Monday, June 19, 2017

What Is The Meaning Of Life?

... is the question that manifests the very first part of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
The desire for God is written in the human heart, because man is created by God and for God; and God never ceases to draw man to himself. Only in God will he find the truth and happiness he never stops searching for:
The dignity of man rests above all on the fact that he is called to communion with God. This invitation to converse with God is addressed to man as soon as he comes into being. For if man exists it is because God has created him through love, and through love continues to hold him in existence. He cannot live fully according to truth unless he freely acknowledges that love and entrusts himself to his creator.
I tried listening to the Catechism about a year ago and couldn't muddle my way through it. For whatever reason, I'm able to consume it more readily now. In any case, this one jumped out at me right from the start.

The Catican Guards don't wonder about the meaning of life. At least I don't think they do. Instead, in the morning, they wonder if Poppy is going to get up right now, go downstairs and give them treats while he makes his coffee. At night, they wonder if Mommy will finally turn off whatever she's binge-watching and go to bed so they can cuddle with her. In the afternoon, they wonder if this is the day the mailman will attempt to gas them so he can come inside and kidnap and torture us.

They do not wonder about abstract things like meaning, but we do. There may or may not be a God. We may all be random chemicals gathered together to form "humans" who watch LSU football games for no real reason at all. Still, we wonder why we're here. To me, that seems like the desire for God the Catechism mentions in the first section. After all, if He exists as the Church says, then He is unquestionably the meaning of life and He satisfies that very human hunger.

Here, the Guards aren't wondering about the meaning of life, they're wondering if they can go back upstairs and sleep with Mommy a little more.

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