God, not money, is the purpose of life
By Seon Park, Youth Speak News
If I only had an hour left to live, would I say my life was good? What would I call the purpose of living and what would I be bringing with me from this life? I certainly hope I wouldn’t say that most of my life was spent stressing over school work and trying to live up to other people’s expectations. But I believe that is what many young Catholics would say.
They overwork, stress out to excel in school and work and constantly hate life. It seems they get so busy in their daily routine that they forget what they are living for: God.
Our materialistic world measures success by monetary prosperity. Wealth is portrayed as happiness.
People believe and act according to the notion that money and status are the ultimate source of happiness. Therefore, people attach themselves to work, studies and materialistic goods. Of course money and such worldly attributes are significant, but when did they take God’s place at the centre of our lives?
In the midst of loud demands and competition, we ignore the voice of God.
In Plato’s The Republic, he states that all reality is composed of two levels: forms and things. Forms are eternal whereas things are temporary. We don’t see these forms, like God, because we are too attached to material things.
How can we see Him? We can let Him into our vision through prayer, the Bible and the Eucharist. We should always keep in mind that entering God’s kingdom is the most valuable and ultimate goal, not increasing our bank accounts. Once we place God at the centre of our lives, the rest of our concerns regarding worldly substances will fall apart.
Our dignity and values won’t shift as a result of the influence of these objects if our faith in God is eternal and secure.
To taste and see ultimate happiness, we must relate to God every minute of our lives. We live in a world where the true value of life God gave us is blocked by temporary and worldly objects. Always, there is greed and competition. We keep tabs on how much we give to others and receive from them. We forget to love our brothers and sisters for who they are, not what they are.
As young Catholics, we need His presence to remember who we are.
And since we won’t be staying in this world for long, we should let go of things that get in the way of our relationship to God.
At the end of the day, our ultimate purpose is to enter heaven and the ticket to the Kingdom of God can’t be bought. It is a matter of whether or not our souls know the beauty of charity, work and love.
(Park, 19, is a communications and political science student at Carleton University in Ottawa.)
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