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The Easter season ends today, Catholic Pilgrims, with our celebration of Pentecost.
A non-believer, who I was once close with, said to me once, “The point of life is to maximize pleasure, avoid suffering, be nice, and do what makes you happy until you turn into stardust. Then, it’s light out.”
I kid you not, that’s what she said and I admit it sounds a bit like a caricature of what a non-believer might say, but I’m not making it up. Several like-minded people in the crowd agreed with her.
I cannot think of a bleaker existence.
Other than the just blanket remark of “be nice,” it all, whether intended or not, turns into a self-serving existence. A self-serving existence can only ever provide temporal happiness and it will quickly devolve into believing any means justify the ends.
The quick, concise answer to what is the point of life is: The purpose of life is to know, love, and serve God in this life so that we may be happy with Him in the next.
Round of applause for all of you who still have the memorized.
The purpose of life is to use your God-given gifts to bring light and love into the world. That will require some sacrifice. It will require some suffering. It will require discipline. It will require that you place others before yourself. We hate to hear that in our self-obsessed society, but it’s true.
The more you focus on yourself, the less happy you will be. That is not to say you should utterly ignore yourself or don’t enjoy life or anything like that. But, I hope we can look around our “ME!” centered society and see that we are more unhappy, more anxious, more depressed, more listless than ever before.
The Holy Spirit animates our lives and helps us to use our gifts in service for the Lord, which will
always be fulfilling, challenging, engaging, and enriching for, not only ourselves, but others.
“If we live in the Spirit, let us also follow in the Spirit,” Catholic Pilgrims.
Have a very blessed Feast of Pentecost.
*Cathedral-Basilica of St. Louis, St. Louis, MO
I don't know when it occurred, and maybe it was a culmination of things, but somewhere along the way, enough people decided to turn Christianity into a low-bar social club. "You're alright, I'm alright," became the mantra. Like with anything that has a low bar, it might seem fun at first, but after a while you start to think, "What's the point?" Mass or going to Sunday service became optional. Being with Jesus in the trees is equivalent. Nobody is allowed to point out sin because that's mean. Just keep it calm, keep it nice, don't ask too much, just believe, it's fine, all's fine. With this, cheesy Christianity set in because everything was just about "go make a difference" with your tambourine. What we've seen with the low bar and the cheese factor and the calls to just be nice is that people drifted away, because what is the point? What is the point? Nothing is inspiring about anything that is casual--nothing. Casual has no fire, no bite, no fight, no answers. It's just--"Hey, meh." And I hate it. I despise the casual-fication of Christianity. Nobody is going to stick around for something that asks nothing of them. Why would they? This past Sunday in my OCIA class that I help teach, the main teacher said, "If you are looking at Christianity as just some feel-good thing, you might as well just turn around and leave. It's not that. When lived right, it will ask something of you." He's right. Christianity is about sacrifice, discipline, obedience, and spiritual warfare. "Pick up your cross and follow Me." Christianity sets a high-bar for us--Sainthood. There is no Saint that just casually staggered towards salvation. I need to be prepared for the spiritual battles and I simply cannot do that just hugging trees and singing "Table of Plenty" and only ever quoting "be nice" from the Bible, though that isn't in there. I just simply can't be equipped to battle a fallen world with a casual basket of wet, cheesy noodles to arm myself with. Accept the challenge of a life lived to the fullest in Christ, which asks us to surrender our lives not to our wills, but God's Will, Catholic Pilgrims. The true path to salvation will never be casual, nor should we want it to be.
Continue ReadingI will unite around: Christ and Christian doctrines. Objective Truth. Truth that comes to us from natural reason and, also, from supernatural revelation. Beauty that elevates the soul. Goodness that brings lasting joy. Families. Repentance. Marriage between one woman and one man. Denouncing evil and its destructive forces. Love of America. Virtues--Courage, Justice, Prudence, Temperance, Fortitude, etc. True Freedom, which is the freedom to choose what is right and not just do whatever you want. Our unalienable rights--Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. These are the things I can unite around. Live the Faith boldly and travel well, Catholic Pilgrims.
Continue ReadingThe other day, I was watching a video where a man was asking other men on the streets to prioritize their female relationships. He said, "Which relationship has the highest priority? Wife, mom, or daughter." Not a single guy said "wife" first. One even said something like, "Daughter, mom, and wife last because she's replaceable." The truth of the matter is that none of these people are replaceable. No one that you claim to love is replaceable and if you view your spouse as replaceable, well, then you never loved them in the first place. A man is to leave his father and mother and cling to his wife. It is his wife that he makes a covenant vow with and no other. Children are the product of that love. People leave their parents to go start their own family. Children grow up and move on and start their own families or enter religious orders. The spousal relationship is meant to endure until death do you part. There is a reason that you take a vow with your spouse--it's because you are not bound to them by blood, as you are a parent or a child. When you view a spouse as replaceable, as someone that could just be cast aside and discarded, you are not prioritizing your children. You are breaking their foundation apart. One of the reasons we are all mourning so much over Charlie Kirk is because we realize his irreplaceability for his wife, Erika, and, also, for his children. Someone can marry again after death, but the goal isn't or shouldn't be replacement, because spouses aren't replaceable. God, spouse, children, parents. If you love with your priorities right, it all works. You must love God first and that love allows you to be fruitful, faithful, and true to your spouse. Loving your spouse well means you are loving your children well, because if you don't put your marriage as a top priority, your children will have a broken, unhealthy home. Then, as a united family, you can enjoy, cherish, and love your parents/grandparents and honor the gift of life they gave you. So, love your spouse, build your family to serve and love God, and recognize that those you love are never replaceable. Live the Faith boldly and travel well, Catholic Pilgrims.
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