what makes you unhappy? - 4th sunday lent C laetare sunday 2019

What makes you happy?  What makes you unhappy?  The 4^thSunday of Lent is called Laetare Sunday.  Laetare means be happy.  We are allowed today to put some flowers on the altar and to use the color rose instead of violet.  Rose is still violet but it is mixed with gold, the color of supreme joy.  Thus, it is only proper to ask ourselves these very important questions which motivates all our actions - what makes me happy, what makes me unhappy?

In our gospel today the youngest son thought that he will be happy if he could live as far as possible from his home.  He thought that by receiving his inheritance he can spend it on the things that he really wanted, legal or illegal, good or bad, things he thought would make him happy.  Like drug addicts, relationship addicts, alcohol addicts, he thought that these temporary delights would make him happy or at the very least make him forget, even just for a short while, the things that make him unhappy. Thus, the younger son in his pursuit of happiness has actually made himself all the more unhappy. Why? because he wanted to be happy for the wrong reasons.

The elder son in his short dialogue with his father reveals his happiness, or to be more exact, paagi sa pagpautwas sang iya mga hibubon-ot reveals his unhappiness to his father.  “Look, he said, all these years I served you”.  The Hiligaynon is more revealing Tinuig ako nga nagpangabudlay nga daw suluguon.  Imagine that hurt – daw suluguon.  He even calls obeying his father “obeying orders”.  Here, one can sense that he was not happy with his work nor was he happy being with his father.

So what makes him happy?  First feasting on a goat with his friends which he says he never got from his father.  Kon kaisa bala ka simple man lang sang makapalipay sa aton, indi bala?  Ugaling kay ginkomplecar naton kon kaisa.But here is the punch line. The elder son was not happy that his younger brother was readily received back by his father, that he was happily welcomed back with a feast, with music and dancing.  The elder son was angry, very angry.  Probably he wanted his brother driven out, barred forever from their house, or most probably he would be happy to see him punished and better still disowned by the father.   In his pursuit of happiness the elder son did not realize that he was growing bitter and angry not just on the day his brother returned but every day.  Why? because he wanted to be happy for the wrong reasons.

Now what is the happiness of the father?  The father was happy that his son came back home.  That’s it, period.  He did not think about how he can recover back his property or money. It was enough that he came home in one piece.  In his joy he declared a feast, he ordered a banquet, and he even told everyone to be happy with him, including those who were obviously not happy about it.  If there is any hint that the father is unhappy it is in his failure to communicate his happiness to his elder son. The father as a father was happy for the right reason, and he was unhappy also for the right reason.

In this season of lent, ask yourself, what makes you happy, what makes you unhappy?  Siling ni Aristotle happiness is not a temporary state nga kon may kwarta ka happy ka, nga kon naka-inom ka upod sa barkada happy ka. Indi. Happiness, he said, cannot be achieved until the end of one’s life, that at the end of one’s life you can look back and say, nahimo ko na ang dapat ko himuon, I have done what I ought to do as a person, as a Christian and as a child of God.  Can I say that of my life now when the end comes?  

So what makes you happy?  Kahapon ginpamangkot ko ang akon kaugalingon:  sa sining isa ka bulan kag tunga (almost) nga nagtener ako diri kag nag-serbi sa parokya sa Molo what made me happy.  This is what made me happy.

Nga bisan kadamo sang mga kagamo ang naagyan ninyo bangud sang indi maayo nga transition diri sa Molo, nakita ko sa gihapon sa inyo ang enthusiasm, ang kalipay nga mag-alagad sa inyo parokya.  Wala kamo nagkataka, wala kamo nag-give-up, wala kamo nagsiling, hay puli ta kasabad di.  Halin sa principal tubtob sa manug-sab-it cortina, halin sa mga catechists, lectors, eucharistic ministers, tubtob sa youth, sa music ministers kag mga altar servers; halin sa mga tawo sa opisina, sa mga panday, sa mga tawo  sa convento, kag sa manugkolekta; halin sa BEC facilitators sa mga barangay, sa mga religious organizations tubtob sa gagmay nga mga bata nga ma kiss gid, paamanan ka pa sang sip-on - everyone is doing happily what needs to be done, unhindered by hatred or anger, happily working and serving the parish.  

And so when I reach the end of my days and I look back to these days with you masiling gid ako, “Lord wala gid ako naghinulsol nga nagpari ako.” That’s happy.

My prayer for you then is this – that like the father in the parable you will be happy, but always for the right reasons.  Always happy but always for the right reasons.