Due to poor philosophical thought today along with the constant busyness and distractions of our everyday lives, many many people neglect to confront the most basic and major questions about life:
Why am I here?
What is the meaning and purpose of life?
What happens after I die?
Why exactly do I exist?
Does everything mean nothing, if in the end all of humanity will eventually die? For if we all die, then what does anything really mean? ...Or does everything mean something? What is that something that gives life its meaning?
If life does have meaning, is there a right way, a best way, to live this life then?
In the end, we all fade and pass away. We lose everything we've accumulated because you can't bring it with you when you die. At the most, perhaps our memory lives on in the minds of our family or friends, but even after a generation or two goes by, we are forgotten. Is that it? Is this what life consists of...living to disappear and eventually be forgotten?
...Or perhaps there is more we were made for...
Few pause for silence to allow these deep, abiding thoughts to stir up from within.
Go for a drive, go for a walk, and begin to sincerely ask yourself these questions if you haven't before. Seek and desire the truth.
There is an existential problem that exists in the world today and it is the denial in confronting the reason for our very existence. And if there lies a reason for our existence that is true and common for all people (which there is), then this implies that there is a certain way we must live. But few search for this truth whole-heartedly....or maybe they do find it in Christ, but then stop when they find that true discipleship becomes too demanding or hard...so rather than change and conform to the mind of Christ, they deceive themselves and remain content in "mediocre Christianity" - that lukewarm Christianity that in the book of Revelation our Lord says he will spit out of his mouth. "
Do not conform yourself to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the wil of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect" (Romans 12:2).
As a result of stopping short for truth, we see things very short-sightedly or through the influence of corrupt societal ways. Many Christians themselves have fallen victim to this. They think they follow Christ, but then they go and live contradictory to Christ - however their wayward passions dictate and desire. They are slaves to their sin. We all are in some way. But much more so for the one who doesn't acknowledge their chains of sin versus the one who does see the chains and then seeks release from them. This freedom from our chains is found only in repenting to Christ our Savior. Repenting means asking forgiveness and then turning away from that sin in the future, renouncing it, and seeking to avoid it with all their strength. Today, many forget about that last part and falsely assume that saying sorry is enough.
"Sorry for sinning with my boyfriend/girlfriend" but then they have no resolve to avoid the sin in the future and continue in their sexual acts be it touching to sex itself. This is impurity, sins of the flesh, that St. Paul decries in Romans 1, 1 Corinthians 5-6, and many other times in Scripture. Our Lady of Fatima echoes this as she had prophesied back in 1917 that "The sins of the world are too great! The sins which lead most souls to hell are sins of the flesh! Certain fashions are going to be introduced which will offend Our Lord very much. Those who serve God should not follow these fashions. The Church has no fashions; Our Lord is always the same. Many marriages are not good; they do not please Our Lord and are not of God."
...look at the fashions of women that have appeared today. Look how marriages and families are falling apart, being "redefined" by the court system. Look at the many sins of lust, fornication, pornography, homosexual acts, indecency, immodestly, sexual impurity that saturate our world today! Who cannot deny this??
Jesus tells us to repent, to make a change in our lifestyle. Is there a lifestyle you are living in that needs changed? Invoking Jesus' name irreverently, in vain? Enjoying gossip about other people's business? Skipping church on Sunday and holy days of obligation? We need to try our best, all while begging for the grace from God, to stop doing whatever sin it is we are doing. Oh trust me, God's grace will supply! Perservere at it! I've seen miracles happen in my life in dealing with my sinfulness. May God continue to have mercy on me, this piece of work that's under construction!
All truth about faith (the purpose and meaning of life) and morals (how we are to live this life) is found in Jesus Christ. The Catholic Church has been entrusted by Christ upon Peter (Matthew 16:18) to safeguard and preserve the truth under the inspiration and guidance of the Holy Spirit. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, the truth has been preserved down through the ages by the apostles' successors - in an unbroken line of succession - to this very day. When people beg the Church to change one or some of its teachings about faith or morality, people need to know she can't. The Church belongs to Christ. Christ is the Truth. Truth doesn't change. We as Catholics can be certain that as the world throws crazy and absurd things at us - often under immense cultural pressure - that we can always find stability, certaintly, and rootedness in unchanging truth. Whereas other non-Catholic churches may have caved under societal pressures to accept this immoral thing or that (or even worse, just avoid touching upon the controversial issues at all), the true Church of Christ will never change. And so the Catholic Church will be here until Christ comes again. Amen!
So how necessary is it to seek truth? So necessary is it for us to seek the truth that it is intrinsically tied in to our salvation. "...they have not accepted the love of truth so that they may be saved...all who have not believed in the truth but have approved wrongdoing may be condemned." (2 Thess 2:10-12).
Now here is the mistake of many Christians. They acknowledge Christ as the Truth, their Savior, their Lord. But they fail to seek out how his truth perpetuates into every area of their life. Being that Christ is the Truth and Lord, then we also acknowledge as Christians that "for in Him were created all things in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible...all things were created through Him and for Him...and in Him all things hold together" (Colossians 1:16-17). He is Lord of everything! If we acknowledge this (which every Christian needs to as the way to eternal life), then what only logically makes sense is that we owe it to God to be sincere Christians and to seek the truth about how we are to live and act in ALL things because all things are made by Him, in Him, and through Him.
Ask yourself: What is the truth about how I am to treat the body the Lord has given me? What is the truth about how God intended me to use the sexuality He has given me? What is the truth about how I am to behave amongst my co-workers? What is the truth about what God expects of me in worshipping Him on Sundays? What is the truth about my sins and struggles? What is the truth about my obligation to raise my children in His ways? What is the truth about some of these novel "scientific advancements" that discard life? What is the truth in regards to my advocating them? Does this thing honestly please God?
Pray: "Lord, do not let me deceive myself! Remove my blindness." That last plee to God is a big one because as humans, we tend to view ourselves or our actions in a more-than-favorable light sometimes. It's a weakness and tendency we have due to original sin.
Know the truth. Knowing - and seeking - the truth about ourselves and about life and how we are to act and live is instrinsically bound up with our eternal salvation.
We as Christians must pray and be bold witnesses. We must encourage one another because sadly many, even many Christians themselves, do not sincerely seek to know the truth in all things. They may avoid "getting to the bottom of it" for any of these three reasons:
1) They are afraid to know the truth because it might conflict with their own behaviors and fear it might convict them to change; change would be too hard.
2) They are too lazy and too distracted by other things that matter less than their soul or
3) They are too indifferent to care because they are not convicted enough in the need for their own eternal salvation.
Do not fear the change the Lord may be calling you to! Fear is a great way Satan keeps people in their sin and brings them to hell. "I can change later..." It is foolish to delay your conversion! Right before Christ's passion began, right before He knew He was going to die, He stressed several times in a grave and serious way the need to change and repent. He reminded His disciples - us - over and over again that we do not know when our death is coming. You don't know when you're going to die. You don't decide your own death date. You do not know when Christ will come again - either at your own judgement after your death, or at the final judgement when He comes in His glory. How often do you hear of tragic car accidents, or someone who slips away in their sleep, or has a heart attack or dies by some kind of freak accident? Don't be fooled, Christians! Delaying your conversion and repentance is foolishness - one that risks your soul. Don't be afraid to change! "Do not be afraid!" was the motto of St. John Paul II's pontificate. Go to the Sacrament of confession, make amends with God! Return to the church! Hit your knees and pray, pray, pray! The Lord will make a way. Fear is a tool of the enemy. Know that the Lord makes all things possible and gives His grace, His supernatural strength, abundantly!
St. Paul's words (2 Thes 2:10-12) are key to living righteously and being gifted with eternal life and happiness after we die: We need to pursue and desire the love of truth. We need a love, a thirst, for truth in how to live...the truth in all things. Don't make it up for yourself. Don't make yourself your own god. You can't redeem yourself and bring yourself to heaven. Only Jesus can. This attempt to define "right" and "wrong" on our own terms was also the sin of Adam and Eve. Satan tempted them to grasp at the fruit of the tree by telling them it would make them "like gods who know what is good and what is bad" (Gen3:5).
Wow, I would love to be able to decide what is right and wrong, life would be so much easier and convenient for me! But that is the trick of Satan...presenting sin to us as "good...pleasing..and desirable" (Gen 3:6). He makes sin appealing by making it seem convenient in that moment or making it seem easier to accomodate our preferred way of life, or as an easier escape to deal with whatever situation we are in. Many sin against the Lord through using contraception. I am passionate about this as a Christian because I used to once believe in it, it made sense in a worldly understanding. Praise God for opening my eyes though and helping me to see the beauty of His Divine plan for our sexuality. (I'll write more on this beautiful and amazing understanding later!) We are made for more, you are made for more. We are not made for comfort, for "easiness of life," but for glory! Glory which extends into eternity! But many are deceived by this fatal belief in using contraception - even many of us good-intentioned Christians. It comes down to them living by their own assertions of what is right and wrong rather than wholeheartedly deferring to what the Lord has revealed as right and wrong. This is erroneous and dangerous. Don't make yourself your own god, an idol. You cannot earn your own salvation. Confront the truth now, rather than later at your judgement when it will be too late.
We must pray for one another for the strength to seek the truth and receive the strength we need to pursue it. Live by the truth for the love of truth, the love of Truth Himself! Amen!