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The Quest for Happiness: Finding the Meaning of Life Within God's Plan
What is the meaning of life? What is love? How can I be happy?
These are questions that people today often ask rhetorically, as though there were no answer. Others hunt down answers in self-help books, guides from experts, or television.
The great Dominican, Venerable Louis of Granada, best known for his work The Sinner’s Guide , penned this treatise— The Quest for Happiness —to help us see that we cannot trust in man’s own work to bring about happiness.
What is the meaning of life? It is not a rhetorical question, rather, the Church has the answer! To know, love and serve almighty God. This book gives the answer of how to proceed on such a quest out of the unhappiness of the world and toward the happiness of God.
This new edition of Venerable Louis’ work, lightly edited and adjusted for the problems that modern man faces today, is a map to navigate the wasteland of modernity and discover true happiness.
These are questions that people today often ask rhetorically, as though there were no answer. Others hunt down answers in self-help books, guides from experts, or television.
The great Dominican, Venerable Louis of Granada, best known for his work The Sinner’s Guide , penned this treatise— The Quest for Happiness —to help us see that we cannot trust in man’s own work to bring about happiness.
What is the meaning of life? It is not a rhetorical question, rather, the Church has the answer! To know, love and serve almighty God. This book gives the answer of how to proceed on such a quest out of the unhappiness of the world and toward the happiness of God.
This new edition of Venerable Louis’ work, lightly edited and adjusted for the problems that modern man faces today, is a map to navigate the wasteland of modernity and discover true happiness.
- GenresReligion
96 pages, Paperback
Published May 25, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 28, 2021
Ithink the question of what composes of happiness is a question that everyone has, and has become more prominent, particularly during these times of pandemic. However, I think it is because of these times that TAN chose to publish an edited english translation of The Quest For Happiness: Finding the Meaning of Life Within God’s Plan, by the Venerable Louis of Granada (1505-1588), a Spanish Dominican friar and theologian. This version published by TAN was edited and arranged by Ryan Grant.
How often does the world go to sell an ideal picture of what happiness looks like. “You need Spotify Premium! You need Youtube Premium! You need X! You need Y!” I have heard it too many times. Sometimes, just after listening to a Catholic song, I am faced with an ad, selling me an “eco-tank printer” or “get Spotify Premium.” However, when do I ever hear an ad that says, “You need Jesus! You need to get rid of sin!” I have never heard such ad on YouTube or Spotify, or on CBC… all the ads I hear of are selling material items or services. The only time I hear Catholic ads are on EWTN, Salt+Light TV and other Catholic media platforms, but I assume it would be typical to hear Catholic ads on Catholic TV.
I also don’t know how often I hear people turn to self-help books to find a sense of happiness in their lives. While I am glad that people still buy books, there is one fine solution to all of these questions, and that is in the Christian life. As the editor penned in the note at the beginning of the book, “…this world cannot give happiness, and we are then in the grip of sin and its effects. What course do we follow? This book gives the answer of how to proceed on such a quest out of the unhappiness of the world and toward the happiness of God.” (Granada, Grant ed. VIII) Happiness is in God, and God alone. He is the one whom we are invited to seek. But how? This book lays out the methods to achieve this.
Looking at the Table of Contents, the treatise has been divided into twelve chapters: (1) The meaning of life, (2) False happiness of this world, (3) True happiness, (4) Living a life of virtue, (5) The Gifts of the Holy Spirit, (6) Venial and mortal sin, (7) Sins against the Holy Spirit, (8) The slavery of sin, (9) Manual for avoiding sin, (10) God’s law, (11) Divine grace, and (12) Justification through grace.
I will let these headings speak for themselves. Within only 96 pages, there is a lot packed into the book. I suggest not reading the book in one sitting, but maybe read the book over the span of 12-days because I found that even though the text is easy to read, there is much to devour and reflect on. Each chapter is distinct, while maintaining a sense of continuity as one chapter builds on another aspect of the Christian life. I found myself spending nearly a month on this book – okay, maybe because I had other university course content to read and work on – but truthfully at times, I felt that it was not right to pick it back up because the truth is, I have flaws that can’t seem to fix yet and a particular aspect of the book really struck me to that prompted a deeper reflection before moving on. There is a sense of uneasiness when reading the book because at times, you come to the realization that I am not perfect or that I have a lot to work in terms of my spiritual life and relationship with God.
This “quest for happiness” will be full of challenges because it takes determination and a total surrender to God, to let God live in you and you in Him. In a society that is so concerned with how to live a comfortable life whether it be a Bridle Path Mansion or latest 2021 Tesla, those things do not offer any sense of God who is the source of our happiness. The biggest concern is finding God in our lives and that requires a committed Christian life and it is not easy. The higher we get in our Christian life, the more temptations may come and we must strive to defeat them. Therefore, the concept of sin is spoken of much in this book because the thing that gets in between us and God is sin. We should not neglect sin, even venial sins. Rather, we must strive to perfection and we have God’s grace that will help us in that. The question is, will be really let God’s grace work in us?
The hinge of the book that I think many would be drawn to is chapter 9, Manual for avoiding sin. While all the other chapters are important in helping us understand how to attain happiness and what happiness truly is, and what “weights” we would need to drop in order for our hot air balloon to fly, I think the other chapters are more so theory, more like in-depth catechism classes. It is in chapter 9 that I think things get practical because like any retreat you attend or catechism lessons, you can take in all that the Church says, all that the retreat master says, but the most difficult part is putting what we read and hear into practice and chapter 9 prompts that.
Overall The Quest for Happiness published by TAN Books is certainly a book that every Catholic should read, especially in this time of pandemic and more so, this Lenten Season. These times remind us really of what matters, because at the end of the day we will all return to dust like the ashes that were imposed on us on Ash Wednesday. Thus, what do we make of our lives? That is what The Quest for Happiness strives to help one with. Don’t rely merely on your second-grade First Communion catechesis when speaking of the sin – go deeper than that, and go below the surface with The Quest for Happiness and I guarantee you, you pick up this book, you will not regret purchasing it and spending the time reading it carefully.
How often does the world go to sell an ideal picture of what happiness looks like. “You need Spotify Premium! You need Youtube Premium! You need X! You need Y!” I have heard it too many times. Sometimes, just after listening to a Catholic song, I am faced with an ad, selling me an “eco-tank printer” or “get Spotify Premium.” However, when do I ever hear an ad that says, “You need Jesus! You need to get rid of sin!” I have never heard such ad on YouTube or Spotify, or on CBC… all the ads I hear of are selling material items or services. The only time I hear Catholic ads are on EWTN, Salt+Light TV and other Catholic media platforms, but I assume it would be typical to hear Catholic ads on Catholic TV.
I also don’t know how often I hear people turn to self-help books to find a sense of happiness in their lives. While I am glad that people still buy books, there is one fine solution to all of these questions, and that is in the Christian life. As the editor penned in the note at the beginning of the book, “…this world cannot give happiness, and we are then in the grip of sin and its effects. What course do we follow? This book gives the answer of how to proceed on such a quest out of the unhappiness of the world and toward the happiness of God.” (Granada, Grant ed. VIII) Happiness is in God, and God alone. He is the one whom we are invited to seek. But how? This book lays out the methods to achieve this.
Looking at the Table of Contents, the treatise has been divided into twelve chapters: (1) The meaning of life, (2) False happiness of this world, (3) True happiness, (4) Living a life of virtue, (5) The Gifts of the Holy Spirit, (6) Venial and mortal sin, (7) Sins against the Holy Spirit, (8) The slavery of sin, (9) Manual for avoiding sin, (10) God’s law, (11) Divine grace, and (12) Justification through grace.
I will let these headings speak for themselves. Within only 96 pages, there is a lot packed into the book. I suggest not reading the book in one sitting, but maybe read the book over the span of 12-days because I found that even though the text is easy to read, there is much to devour and reflect on. Each chapter is distinct, while maintaining a sense of continuity as one chapter builds on another aspect of the Christian life. I found myself spending nearly a month on this book – okay, maybe because I had other university course content to read and work on – but truthfully at times, I felt that it was not right to pick it back up because the truth is, I have flaws that can’t seem to fix yet and a particular aspect of the book really struck me to that prompted a deeper reflection before moving on. There is a sense of uneasiness when reading the book because at times, you come to the realization that I am not perfect or that I have a lot to work in terms of my spiritual life and relationship with God.
This “quest for happiness” will be full of challenges because it takes determination and a total surrender to God, to let God live in you and you in Him. In a society that is so concerned with how to live a comfortable life whether it be a Bridle Path Mansion or latest 2021 Tesla, those things do not offer any sense of God who is the source of our happiness. The biggest concern is finding God in our lives and that requires a committed Christian life and it is not easy. The higher we get in our Christian life, the more temptations may come and we must strive to defeat them. Therefore, the concept of sin is spoken of much in this book because the thing that gets in between us and God is sin. We should not neglect sin, even venial sins. Rather, we must strive to perfection and we have God’s grace that will help us in that. The question is, will be really let God’s grace work in us?
The hinge of the book that I think many would be drawn to is chapter 9, Manual for avoiding sin. While all the other chapters are important in helping us understand how to attain happiness and what happiness truly is, and what “weights” we would need to drop in order for our hot air balloon to fly, I think the other chapters are more so theory, more like in-depth catechism classes. It is in chapter 9 that I think things get practical because like any retreat you attend or catechism lessons, you can take in all that the Church says, all that the retreat master says, but the most difficult part is putting what we read and hear into practice and chapter 9 prompts that.
Overall The Quest for Happiness published by TAN Books is certainly a book that every Catholic should read, especially in this time of pandemic and more so, this Lenten Season. These times remind us really of what matters, because at the end of the day we will all return to dust like the ashes that were imposed on us on Ash Wednesday. Thus, what do we make of our lives? That is what The Quest for Happiness strives to help one with. Don’t rely merely on your second-grade First Communion catechesis when speaking of the sin – go deeper than that, and go below the surface with The Quest for Happiness and I guarantee you, you pick up this book, you will not regret purchasing it and spending the time reading it carefully.
September 19, 2023
This is a truly great book if one both wants to repent of his sins and feel motivated to do better. How much humility is needed to be a True Christian!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews