MEDITATION TIP —
23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time September 8, 2024

“(Jesus) looked up to heaven, breathed deeply, and said to him, ‘Ephphatha,’ which means, ‘be opened’” (Mark 7:34).

　Jesus is saying “ephphatha” to us in the same way. What is he saying “be opened” to us? Is it our heart, our hope, or our future? In other words, I feel that he is saying “be opened” in the sense of what kind of mindset will enable us to look to Jesus and live our lives positively. In his book “Effort theory,” Rohan Koda, a renowned writer of the Meiji period (1868-1912), observed people closely and stated that in order to live life positively, one should “think not of the other person’s responsibility but of one’s own responsibility (i.e., one should not blame others for anything but take one’s own responsibility)” and “make efforts every day.” He also introduced the interesting “Three Theories of Happiness,” which include “sparing happiness (sekifuku),” “sharing happiness (bunpuku),” and “planting happiness (shokuhfuku).”

　He explains that “sparing happiness (sekifuku),” refers to the practice of not using up all of one’s blessings, but rather entrusting some to heaven. This attitude, he suggests, increases the likelihood of experiencing happiness again. Rohan also observes, “If you look at people who are happy, many of them have the ingenuity to spare their blessings, but if you look at those who are unhappy, eight or nine out of ten of them have no such ingenuity. It is a curious phenomenon that those who have the ingenuity to spare their blessings are strangely blessed again, while those who lack the ingenuity to spare their blessings are strangely not blessed.”

　“Sharing happiness (bunpuku)” means spreading happiness to others. Rohan asserts that that there is no happiness for oneself alone, and that making others happy will eventually lead to one’s own happiness. He explains, “All human affairs are like the pendulum of a clock: the distance moved to the right moves to the left, and the distance moved to the left moves to the right. If you share your blessings, others will also share theirs in return.” In other words, if you want to be happy, you must first plant the seeds of happiness in others, which is consistent with the phrase “kindness is not for the benefit of others alone.”

　“Planting happiness (shokufuku)” means to sow the seeds of happiness now so that we can continue to be happy in the future, and to continue to devote ourselves to it. Like the law of cause and effect, the seeds we have sown in the past have sprouted and created the person we are today. He tells us that we cannot rewrite the past, but if we continue to sow good seeds from now on, we can certainly open up a desirable future. At the entrance to eternal life, it is written in bright gold letters, “You will reap what you have sown.”

　Rohan Koda was not a Christian, but it is important for us to be exposed to many people, ideas, and events to gain new insights. Human growth occurs in those moments in which we become aware of something. Growth does not progress steadily upward but rather involves pe-riods of feeling stuck, like a “landing” on a staircase, and the moment we become aware of something, we overcome it and move up to the next level. Whether it is study, work, or faith, if we keep working toward these “moments of awareness,” a way forward and hope will surely open up for us. Therefore, let us always walk with the mindset of “ephphatha.”

 　　　　　(Contribution by Father Akabae)