Wednesday 3rd Week of Easter
USCCB Day of Reflection
Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception
Washington, D.C.
April 22, 2026
I. The Search for Happiness
A. All of us want to be happy.
We want to feel happy, look happy, be happy.
If you want to gauge your happiness,
you can fill out the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire,
or be measured on the Subjective Happiness Scale,
or the Happiness Scale given us by the noted author, Arthur Brooks.
It only takes ten minutes and focuses on satisfaction and meaning.
B. You’ve probably guessed that I’m partial to Arthur Brooks, and here’s why.
I saw his interview at the Library of Congress with David Rubenstein,
(who happens to the owner of the Baltimore Orioles).
Brooks was talking about what makes him happy.
It’s getting up before dawn (most us probably don’t agree).
He exercises vigorously for one hour (I agree with that but not at 4:45).
And then he and his wife go to Mass.
He says Mass is something like Starbucks.
Wherever he goes, it’s pretty much the same.
But it makes him happy to start off his day with Mass.
He claims it’s one of things that increases dopamine in his brain,
and dopamine contributes to feelings of well-being and induces creativity.
C. I really can’t say. I’m not a scientist. But I’m also not surprised.
Grace still builds on nature.
And the one who gave us the Eucharist, created us in our mother’s womb.
Wonderfully, fearfully, are we made.
All I know is that when I read or listen to the Bread of Life discourse,
I’m filled with awe and filled with joy.
The bread I hold in my hands morning after morning,
the bread that I bless, break, and distribute, is not mere bread,
but the Bread of Life come down from heaven,
the Risen Lord, who chose to remain with us always!
Whether I’m saying a quiet Mass in my little chapel
or celebrating the Chrism Mass with a packed Cathedral,
the bread that is blessed, broken, and given is the source of all joy,
the font of happiness, the abyss of love, inexhaustible in its meaning.
After forty-nine years of priesthood, I still ask,
“What kind of love is this? The Crucified and Risen Savior as food and drink?”
On my best days, I am “all lost in wonder”.
D. Is it dopamine or is it grace? It is grace building on nature.
But grace always exceeds nature – exponentially.
From the grace of the Holy Spirit we derive
not merely human satisfaction and a fleeting happiness,
but irreplaceable joy and peace and a depth of love beyond amazement.
It is the Risen Lord standing in our midst saying, “Peace be with you!”
St. Carlos Acutis was right.
The Eucharist is ‘our highway to heaven’ –
and as long as that’s the road we’re on,
we’re already enjoying a supernatural happiness, a transcendent happiness
that no amount of success and no philosophy of life can match.
Even on those days marked more by desolation than consolation,
the Eucharist remains the source of all hope, the source of all joy.
II. An Enduring Joy
A. Isn’t that what’s going on today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles?
Compare the first paragraph to the second paragraph.
The first paragraph describes calamitous events:
a violent persecution of the Church in Jerusalem and beyond
that scatters the fledging Christian community.
The stoning of Stephen.
The treachery of a man named Saul.
Forces afoot aiming to destroy the Church
bought at the price of Christ’s blood and born from his side.
B. What about the second paragraph of our reading?
“Those who were scattered [it says], went about preaching the word.”
Philip, for one, went down to Samaria and began to preach.
The crowds paid rapt attention to his words.
Those possessed by unclean spirits were set free.
Those who were paralyzed and crippled were cured.
And there was great rejoicing in that city! Great joy!
C. Ah, a tale of two paragraphs. Doesn’t that sum it up for us?
On the one hand, the Church today is being severely challenged in many places.
Think of the persecution of the Church in Nigeria and Nicaragua.
Think of the suffering Christians in Ukraine.
Pope Francis spoke about the soft persecution of the Church in the West,
and we see it happening, sometimes covert, sometimes overt.
Add to that the Church’s cultural, administrative, legal, and financial burdens.
That’s paragraph # 1 for us.
D. Here’s paragraph #2:
An unprecedented number of people entering the Church at Easter.
Flourishing campus ministries. Gen Z waking up to the faith.
A weary culture seeking meaning and stability.
In some places, an abundance of priestly and religious vocations.
A church that is a prophetic voice for immigrants and the poor.
A pope who continues to preach the Gospel come what may.
E. What ties together paragraph #1 and paragraph #2?
Don’t you know, it’s the Bread of Life come down from heaven.
It turns out that daily Mass is
the inexhaustible source of a joy that translates into mission,
the mission of bearing witness to the Risen Savior
whom we encounter in his Body and Blood whenever Mass is celebrated.
III. Poised Between Two Paragraphs
A. You are at the heart of this drama – poised between two paragraphs –
but nourished by the One who conquers all things.
Jesus said, “In the world you will have trouble, but be at peace:
I have conquered the world!”
And with the Lord we can drive the Church’s mission forward, come what may.
We are, after all, his witnesses.
B. And for the record, I too receive happiness surveys in the mail.
Mine come from CARA. And they take a lot longer than ten minutes to fill out.
But I’m happy to spend the time because it’s a way of saying
that the nothing and no one makes us happier
than the One who is the Bread of Life come down from heaven.
May God bless us and keep us always in his love!