St. Louis IX, King of France, washes the feet of the poor
Only when a man wears himself out entirely does he feel relieved from the excess energies left inside.
(Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira – Lecture of 5/8/75)
In This Chapter
Is honest happiness less intense than dishonest happiness? Is it more mitigated? More fleeting? Many ask themselves this question, usually choosing the wrong answer.
In fact, one can say of happiness what St. Bernard said of glory: It is like a shadow; if we run after it, it runs away; if we run away from it, it runs after us.
A Brave Young Man
A new type of young man is appearing.
It’s not the angry, unhappy, lazy young man. He is not afraid to affirm himself; he is neither indifferent nor lives exclusively for work and career.
He is an idealistic young man: energetic, proactive, courageous, and selfless. He likes to think, analyze events and facts and form his own opinion based on Catholic doctrine.
Above all, he does not bother with the mockery and incomprehension of others or shrinks from going out into the street, often to receive an insult which, with all superiority, he refuses to answer. Or to receive an aggression to which, if physical, he responds with the valor and effectiveness of one who knows how to defend his honor.
In so doing, this young man has destroyed in Brazil the old and erroneous idea of what a good young man is like.
This false image of a good young man is the funeral of goodness. If to be good, a young man had to be subhuman; if he had to forgo everything that provides the glow of youth; if he did not have to be combative, uncompromising; if he did not have to be a real man; if he did not have the courage to speak loudly and clearly; if he did not have to debate and to know how to argue and stand before an auditorium where everyone thinks differently and to proclaim the virtues he practices; if to be good a young man he had to be a shadow of himself, then one should say that goodness is no longer goodness.
He knows he has his own responsibilities, personal dignity, and convictions, which are taught by faith, and he is proud of these convictions. He is proud to be a Catholic, proud of being pure. He understands that impurity is a shame and purity a glory. He understands that not to believe is to be blind and that believers are those who truly see.
He understands that one who has an ideal and fights for it is worth much more than one who has a career and fights for it. He who fights for a career deserves respect at best, while he who fights for an ideal deserves veneration.
He knows how to clearly tell the truth to each person, how to speak louder and more forcefully, and how to place himself at the center of the fight and confront anyone at all.
He divides the city. His chest is like a firm rock against which the waters of public opinion break up into two different currents. He separates the good from the bad, following Our Lord Jesus Christ, of Whom the Prophet Simeon said He came to this earth to make the thoughts of many souls known.
At Fatima, Our Lady promised: “Finally, my Immaculate Heart will triumph.” Let our wishes be that America will rise for Our Lady, marking the triumph of Her Immaculate Heart. Through us, She will have achieved the impossible.[Nov. 2, 1971]
The Painter Parable
Imagine someone whose ideal was to become a fantastic painter.
It is noble to want to become a painter; wanting to be a great painter out of love for art can even be sanctifying.
If that person were never to become a painter but took it with holy resignation, a certain sadness would bathe his life in a special light. That noble and beautiful desire would be purified, sublimated, elevated and would mark him.
When appearing before God, he would have painted on his soul all the paintings he could not paint on any canvas.[Aug. 5, 1975]
Tragedy’s Paradox
Each of us has a major suffering in life, which is not episodical. It is a particular cross that accompanies us for a lifetime.[Aug. 12, 1979]
It is often in tragedy that man truly realizes himself.
Tragedy contains a sublimation that elevates man to an unimaginable height, and the mystery of human life is a true beauty.
This is the ennobling side of that firm, whole and complete renunciation and of this supernatural ideal.[Aug. 5, 1975]
Much Wrong, Something Right
Something one has desired and not obtained, something one wanted to be and is not, are longings that produce a curious effect on the soul.
In man’s unrealized desires, much is wrong, and something is right. The upright thing man wanted and never had generates something sublime that weeps inside him. It weeps an anthem and constitutes a light that illuminates his life.[Aug. 5, 1975]
Mediocrity and Idealism
I once saw someone say, “I’m very happy.”
No one in the room knew why she was so outstandingly happy. She was commonly happy or commonly unhappy. Then someone asked her, perhaps trying to be kind:
“But why are you so happy?”
“It is because I have many children, all mediocre.”
A bit surprising, isn’t it? She added:
“Life’s pleasure is mediocrity. If I had a brilliant son or daughter, I would begin ‘rooting’ for their career. Not my children. They all have established themselves in a solid, mediocre situation and all lead mediocre lives. I have neither surprises nor hopes: I vegetate. My children vegetate, and so do my grandchildren. To live is to vegetate.”
Who does not see that sadness transpires from all this and that her attitude was a way to exact revenge on her mediocrity and that of her kin? Who does not perceive that deep down, she was weeping over her mediocrity?
Everyone understands that complete mediocrity cannot produce happiness when facing the spectacle of other people’s happiness.[Aug. 5, 1975]
Something Man Would Want
Mediocrity does not satisfy man. It can save him from many troubles but leaves a lot of unsatisfied cravings.
We can imagine the most varied forms of life: they always show something that man would want, does not have, and dreams of.[Aug. 5, 1975]
Unhappiness’ Bitter Cup
At times, you see people surrounded by everything that can make life enjoyable.
I feel sorry when I see such a person because, in general, all the unhappiness not allotted to him throughout life awaits him like a bitter cup.
At a certain point, the person has to drink that cup.[Aug. 5, 1975]
Best Wishes!
I know the case of a lady who used to laugh with great joy. She was hilarious, lively and jovial.
She seemed to have nothing except happiness—even the rare happiness of being married to a husband so good she said she would rather lose all her children than him. For our penance as males, we must say that finding such a husband is not frequent!
One day, misfortunes began to assail her. On one occasion, as a matter of courtesy, I had to tell her:
I wish you much happiness, etc.
She was in deep mourning and replied:
“Never wish me happiness. After what has happened to me, my heart is black like this mourning dress. For it, there is no longer any happiness. It will be sadness to the end of my days.”
She said this in such a way that I was unable to respond with a banality, such as, “No, this will go away, and things will get better.” Both she and I knew her life would never be as before.
Using a courtesy formula everyone knows is nothing but that would be rude and stupid.
I have witnessed scenes like that very often in my life. I concluded that, in a sense, nothing does more harm to men than the conviction that happiness can be attained on this earth.
If this dream is impossible, if this goal is not attainable, I must take my life as it is. I must take myself as I am, with my limitations and the impossibilities that surround me, and live without vain nostalgia or silly cravings, bearing with the acceptance of this destiny that does not satisfy me.
By courageously bearing this acceptance, I can do good, fulfill my duty and be what God wants me to be rather than cater to my dreams. In so doing, I can fully and completely realize all I want in the next life.[Aug. 5, 1975]
Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira, aged 24, then a young deputy elected with 24,000 votes, a real colossus for the population of Brazil in 1932
A Promising Career
Once, something happened to me that would stir up the wildest dreams in many young men of my generation. At age 24, I was elected deputy [to Brazil’s Federal Constituent Assembly of 1936]. Every 24-year-old lad in Brazil was looking at me: 24 years old, 24,000 votes! In proportion to the size of the Brazilian electorate at that time, it was colossal.[*]
That was a clean victory by a man with a tranquil conscience who confronted and overcame impiety and was elevated to a summit of glory.
It looked as though a bright future awaited me.
Man’s great tragedy is to become detached from everything and say to himself: “No sir! God’s design for me is this, and this design I shall fulfill. And I will spend my whole life thinking only about what I must do.”
This is reality, and whatever is not that is bunk.
But this is a sacrifice of every moment, every day, every month and every year, one that ceases only when man expires.[Aug. 5, 1975]
The Way of Suffering
Only when a man wears himself out entirely does he feel relieved from the excess energies left inside.
Nothing makes man suffer so much as the failure to exhaust his capacity for suffering.
He often feels realized because he rid himself of this overcapacity to suffer. When he gets home and goes to bed exhausted, he can say: “My God, I’ve spent it all for Thee; I am out of breath.”
He is much better off than someone who did nothing the whole day.
Sparing oneself avails nothing. The opposite is true: wearing oneself out.[Aug. 5, 1975]
So Then, Is Life a Hell?
One can ask: “But what’s left of life? Is life then a hell?”
No, on the contrary. When you put up with everything and are conscious of doing your duty, deep down – and despite all the horrors you may go through – there is a sensation of something fulfilling the end for which it exists, something which is attaining the goal it must reach.
You have a profound sensation of order, cleanliness, logic and coherence which–amid all the malaise and trials–produces a fundamental well-being: the idea that we are conforming to God; that from the heights of Heaven God loves us, Our Lady loves us, and that one day we will see them for all eternity.[Aug. 5, 1975]
The Happiness Idealism Provides
What St. Bernard said of glory can be said of happiness: It is like a shadow; if you run after it, it runs away; if you run away from it, it runs after you.
He, who gives, is cheerful. When he keeps something, it sours, and he becomes sad. Do you want to be joyful? Give everything.[**]
Contents
[*] What’s more, Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira won the most votes, double that of the runner-up. To this day, more than 70 years later, only one federal congressman won a higher percentage of votes.
[**] This is not about giving material objects but spiritually by dedicating oneself to something along the lines of consecration to Our Lady.