contentment. Deep peace. The Other and the Different One. The One by whom I am, with whom I am, and in whom I am. The One who will not let my body see decay. The One who does not deceive. The truthful One. The Only One. The only happiness.
Fervently I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where no water is. Your steadfast love is better than life. In you is riches. Sweetness without end. My salvation. Through you, money brings happiness, sex fulfils, and success is worthwhile. In your light do we see light!