Some seminarians, still fresh and green in seminary life, approached me the other day to ask about success. When asked what in particular about success they wanted to know, they fumbled and just said, anything.
That’s when I realized they were just after fulfilling a class requirement by making some paper about a topic, something that I, of course, understood very well. I passed through that stage. I suppose everyone does.
But the query ignited vivid memories of childhood. Back in my grade school and high school years, I thought success was having good grades, reaping honors right and left, having drop-dead looks that would seduce girls immediately, being versatile in talents, competent in work, becoming a millionaire and a powerful man in society.
There were many other fantastic ideas that passed through the mind and engaged me in some suspenseful episodes. But it took some time before reality would sink in properly. I suppose the youth are entitled somehow to some extravagant ideas.
Yes, reality has a way of making itself felt. In my case, it was when I stumbled over a biblical passage that said something like everything in life is vanity. At that moment, I was also experiencing all sorts of frustrations and disappointments, making me prone to give favorable attention to that passage.
I knew some of these disappointments were caused by my exaggerated expectations. But there were others which I thought I deserved rightfully but were denied to me. And so I fell into thinking seriously about what meaning life really has, what success in life would really consist.
It was only later when I could point the exact citation that really opened my mind and heart. A priest recited a line from the Book of Ecclesiastes that struck my attention, first of all, because of its poetic charm. Only later did I relish its significance.
The line was: “Vanity of vanities! All is vanity. What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun? A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains for ever. The sun rises and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it rises...†(Ecc 1,2-5)
And the passage continues in its rhythmic lyricism, pumping in more and more the realistic message that indeed everything in life is vanity, and that actually only one thing is necessary. And that is to be with God.
It does not really matter whether we rise or fall in life in the many terms our life here can be measured and assessed—money, fame, looks, health, talents, etc. But it is only when we are with God can we truly say that we have succeeded in life.
It’s a truth reiterated and reinforced by Christ himself when he said: “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his own soul?†And also when he said in the episode of Martha and Mary that “only one thing is necessary, and Mary has chosen the best part.â€
We need to be vigorously awake to this truth, because many now are the irresistible worldly decoys that divert us from it. That being with God is the only thing necessary never means that the things of this world are not important, that we can take a passive attitude toward them or that we just be mediocre about them.
Rather the contrary. Being with God would push us to the limit to make the most out of whatever we do or whatever happens to us in this life.
And that is to trust him, to love him, and because of that love, we have to love others the way God loves all of us.
Whatever happens here, whether we rise or fall, whether we win or lose, only has relative value. What is of absolute value is being with God. This is what true success is. This is how genuine success has to be assessed and measured.
Many times, we have to make a choice between God and us. St. Augustine precisely formulated the choice we have to make in the life in the most radical way by saying that it’s always a choice between God and us everytime we do something.
We have to make sure that we win the favor of God before we consider winning the favor of men. Let’s follow the example of St. Peter, and many other saints who articulated their choice by saying that they obey God first before they obey men.
True success lies there, and not in any other.
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