We have language to communicate with... or not. We can, if we choose, simply remain within ourselves and not use our language(s) to speak with others. Be prudent, be loving. Language carries responsibility as well. What is said cannot be unsaid.
And how many priests and prelates are well aware of this state of affairs and would rather look away? How many would rather deal with fund raising and parish retention programmes and New Evangelisation programmes which may be or are in actual fact void of the deeper meaning of the Sacraments and how to live them in our daily lives?
Following is then, in a sense, a desire to learn for someone else. In days of masters and disciples the master of a religion or philosophy had his followers and spent a great deal of time, perhaps years, teaching the disciples his ways so that they were prepared the best way possible to go out and teach others. This has happened all through the ages and continues today. If we in turn, learn something well enough, we might also be able to help others.
I discovered two deaths this year. That may surprise you knowing I am a priest and have frequent funerals for parishioners and others who I am asked to commemorate. But this year I was looking on line for a friend and found her obituary. I was stunned and cried. She was so beautiful, had two little girls, husband, served in The Salvation Army with me where we met. We studied at university together and had part-time jobs together.
Something most, if not all, people search for in life is happiness. It is something quite personal and difficult to enunciate for each person: dreams during our youth, security in later years. We know when we find something that makes us happy. But that in itself might not be something that will last for long. It might be a passing event, situation, or relationship. It could be the spouse that has made us deliriously happy for the last 54 years. We can search a very long time and never find what will make us happy – happy in the eyes of the World at any rate.