A Purpose-Driven Life

Caravaggio's Conversion of Paul

The middle ages’ festive games on All Hallows evening, before All Saints Day, gradually became associated with “hallow’een.” Irish Americans popularized Halloween as we know it, asking for treats or threatening tricks. Dressing up and eating treats can be surprisingly unifying.

God’s word in the book of Sirach is about the art of living well in the best sense of the phrase. Hard work, honesty, integrity, compassion, responsibility, courage, and faith in God are the true measure of character. The author says God definitely hears our prayers. It doesn’t seem so sometimes. Yet, our faith challenges to trust in God’s unconditional love for us, his desire for us to turn all toward goodness.

In the Gospel according to Luke, we have the odd couple. The pharisee is full of himself: he thought that his laundry list of deeds made him pleasing to God. But he was ego centered. EGO stands for “easing God out.” On the other hand, the prayer of the tax collector was God centered. He is a model of prayer for us, says Jesus.

Paul, in his letter to Timothy, uses sports imagery to describe his own life and ministry: “I have fought the good fight; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith.” Despite obstacles, Paul stays the course, preaching the Gospel. He urges us to do likewise.

What fascinates me is St. Paul’s reflections about his life. He was well educated in philosophy. He had been a persecutor of Christians. But Paul became one of the greatest evangelizers in Christianity. This religious genius established faith communities throughout the eastern Mediterranean, authored letters shaping the history of Christian thought, and eventually was beheaded by Nero.

Paul had keen insight into what makes human beings tick. Everyone yearns for happiness. But we often do things that we think will make us happy, only to discover that they end up making us miserable. We confuse “pleasure” with “happiness.”

Etched into Paul’s vision of human beings were Jesus’s words: “I have come so that they may have life and have it more abundantly.” For Paul, discipline is the path to the fullness of life. Think about it. When we eat well, exercise often, and sleep regularly, we feel more fully alive physically. When we love, when we give of ourselves to help others, we feel more fully alive emotionally. When we study the marvels of the human spirit in various cultures, our world expands, and we feel more fully alive intellectually. And when we take a few moments each day with God in prayer, humbly and openly, we experience more fully the transcendent dimension of our lives, the spiritual.

Discipline sets us free to attain our ultimate purpose: life with God. Freedom is the strength of character to do what is good, true, noble, and right.

Paul grasped this and preached that Christ came to reconcile us with the Father, and in doing so, Christ satisfies the craving for happiness that preoccupies our human hearts. It is ultimately a yearning for friendship and intimacy and relationship with our Creator. Christ, for Paul, is indeed “the way, the truth, and the life.”

Finding True Happiness

Jesus Healing the Blind Bartimaeus

The word of God today first takes us back to the prophet Jeremiah, who speaks about hope: a new beginning for a people now overwhelmed by tragedy but soon to enjoy peace. Jeremiah challenges us to hope always in God even when bad things happen. Sadly, this weekend our prayers are with the Pittsburgh community where eleven people at the Tree of Life synagogue were killed.

The letter to the Hebrews speaks of the saving work of Jesus, who through his death and resurrection re-established our relationship with God and one another. This challenges us to see our earthly life in light of our true purpose: being in relationship with God and one another forever.

In the Gospel according to Mark, Jesus asks a blind man: “what do you want me to do?” The man answers: “I want to see.” Jesus says: “Your faith has saved you.” And the blind man saw.

Today I want to reflect briefly upon a man of extraordinary faith. Paul, initially known as Saul of Tarsus, was well educated in Judaism and Greco-Roman philosophy. He had been a rabid persecutor of Christians.

But on a journey to Damascus in Syria, he was awestruck by a light from heaven. The visionary experience of the risen Christ turned Paul’s life upside down. He became one of the greatest evangelizers, preaching salvation for all. This controversial religious genius established faith communities throughout the eastern Mediterranean, and authored letters shaping the history of Christian thought. Paul eventually was beheaded by order of the Roman emperor Nero.

I believe Paul, well versed in philosophy, had a keen insight into what makes human beings tick. Everyone yearns for happiness. We often do things that we think will make us happy, only to end up miserable. Why? Because we sometimes confuse pleasure with happiness.

Etched into Paul’s vision of human beings were the words of Jesus:  “I have come so that they may have life--God's life-- and have it more abundantly.”

For Paul, the path that leads to the fullness of life is discipline. Think about it. When we eat well, exercise often, and sleep regularly, we feel more fully alive physically. When we love, when we give priority to significant relationships, when we lend a helping hand to others, we’re more fully alive emotionally. When we study the achievements of the human spirit in various cultures, our world grows, and we’re more fully alive intellectually.

And when we take a few moments each day humbly with God in prayer, carefully contemplating God’s word, we experience more fully the transcendent dimension of our lives, the spiritual, the awesome presence of God.

All of these life-giving endeavors require discipline. Discipline sets us free to attain our ultimate purpose: life with God. Freedom is indeed a prerequisite for love.

St. Paul grasped this. He preached that Christ came to reconcile us with the Father and satisfies the craving for happiness that preoccupies our hearts: ultimately a yearning for friendship and intimacy with our Creator.