We come up with quite a range of answers, including:
- Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die
- It's a trick question - there is no purpose in life
- This seems to be particularly popular in some self-consciously intellectual circles
- To serve some cause, like the
- Environment
- State
- Needy
My Purpose: to Know, Love, and Serve God: and Come to the Happiness of Paradise
As it says in the Catechism's Glossary:"...God put us into the world to know, love, and serve him, and so come to the happiness of paradise (1720)."The point is restated in 1721:
(Catechism of the Catholic Church, Glossary, H, under Happiness)
"God put us in the world to know, to love, and to serve him, and so to come to paradise. Beatitude makes us 'partakers of the divine nature' and of eternal life. With beatitude, man enters into the glory of Christ and into the joy of the Trinitarian life."
(Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1721)
2 comments:
Of course, that's kind of the 'what everyone is supposed to do' stuff. Isn't there also something about us each having a somewhat more specific purpose in God's plan?
(Every time I think about that I have this terrible sinking feeling that I've messed up big time.)
Brigid,
For what it's worth, I have the same feeling. As far as individual instruction goes, the closest I've found is discussions of vocations: which aren't just holy orders and the priesthood.
This may sound flippant: but I think that quite a bit of our duty is being on call.
You've raised an interesting point: Don't let me forget about this, okay?
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