Where there is no Vision...

What is the purpose of life?

I've often heard that everybody at some point in their life wonders what it's all about. I'm not sure if everyone really does question it, but I know I do. Dagwood recently wondered that to himself, and was given a big kiss from Blondie. He decided that that must be what it is all about.

However, as much as getting a big kiss from a gorgeous blond may be a motivating factor, I've discovered in life that that is still not what it is all about. For those of you who think that when you find your spouse and maybe have kids, or get going in that career, or whatever, that life will suddenly become wrought with profound meaning, you are in for a dissapointment.

We know, of course, that what life is actually about is God. God is both our begining and our end. By that I mean that He is the one from whom we came and he is the one that we ought to be dirrected towards in everything. But what does this mean? The old Baltimore Catechism used to teach that we essentially existed to know and love God. And generations of people memorized this answer, so that had you asked them what life was all about, they could answer- but after Vatican II we recognized that this memorized answer did nothing to actually help the people who memorized it to get on with actually glorifying God or loving God with their 'whole heart, soul, mind and strength.'

At reunion we addressed the idea that we need to keep our eyes on the prize- that Christianity is like a race, and, like a race, that we have to keep looking at what we are going towards. Our prize is Jesus. We keep our eyes on Him, and make Him our goal.

But the thing is, you may have heard that, or something like it before, and still it has not sunk in to your interior.

"Where there is no vision, the people perish"- Proverbs 19:18

You may know intellectually that your eventual goal is heaven, or the greater glory of God, or love, or whatever, but do you play that out practically? The Bible says we need to have vision- we need to look ahead and see where we are going so that the little steps we make right now are in the right dirrection!

I also alluded to this at reunion. In the alegorical race, I tend to stop looking at my goal- Christ- and I start looking at myself. I may be trying to guage my own relationship with God and see how I am doing. Or i may just be thinking about how tired I am in the morning, how so and so misjudged me and that's not fair, how intelligent or good looking people think I am...

If we keep our eyes on God- then we'll start living deliberately so that we can get to God. What I mean is, we can start living in order to love God! This has got to be our vision! A lot of times we may want to do a thing that is not necessarily evil, but maybe imprudent- like stay up really late. If you begin to focus in on your vision, see where you wanna go, then you'll start asking if what you are doing at a particular moment is really bringing you closer to your goal, or just hindering your growth. And honestly, at 10pm on a Sunday, when you're already over tired, what wilol contribute better to your growth in holiness and love of God- a full nights sleep, or another episode of Family Guy?

Jim Carey once said "The people who make it are the ones who keep going". Now i by no means consider Jim Carey to be a font of life giving wisdom- but his point stands true in every field. If you want something, if you really want it, keep pushing, keep getting closer, keep making sure that every aspect of your life brings you closer to that goal!

Jesus as a Person

How many people here would say they had a relationship with God?

Had you asked me that question 5 years ago, I would have had to honestly tell you that I didn't know if I had one or not. I mean, what does that mean, a "Personal relationship" with God?

When I was in High School, I used to go to various youth group type things where we would sing songs to God- Songs like "I Love you Lord" "and "Father, I want you to hold me" and "Wrap your strong arms around me" and frankly, I wouldn't want to sing it, since I wasn't sure if that was true. I loved the stuff of God- I loved reading the Bible and going to youth group and praying- I thought all that stuff was fun and exciting and drenched in meaning. But people would say things about a personal relationship with God, and I had to admit- I didn't have one.

After High School I went to the John Paul II Bible School where I learned that 'We are all called to be Saints' (Mother Teresa). There I decided that I wanted to be a saint. After that I started spending some real time in prayer- like an hour everyday, plus Mass. Because I wanted to be a Saint. After a couple of years I even joined the seminary, because I thought if I was gonna be a saint then the best way to do that was to be a priest.

Eventually, though, I thought I was being called to leave the Sem, and I figured that that was OK, as long as I kep getting holier.

So even after spending time in the seminary, I still didn't get it. What was everyone talking about when they talked about a personal relationship with God? I didn't feel like I knew God- Like He was a person at all.

I started wonndering if maybe this idea of a personal relationship was a protestant idea. Maybe it was just a bunch of emotionalism. There's a really cool website called EWTN.com which answers your questions about stuff like this. So I wrote them this question "Where in the Bible is the concept of a personal relationship with God? Is this biblical, or is it a historical development?"

Their answer? "Jesus died for you. How much more personal does it get?"

I was mad!

Later I realized that the Pope, JPII at the time, certainly jhad a relationship with God. And as I read the lives of the Saints, they had relationships with God. And after all, the first commandment was to Love God- not just obey Him! Love implies a relationship!

This is the difference between Christians and Muslims. The word Muslim means "One who submits." To be a Christian means to have a relationship with the person who is God. The problem was, I was trying to get holy, not because of love of God, but for the sake of holiness itself. In short, I had made holiness my God! as for Jesus, I thought he was a means to an end. That means I believed in God because I thought God could help me to accomplish my goal of holiness.

But no person can ever morally be a means to an end.

St Paul compares the spiritual journey to running a race. In a race you have to look where you are going. You can't spend your time looking behind you at where you came from. And you can't keep looking down at yourself and checking what it is you are doing to get where you want to be. You keep your eyes on the goal.

And the goal is God, a person. Everything we do should be done for the love of God- not for some other reason. Not even to become better men. I have asked a lot of you about what virtues you are working on right now. It's great if you work on virtues- but know this, no matter how obedient and charitable and joyful and dilligent and respectful and courageous you are- you are nothing without the love of God.

Many of you also have a prayer life- maybe you pray a certain amount every day. Good for you. But do you really talk to God? Do you really listen? Or do you just rattlke off some formula of a prayer?

A relationship with god is no different than that with any other person. reading about Him wont do the trick- and learning about Him, and even doing good things for Him- these will never give you a relationship with Him if you never spend time in genuine, open dialogue.