Welcome back to the Word on Fire Show. I'm Brandon Vaat, the senior publishing director at Word on Fire.

We have a brand new course inside of our Word on Fire Institute. It recently went live and it's titled The Art of Happiness.

It's taught by Arthur Brooks, one of our fellows, blending social science and Catholicism.

This course combines cutting-edge research and top-notch scholarship with the lives of great saints and our incredible inheritance of church teaching.

There are even surprising places to discover where secular science reinforces sacred wisdom.

Plus, you'll receive clear takeaways and action items that you can put into practice right now in order to build more happiness for yourself and to help you share more joy and peace with your family, your friends, and everyone else God puts before you.

Today, we're going to hear lesson one from this course, which is titled Three Equations for Happier Catholics.

In this first talk, Dr. Brooks lays out the drivers of happiness according to Catholicism and findings from secular social science.

Three things that influence our level of happiness. I won't spoil them here. You have to listen to the talk to find out.

But I did want to mention that right now we are running a special deal where you can access all of the Word on Fire Institute for free during Lent.

That's right. From now through Sunday, April 17th, which is Easter, you can join the Word on Fire Institute for free.

So you will not only be able to listen to the rest of this course from Arthur Brooks, but over 25 other courses by amazing teachers.

You'll also get access to all of Bishop Aaron's films and study programs. You'll receive a wonderful welcome box with the evangelization and culture journal, a book by Bishop Aaron, and much more.

So go to the website word on fire dot institute. Look for the free Lent and trial button and sign up today.

But for now, here's Arthur Brooks in lesson one of his new course on the art of happiness and joy.

I'm Arthur Brooks, Professor of Public Leadership at Harvard University. I'm here to talk to you about the secrets to joyful Catholicism.

In this first lecture, we're going to cover some of the basic science of human happiness. I'm going to do this with three equations, three big picture of mental models that you can use to conduct a happiness checkup and identify spots where you might benefit from making some changes.

But first, you might be asking yourself, why should faithful Catholics care about the secular science of happiness? Isn't our interior life between us and God shouldn't a priest or a mystic be teaching this course for word on fire instead of a social scientist like me?

Well, there's no question or capacity for true joy and happiness begins with faith and is letter to the Galatians, St. Paul lists joy and peace as two of the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit.

St. Augustine famously writes in his confessions that you have made us for your self, oh Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.

So let's be clear, no secular science will ever be able to originate the joy and the happiness that can only stem from closeness with the Lord. The wellspring isn't us. The wellspring isn't the world as the catacism makes clear. God alone satisfies.

But here's something else that's fundamental. Catholics don't just wait around for God to send us bolts from the blue. We don't drift aimlessly waiting for the right subjective feelings to strike.

...