In one of the essays in the recent book, he recounts clicking on the TV to see the rebroadcast of a popular drama, wanting to find out what people liked about it. The drama dealt with overcoming the difficulties that surrounded the main characters and the tender love they had for each other. The viewers were captivated by the story, he believes, because they longed for the same love and happiness they found depicted in the drama.
Most of us do not appreciate the love and happiness that is present in our own lives, most often thinking it less than ideal. Fr. Matthew feels this way of thinking is an illusion. The love that we see dramatized is always seen as greater than the love we experience, and yet our love can be deeper and more beautiful. As our proverb teaches, "Anothers rice cake seems bigger than our own." To be truly happy, he says, we have to jettison the misunderstanding and illusion that others have a more beautiful happiness and greater love than we have.
As Jesus said, "Remember where your treasure is, there your heart is also." What we think is important is where our heart will be. If we consider God our treasure that is where our heart will be. This is also true with love and happiness. If we think that love and happiness is somewhere other than in us, then we will never have it.
What and where is our treasure? If we look for our treasure in the world and in material things, we will not find love and happiness in ourselves. We can never find satisfaction in things outside of ourselves. When our treasure is in God, it is then that we become acquainted with love, and we learn that giving, more than receiving, brings greater happiness. And in every situation we will know that we can find satisfaction and have the opportunity to give thanks.
