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Kenneth
wrote:
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Dear Father,
I am a 28-year-old man from Singapore. I am a Catholic, though not a very good one.
I am currently going through a very rough time in my life. I lost
my job and my girlfriend and I feel life has little meaning for me. I've lost
all my joy. Everything that has made me happy is lost. Food no longer has any taste.
Creative activity stagnates and hope is gone.
Sure, I can buy a meaningless distraction
but it is just something to take my mind off the staleness of being alive. I can
function mechanically but all the confidence, the passion, and most importantly,
the sense of purpose is gone. Everyone is just living out their own wretched lives.
Christmas is coming and I absolutely loathe it.
- Why did Jesus come anyway?
- What hope
is there anyway?
I know I am going to have a miserable Christmas.
I have no job, no where to go, and no one to share the season
with.
My question is:
- What meaning is there in life?
- What are we supposed to be
doing here on Earth instead of merely sustaining ourselves
and moving from one distraction to another?
Please help me as I do not know what I am doing here anymore.
I am simply tired of life.
Cheers,
Kenneth
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{
Seeing I lost my job and my girlfriend, can you answer some questions about the purpose of life? }
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Mary Ann replied:
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Dear Kenneth,
You are in a difficult passage, one that comes to us all, at some point. You are
right that without love, purposeful work and God, life has no meaning.
You have lost one love, but not all love. Even if no one on earth loved you, you
exist by the direct and intimate and knowing touch of God on you at this moment.
He loves you right now, and keeps you in being so that you can continue your journey
to Him, who is Life and Love.
If you are feeling suicidal, please get help. Choosing death is not a way to life
or love, nor a way to God.
You do have purposeful work right now, very challenging work, the work of:
- finding a job, and
- navigating this rough passage as a master captain of
a ship whose crew (your feelings) is getting mutinous on you.
The loss of a woman and a job do not mean the loss of you. You
are not your work, and you are not valued because of some other human being
who loves you. You have your own inalienable worth and goodness from the
hand of God. Even if you are the only one who recognizes that at this moment,
you owe it to yourself and God:
- to honor the good of your own life and self
- to take care of yourself
- to value your self and your eternal destiny.
I am so sorry that you have no friend or relatives to share your Christmas
with, nobody and nothing that makes you happy. You have arrived at
that incredible life-changing turning point that we all need to get to,
the one where we do find the real meaning of life.
Instead
of looking for happiness, try to give someone else happiness. Share your Christmas
with a stranger. Give yourself this Christmas, in volunteer work, in
charity and kindness (no matter how you feel) to others who, inside, may
be facing their own Hell. You will find that your burdened is lightened
and your path is brightened.
God bless you, and I praise God for calling
you to know Him for Himself this Christmas, and not just for the goods
He gives us. If you do what I ask, and if you give yourself to God in
the sacraments so that His presence within you can become active and
powerful, you will find Love within yourself, no matter who hates and
persecutes you in the world. Mary will help you, if you ask.
Merry Christmas.
Mary Ann Parks
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Mike replied:
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Hi Kenneth,
Though we use to have two priests that assisted in answering questions, due to the
busy life of a priest, we no longer have that benefit. As lay Catholics, we
will do the best we can in answering your question.
I would just like to emphasize certain parts of Mary Ann's fine answer.
- No matter how difficult your current situation is now, God made you
for a specific purpose in life and has a specific task for you within
the Church.
Like I told another visitor, thoughts of despair only come from the devil.
Thoughts of despair can only be removed by prayer and the sacraments
of the Church, especially Confession.
God has a plan for you Ken!, but when we start to think that taking
our life is an option, it is no different then hanging up on
God Himself. I'm unemployed as well, so I can appreciate how difficult
is it.
- If you have no immediate family, I would visit your local parish and
tell the pastor you want to get involved in ministries where you can
meet NEW people. Ask him what ministries he has, and choose one you like.
This will do two things:
- Get you involved with other people.
- You will make new friends that you can share hardships and maybe
some joys with and
- You may be able to connect with people can assist you in finding
a new job . . . and a new girl friend : )
You said:
- Why did Jesus come anyway?
- What hope
is there anyway?
Jesus came to save you and your soul so you could be happy with him in the next life if you follow your vocation. A vocation is discerned through prayer and figuring out:
- what you enjoy doing, and
- whether you are skilled at it . . . all within Christian parameters.
There is always hope though there are also times of struggle and difficulty. This is part of the mystical Christian life. Even Our Blessed Lord had many, many periods similar to the one you are in.
The key during these periods is:
- to persevere, and
- to remember that things will get better, much better . . . if we work through the tough times.
You said:
- What meaning is there in life?
- What are we supposed to be
doing here on Earth instead of merely sustaining ourselves
and moving from one distraction to another?
The very first paragraphs of the Catechism of the Catholic Church will
assist in answering your question:
The Life Of Man - To Know And Love God
1 God, infinitely perfect and blessed in himself, in a plan of sheer
goodness freely created man to make him share in his own blessed life.
For this reason, at every time and in every place, God draws close to
man. He calls man to seek him, to know him, to love him with all his
strength. He calls together all men, scattered and divided by sin, into
the unity of his family, the Church. To accomplish this, when the fullness
of time had come, God sent his Son as Redeemer and Savior. In his Son
and through him, he invites men to become, in the Holy Spirit, his adopted
children and thus heirs of his blessed life.
2 So that this call should resound throughout the world, Christ sent
forth the apostles he had chosen, commissioning them to proclaim the
gospel: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am
with you always, to the close of the age." Strengthened by this
mission, the apostles "went forth and preached everywhere, while
the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that
attended it."
3 Those who with God's help have welcomed Christ's call and freely responded
to it are urged on by love of Christ to proclaim the Good News everywhere
in the world. This treasure, received from the apostles, has been faithfully
guarded by their successors. All Christ's faithful are called to hand
it on from generation to generation, by professing the faith, by living
it in fraternal sharing, and by celebrating it in liturgy and prayer.
II. Handing On The Faith: Catechesis
4 Quite early on, the name catechesis was given to the totality of the
Church's efforts to make disciples, to help men believe that Jesus is
the Son of God so that believing they might have life in his name, and
to educate and instruct them in this life, thus building up the body
of Christ.
5 "Catechesis is an education in the faith of children, young people
and adults which includes especially the teaching of Christian doctrine
imparted, generally speaking, in an organic and systematic way, with
a view to initiating the hearers into the fullness of Christian life."
6 While not being formally identified with them, catechesis is built
on a certain number of elements of the Church's pastoral mission which
have a catechetical aspect, that prepare for catechesis, or spring from
it. They are: the initial proclamation of the Gospel or missionary preaching
to arouse faith; examination of the reasons for belief; experience of
Christian living; celebration of the sacraments; integration into the
ecclesial community; and apostolic and missionary witness.
7 "Catechesis is intimately bound up with the whole of the Church's
life. Not only her geographical extension and numerical increase, but
even more her inner growth and correspondence with God's plan depend
essentially on catechesis." |
The Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 898 to 900 will help as well:
The vocation of lay people
898 "By reason of their special vocation it belongs to the laity
to seek the kingdom of God by engaging in temporal affairs and directing
them according to God's will. . . . It pertains to them in a special
way so to illuminate and order all temporal things with which they are
closely associated that these may always be effected and grow according
to Christ and maybe to the glory of the Creator and Redeemer."
899 The initiative of lay Christians is necessary especially when the
matter involves discovering or inventing the means for permeating social,
political, and economic realities with the demands of Christian doctrine
and life. This initiative is a normal element of the life of the Church:
Lay believers are in the front line of Church life; for them the Church
is the animating principle of human society. Therefore, they in particular
ought to have an ever-clearer consciousness not only of belonging to
the Church, but of being the Church, that is to say, the community of
the faithful on earth under the leadership of the Pope, the common Head,
and of the bishops in communion with him. They are the Church.
900 Since, like all the faithful, lay Christians are entrusted by God
with the apostolate by virtue of their Baptism and Confirmation, they
have the right and duty, individually or grouped in associations, to
work so that the divine message of salvation may be known and accepted
by all men throughout the earth. This duty is the more pressing when
it is only through them that men can hear the Gospel and know Christ.
Their activity in ecclesial communities is so necessary that, for the
most part, the apostolate of the pastors cannot be fully effective without
it. |
Hope this helps,
Mike
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Kenneth replied:
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Mary Ann and Mike,
Thank you for taking time
to respond to my queries.
I appreciate it.
Cheers,
Kenneth
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