St. Jeanne Jugan is often portrayed looking quite solemn but she was actually very joyful. She was known to exclaim, “What happiness to be a Little Sister of the Poor!” and to counsel the young Little Sisters that “making the elderly happy is what counts.”
The idea of happiness features prominently in our national conversation as we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Hopefully, we have not forgotten these key words of our founding document: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
As Little Sisters at the service of the elderly, we have daily experience of the right to life. In the past decade, we’ve also had extensive experience with the right to religious liberty. But what of the pursuit of happiness?
Today, many people define happiness as a good feeling, an experience of worldly pleasure or enjoyment. But Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence, meant more than this. Numerous authors assert that as someone educated in ancient philosophy, Mr. Jefferson was referring to the Greek idea of eudaimonia, a state of flourishing through good character, the practice of virtue and active participation in civic life.
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I recently saw an illustration of the Pursuit of Happiness that portrayed a rather comical figure chasing smiley faces with a butterfly net. This didn’t really do it for me. I see it more as an upward climb, made in the company of others, where the strong extend a hand to lift up the weak or as a circle of individuals creating a work of art together.
In 1787 Thomas Jefferson wrote to his daughter, giving her advice on how to find meaning in life. He encouraged her to develop “those principles of virtue and goodness which will make you valuable to others and happy in yourselves, acquiring those talents and that degree of science which will guard you at all times against ennui, the most dangerous poison of life. A mind always employed is always happy. This is the true secret, the grand recipe for felicity.”
We have recently received Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical, “Magnificent Humanity.” It will take months to plumb the depths of the Holy Father’s thought but even a superficial reading of the encyclical highlights the grandeur of humanity and the truth that human flourishing is impossible without fraternity. “History can … change when individuals truly take the dignity of everyone seriously,” Leo wrote, citing the American civil rights movement and the figure of Martin Luther King, Jr.
The pope described “ ‘martyrs of everyday life’ who care for, educate, accompany and comfort without fanfare, such as parents, nurses, doctors, volunteers and those who remain alongside an elderly person or an outcast.”
“For centuries, the Christian tradition has maintained that human beings are not confined by the boundaries of their own nature; rather, they are called to self-transcendence, not through an escape from reality or a contempt for their limitations, but through their fulfillment in love,” the pope wrote.
“We become fully human when we become more than human,” he wrote. “What saves humanity is not enhanced self-sufficiency but a relationship that liberates, a communion that transforms … A person’s future is not calculable but depends on one’s freedom — elevated by the inexhaustible grace of God — and on the relationships cultivated.”
Our Founding Fathers would have recognized their ideas concerning the “Pursuit of Happiness” in these passages of Pope Leo calling us to improve society by supporting the lives of others.
As we celebrate our Nation’s 250th anniversary, may we honor the unalienable Rights to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness by accompanying and remaining alongside the very young, the elderly, the stranger and the most vulnerable among us.
Sister Constance Veit is the communications director for the Little Sisters of the Poor in the United States and an occupational therapist.
