• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Elizabeth Scalia
          • Michael R. Heinlein
          • Effie Caldarola
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Mark Viviano
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • Magazine Subscriptions
        • Archdiocesan Directory
  • CR Radio
        • CR Radio
        • Protagonistas de Fe
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe
Nurse Cathy Matarazzo takes a break from her duties in the radiology department at Mercy Medical Center in Rockville Centre, N.Y., to donate blood during the hospital's blood drive in this 2005 file photo. (OSV News photo/Gregory A. Shemitz, CNS)

Sharing the great secret: Doing good makes us happy

August 4, 2023
By Effie Caldarola
OSV News
Filed Under: Commentary

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

Today I found myself in the multipurpose room of an old Methodist Church, waiting my turn to donate blood.

It was a sticky-hot summer afternoon. Since it was a workday, and because older folks are great at volunteering, most of those sprawled out on nearby tables with tubes sticking out of their arms were senior citizens.

After our blood was drawn, we drank juice, ate an unappetizing packaged cookie and were required to wait a few minutes to make sure we weren’t going to keel over, which I imagine must be a rare but exciting event for those running the program. As we sat, we chatted, learning a bit about each other and our various faith communities.

And we each left with the same positive feeling: “I did something good today.”

And that feeling is supposed to make us feel happier within our lives. At least that’s the modern consensus. If you Google “Does doing good make me happy?” you’ll find a host of articles explaining how doing good does good for us. And there are scientific studies to back this up.

Apparently, engaging in altruistic or charitable behavior releases endorphins in the brain, which help us to feel happy. Volunteering can even help lift our depression.

As I write this, I imagine Jesus standing over my shoulder saying, “Oh, really?”

Jesus probably isn’t sarcastic, but I do think he would like to remind me that his whole call to mission was to love our neighbor — that he told us 2,000 years ago that following him was the way to find that elusive peace which the world doesn’t give.

That’s happiness. It’s not a new idea, even though Jesus never mentioned endorphins.

Being good to your neighbor as a way of living a peaceful and fulfilling life is a notion even older than Jesus: major religions throughout the ages believed charity toward others was something foundational.

Fifty years ago, Jesuit Father Pedro Arrupe delivered an address which influenced the future of his order and articulated this concept eloquently. Arrupe spoke of educating Catholics to be “men for others.” This phrase, today expressed as men and women for others, envisioned a person who would “give himself to others in love — love, which is his definitive and all-embracing dimension, that which gives meaning to all his other dimensions.”

The modern “do good to be happy” folks are right, of course, but here’s what they’re leaving out: Living for others is not just another self-help scheme, “one and done” for the day. It is an all-day, every day attitude. It is a mindset and desire grounded in God, who is defined as Love. Living out this love gives meaning to our lives. The love we show for others is our “definitive and all-embracing dimension.” It’s who we are as Christians, and it is defined as our way of life.

Doing good for others means giving when it’s sacrificial. It means forgiving when it’s difficult. It means living with a focus on the “other,” rather than how everything will work best for me.

Being a person for others enabled Franciscan Father Maximillian Kolbe to offer his life at Auschwitz in place of a husband and father who was targeted for death. We see Nicaraguan Bishop Rolando Álvarez, who refused a chance to flee persecution, remain incarcerated unjustly even today.

This love was embodied on the cross, by Jesus Christ.

Being a person for others may not call us to that kind of extreme sacrifice, but day by day, we can look for ways to be a person for others as a way of life, in our family, our neighborhood, our world.

And if one side effect of that effort is our own increased happiness, all the better!

Read More Commentary

Our faith is not afraid of questions

Artificial Intelligence, wholeism and prayer

Question Corner: Does reception of the Eucharist replace confession?

A butterfly lands on a flowering bush with purple blossoms

A Miracle for a Baby in Rhode Island (and for all of us)

Kids need lots of people who love them

Painting of Martha and Mary during their visit with Jesus

A parenting lesson in the Mary and Martha story

Copyright © 2023 OSV News

Print Print

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

Primary Sidebar

Effie Caldarola

View all posts from this author

| Recent Commentary |

Our faith is not afraid of questions

Artificial Intelligence, wholeism and prayer

Question Corner: Does reception of the Eucharist replace confession?

A butterfly lands on a flowering bush with purple blossoms

A Miracle for a Baby in Rhode Island (and for all of us)

Kids need lots of people who love them

| Recent Local News |

Archdiocese of Baltimore offers resources for parishes to assist migrants

Third annual gun buyback scheduled for Aug. 9

Driver arrested after crashing into entrance of Esperanza Center

Construction underway on new north addition to St. Joseph’s Nursing Home 

Prince of Peace merges with St. Francis de Sales in Harford County

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • Warsaw archbishop ‘devastated, crushed’ by priest’s arrest in brutal murder of homeless man
  • Jubilee of Youth chance to celebrate hope, fraternity in world at war, panel says
  • New York archdiocese sees hundreds of responses to ‘Called By Name’ program
  • Can’t afford a Catholic college? Think again. Many offer full tuition options
  • Detroit archbishop fires theologians Ralph Martin, Eduardo Echeverría from seminary
  • LA archbishop, joined by business leaders, starts fund to help families affected by ICE raids
  • FBI surveilled SSPX priest amid probe of suspected neo-Nazi’s plans for violence
  • Poland’s ‘living memorial’ to St. John Paul II marks 25 years of transforming lives
  • Our faith is not afraid of questions

Search

Membership

Catholic Media Assocation

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2025 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

en Englishes Spanish
en en