Franciscan Happiness

Happiness is something we all seek.

St. Francis makes it clear what happiness is.

"All who love the Lord with their whole heart, with their whole soul and mind, with all their strength (cf. Mk 12:30), and love their neighbors as themselves (cf. Mt 22:39) and hate their bodies with their vices and sins, and receive the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, and produce worthy fruits of penance.

Oh, how happy and blessed are these men and women when they do these things and persevere in doing them, because "the spirit of the Lord will rest upon them" (cf. Is 11:2) and he will make "his home and dwelling among them" (cf Jn 14:23), and they are the sons of the heavenly Father (cf. Mt 5:45), whose works they do, and they are the spouses, brothers, and mothers of our Lord Jesus Christ (cf. Mt 12:50)."

The above two paragraphs come from the opening lines of the Rule of the Secular Franciscan Order. By the way, the rule of the brothers and sisters of the Third Order Regular (TOR) also includes the two paragraphs.

Of course, St. Francis is not alone in his view of the importance of loving God and neighbor and the positive benefits of doing so. Centuries earlier, St. Augustine wrote: "Virtuous behavior pertains to the love of God and one's neighbor; the truth of faith pertains to a knowledge of God and of one's neighbor. For the hope of everyone lies in his own conscience in so far as he knows himself to be becoming more proficient in the love of God and in his neighbor." (De doct. chr 3:10) St. Augustine thought that the key to happiness was properly ordered love.

Note that St. Francis' understanding of happiness is different from St. Thomas Aquinas's understanding, which is that happiness is the vision of God that the blessed experience in heaven.