We do not have to look too far to see that the desire for happiness is something that, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us, is "placed in the human heart" of every man. St Augustine expresses this reality when he teaches, "We all want to live happily; in the whole human race, there is no one who does not assent to this proposition, even before it is fully articulated."

Equally though, it does not take much more than a cursory glance for us to see that for most people, this search is perpetually frustrated, and like an endless game of hide and seek, the much sought after answer is never discovered, never found. How hard is it to watch on, as perhaps even members of our own families or our peers on campus desperately try to fulfill their desire for happiness in all the wrong ways? Always falling short, and with a quiet anguish, a longing, a lacking! For a while, the things of this world, the fleeting pleasures, may provide some joy or instant happiness, but they will never fill and will certainly never overflow with the abundance for which we have been created.

In the gospel of this Mass, our Lord gives us, in its beauty and simplicity, the secret to our happiness, the secret to the eternal beatitude, the blessedness that we desire. "Blessed," he says, "are those who hear the Word of God and obey it." We have been created to hear his Word. This is the secret to our happiness. Amid the noise, the voices, and the busyness of the world, each one of us must search after silence, stillness, for it is in this silence and peace that the Lord speaks, and happiness can be found. For his is not an ordinary word, but he is "the word of life made manifest in Christ." In writing to the faithful of the Church, Pope Emeritus Benedict once encouraged "all the faithful to renew their personal and communal encounter with Christ, the word of life made visible, and to become his heralds."

We must then cultivate a spirit of silence in our own lives, a silence that allows for God to speak and for a deep and abiding relationship to form. Of course, this is not easy. While we have been created for silence and for gentle prompting of the Spirit, we have been reprogramed by the world, by the media, by our smartphone. We have become so used to the immediate response of a quick Google search or instantaneous response of a text message that we have become unfamiliar, uncomfortable with—and almost immune to—how God, our creator, wishes to communicate with us in the stillness and silence of our hearts.

My fear is, my friends, that it is not only from without that these noises come, and drown out, the voice of God. I was asked by a group of students last year what I thought was the biggest challenge facing young people in discerning a vocation today, in hearing the voice of God in their life. And my response was quite simply, "that you know too much"! You live in a time and place where you can access information, advice, and opinions like never before. I fear that these noises, no matter how well-intentioned, no matter how accessible, or how orthodox, can get in the way of you hearing what God himself is saying to you, directly to your heart.

It is Christ who speaks!

It is Christ who desires a relationship with each one of you!

It is Christ who calls you to greatness, and he desires more than anything that you seek after a deep and abiding encounter with him.

Listen to him!

Then and only then will you be able to hear his second command today. "For Blessed are those who hear the Word of God, and obey it."

To listen to his Word, and to have a real encounter with the Word, inspires courage and spurs us to action. No one who has ever had a real encounter with the Lord and truly has received his Word into their heart has ever been left unchanged. In the gospels these past Sundays, we heard that when the apostles Peter and Andrew, James and John encountered the Lord, listened to his Word they were then inspired to leave everything and follow him. They laid down their nets, left their father on the shore the lake, and joined Jesus. This, my friends, is what he desires of each one of us: to hear his Word, to encounter him, and to then leave everything to follow him.

At the start of this academic year, we gather on this day and seek the intercession and patronage of our Blessed Mother. She stands for us as the finest example of discipleship.

As a young woman, she cultivated a heart ready to hear the Word of God. With no concern for the voice of the crowd and no access to YouTube to check the angel's theological orthodoxy, she gave her whole life to the Lord. May she continue to inspire each one of us to do the same. With Mary as our patron and guide, let us begin this new year with the firm desire to seek the happiness we have been created for. To cultivate a heart for silence, ready to receive the Word of God, and to courageously do his will, and in doing so become heralds of that Word in the world in which we live.

This is an edited version of the homily from the ACSA Opening of the Academic Year Mass in honour of Our Lady.