A basketball coach had twin sons. He wanted his sons to be professional basketball players when they grew up, so from an early age he took them to play basketball in the park. It was always the same, his sons wanted to play freely and to have fun and their father would not let them. They had to follow the principles and rules of basketball, even if they were alone, and even though they had gone to the park to have fun.
Since they had to obey their father, the children did not have much fun when they went to play with him. Yet, little by little they learned the rules and principles and little by little they were improving in the way they played. By the time they started high school, they knew and followed the rules and the principles pretty well. When they played in school, because they played according to the rules and principles, they not only played better than all the other classmates but also had much more fun than the others.
The same thing happens in life. Many times, we only want to have fun and enjoy the things that give us pleasure in this life. Therefore, we do not want to live according to the commandments and moral principles because they do not allow us to have fun and enjoy things as we would like.
However, if we succeed in learning to live according to the commandments, so that they are not a burden or an obligation, but a way of life, a virtuous habit that we build and follow, we will not only live much better, but also really enjoy life. Because the one who lives according to the Catholic moral principles and commandments, lives according to his own nature, because the moral principles are meant to help us live according to our nature.
If we live according to our nature and not according to our passions and our disordered desires for pleasure, we live life as it should be lived and that is what makes us really enjoy life. Living in search of pleasures does not make us enjoy life but rather we enjoy only that moment that gives us pleasure and then life becomes a burden again, because it is not lived according to the appropriate rules and principles. We can only really enjoy life if we live it as it should be lived, and the commandments and principles of morality help us to live it in this way
That was the secret of the saints. They lived this life enjoying little or nothing of what worldly people enjoy. However, they were happier than worldly people, because living according to the moral principles freed them from the bonds of worldly things and that freedom, which is true freedom, allowed them to enjoy life.
