Can anyone please tell me what the Catholic Church believes regarding "why we are here", and "what's the point of our existence". I mean, I'd like to know why God created the world, and the purpose of my life. (This is in no way a question coming from despair, quite the contrary...). I am a relatively new Catholic.

-- Dee (dee@none.sorry), July 28, 2003

Answers

It is because of His love for us that the world was created.

-- (vincentkoh@pd.jaring.my), July 28, 2003.

What purpose would it serve to have an answer?
What would we do then after knowing the purpose of all creation?
Could such an answer be understood in human terms?

Will we ever get an answer?
If we make it to Heaven, will any question have any relevance anymore?

After disclosing the reason for our existence, the next question would prove even more mysterious:

Why does God exist?

Can any man give the correct answer at all?

We could lose plenty of sleep in trying to answer questions that may never be answered.

Rodrigo...

..

-- rod (elreyrod@yahoo.com), July 28, 2003.

From the Baltimore Catechism:

Q. 126. What do we mean by the "end of man"?

A. By the "end of man" we mean the purpose for which he was created: namely, to know, love, and serve God.

-- jake (jake1remove@pngusa.net), July 28, 2003.

Mobius loop. I want the outer reaches of infinity. Einstein was proclaimed that the universe is o continuous circle and that true lines do not exist because they eventually curve and connect. I cannot imagine God limited to such logic.

Rodrigo.. ... ..

-- rod (elreyrod@yahoo.com), July 28, 2003.

Love is the only reason. Love, love, love. God desired to create and to love his creation. He desires a loving relationship with each and every one of us. The Bible says he "delights" over his creation. He delights over you and he delights over me.

When Adam sinned, that sin cut us off of the love of God. Sin alienated the All Holy One from his dear creation. Jesus, our Redeemer, reconciles us to our loving creator.

As to YOUR purpose; you do have one though you may not know just what yet. So, for right now, love everyone you come in contact with and God will show you His plan in His own good time!

Lots of Love,

Gail

-- Gail (rothfarms@socket.net), July 28, 2003.

Question: For what purpose did God create the world?

Answer:

"In general, Scripture teaches us that God created the world and all that is in it for His own glory and because He desired to share His life with others. The creation of all these things demonstrates His glory, His love, grace, mercy, wisdom, power, goodness, etc. Compare Psalm 19:1f; 8:1; 50:6; 89:5."

19:1 The heavens declare God’s glory; the sky displays his handiwork

8:1 O Lord, our sovereign Master, how magnificent is your reputation throughout the earth! You reveal your majesty in the heavens above!

50:6 The heavens declare his fairness, for God is judge.

89:5 O Lord, the heavens praise your amazing deeds, as well your faithfulness in the angelic assembly

-- Mike H. (beginasyouare@hotmail.com), July 28, 2003.

Well, sure. I can agree with you, Gail, and the Catechism, Jake. You too, "vincentkoh". But, surely you all must have those late night questions singing in your thoughts that begin with "Why...".

Rodrigo.. ... ..

-- rod (elreyrod@yahoo.com), July 28, 2003.

I remember when I was kid (a long long time ago) feeling just overwhelmed with that question. Looking out at the sky, realizing how terribly small I was. I remember literally being sick to my stomach with fear at it all.

It is all such a mystery; the mystery of creation; the mystery of God, sin, redemption. Sure, who can fathom it all! It would take an eternity to take it all in, and isn't that amazing, because that's just what He has in mind!

Love,

Gail

-- Gail (rothfarms@socket.net), July 28, 2003.

Hi Dee

I don’t know if this will help you at all. The following thoughts are from Pope John Paul… God Bless

With all of this, however, in face of the modern world's development, there is an ever-increasing number of people who ask themselves or who feel more keenly the most essential questions: What is man?

What is the meaning of suffering, of evil, of death, which persist despite all progress?What are these victories, purchased at so high a cost, really worth? What can man offer to society and what can he expect from it? What will there be after this life?

The Church believes that Christ, who died and was resurrected for the sake of all, continuously gives to man through His Spirit the light and the strength to respond to his higher destiny. Nor is there any other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved. The Church also believes that the key, the center, and the purpose of all of human history, is found in its Lord and Master" (Gaudium et Spes 10).

Happiness springs from the knowledge of the truth, from the vision of God face to face, from sharing in His life. This happiness is so profoundly a part of man's deepest aspiration that the words just cited above from the First Letter to Timothy seem fully justified: the One who has created man with this fundamental desire cannot behave differently from what the revealed text indicates; He cannot but want "everyone to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth."

Christianity is a religion of salvation.

The salvation in question is that of the Cross and the Resurrection. God, who desires that man "may live" (cf. Ez 18:23), draws near to him through the death of His Son in order to reveal that life to which he is called in God Himself. Everyone who looks for salvation, not only the Christian, must stop before the Cross of Christ. Will he be willing to accept the truth of the Paschal Mystery, or not? Will he have faith? This is yet another issue. This Mystery of salvation is an event which has already taken place. God has embraced all men by the Cross and the Resurrection of His Son. God embraces all men with the life which was revealed in the Cross and in the Resurrection, and which is constantly being born anew from them. As indicated by the allegory of "the vine" and "the branches" in the Gospel of John (cf. Jn 15:1-8), the Paschal Mystery is by now grafted onto the history of humanity, onto the history of every individual.

Christian soteriology is a soteriology of the fullness of life. Not only is it a soteriology of the truth disclosed in Revelation, but at the same time it is also a soteriology of love. In a certain sense it is a soteriology of Divine Love. Love, above all, possesses a saving power. The saving power of love, according to the words of Saint Paul in the First Letter to the Corinthians, is greater than that of mere knowledge of the truth: "So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love" (1 Cor 13:13). Salvation through love is, at the same time, a sharing in the fullness of truth, and also in the fullness of beauty. All this is in God. All these "treasures of life and of holiness" (Litanies of the Sacred Heart of Jesus) God has laid open to man in Jesus Christ.

The fact that Christianity is a religion of salvation is expressed in the sacramental life of the Church. Christ, who came "so that they might have life and have it more abundantly" (cf. Jn 10:10), discloses for us the sources of this life. He does so in a particular way through the Paschal Mystery of His Death and Resurrection. Linked to this Mystery are Baptism and the Eucharist, sacraments which create in man the seed of eternal life. In the Paschal Mystery, Christ established the regenerative power of the Sacrament of Reconciliation. After the Resurrection He said to the apostles: "Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them" (Jn 20:22-23). The fact that Christianity is a religion of salvation is also expressed in worship. At the center of the opus laudis (a work or labor of praise) there is the celebration of the Resurrection and of life.

The mission of evangelization is an essential part of the Church.

Christ is forever young. It means that the Holy Spirit is incessantly at work. Christ's words are striking: "My Father is at work until now, so I am at work" (Jn 5:17). The Father and the Son are at work in the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of truth, and truth does not cease to fascinate man, especially the hearts of the young. Therefore we should not consider statistics alone. For Christ, works of charity are important. Despite all of the losses the Church has suffered, it does not cease to look toward the future with hope. Such hope is a sign of the power of the Spirit. And the power of the Spirit must always be judged in the light of these words of the Apostle:

"Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel!" (cf. 1 Cor 9:16).

The Gospel is certainly demanding. We know that Christ never permitted His disciples and those who listened to Him to entertain any illusions about this. On the contrary, He spared no effort in preparing them for every type of internal or external difficulty, always aware of the fact that they might well decide to abandon Him. Therefore, if He says, "Be not afraid!" He certainly does not say it in order to nullify in some way that which He has required. Rather, by these words He confirms the entire truth of the Gospel and all the demands it contains. At the same time, however, He reveals that His demands never exceed man's abilities. If man accepts these demands with an attitude of faith, he will also find in the grace that God never fails to give him the necessary strength to meet those demands. The world is full of proof of the saving and redemptive power that the Gospels proclaim with even greater frequency than they recall demands of the moral life. How many people there are in the world whose daily lives attest to the possibility of living out the morality of the Gospel! Experience shows that a successful human life cannot be other than a life like theirs. To accept the Gospel's demands means to affirm all of our humanity, to see in it the beauty desired by God, while at the same time recognizing, in light of the power of God Himself, our weaknesses: "What is impossible for men is possible for God" (Lk 18:27).

These two dimensions cannot be separated: on the one hand, the moral demands God makes of man; on the other, the demands of His saving love-the gift of His grace-to which God in a certain sense has bound Himself. What else is the Redemption accomplished in Christ, if not precisely this? God desires the salvation of man, He desires that humanity find that fulfillment to which He Himself has destined it, and Christ has the right to say that His yoke is easy and His burden, in the end, light (cf. Mt 11:30).

It is very important to cross the threshold of hope, not to stop before it, but to let oneself be led. I believe that the great Polish poet Cyprian Norwid had this in mind when he expressed the ultimate meaning of the Christian life in these words: "Not with the Cross of the Savior behind you, but with your own cross behind the Savior."

There is every reason for the truth of the Cross to be called the Good News.

-- Kiwi (csiherwood@hotmail.com), July 28, 2003.

we know that "He saw that it was good", so obviously creation made some sense to God. but why do we need to understand why it did so? and, moreover, how could we possibly ever understand why it did so? the average loaf of bread does not inquire as to why it was created, nor could it inquire or understand the response. in both cases, we are talking about creators and creations that are simply light years apart in terms of understanding etc.

-- Ian (ib@vertifgo.com), July 30, 2003.

But we are born in the image and likeness of God and God sent his only son who took the form of one of us. I would say that we are more like light years from a loaf of bread than we are light years from God. Because with God's only son Jesus Christ, we now are very close to him who made us. He is with us.

-- Mike H. (beginasyouare@hotmail.com), July 30, 2003.

I think Ian just called me stupid or a loaf of bread.

Just kidding, of course.

It sounds to me that us mortals will just have to give ourselves round about (Mobius loop) answers to questions that are far beyond (light years) our comprehension. I think that was my point at the start of this thread.

I like Kiwi's answer. I haven't read it, but it looks kewl when I scroll it down my screen.

rod..

.

-- rod (elreyrod@yahoo.com), July 30, 2003.

Dear Rod

you will note that i referenced the "average" loaf of bread -- eg myself. perhaps you are the above-average loaf of bread!!

so far as being made in the image of God goes, well,......., maybe in the Garden of Eden there was a correlation; but i would say that 2 World Wars, and all the rest (rape, murder, incest, racism, homosexuality, abortion (aka murder), .....) , means that we are all slices of a sub-loaf when compared to Our Lord.

IMHO.

-- Ian (ib@vertifgo.com), July 30, 2003.

Yes, Ian I totally agree with you. I read somewhere that when a man thinks he is something, he is nothing.

I'm just kidding with you and the "loaf of bread" comment.

rod..

..

p.s. The Bible is that somewhere that I read it.

..

..<

-- rod (elreyrod@yahoo.com), July 30, 2003.

Ian

My only concern is that you drift in the direction of saying that all flesh is evil. This is error of course.

It was "A popular false teaching at the time the Gospel Of John was written, that 'all flesh was evil.' Some believed strongly in the divinity of Christ (that Jesus was the Son of God) but because of their erroneous belief that all flesh was evil, these men wrongly concluded that the divine Christ could not have put on this supposed evil flesh. However, both the divinity and the humanity of Christ are crucial to the Christian faith."

-- MIke H. (beginasyouare@hotmail.com), July 30, 2003.

dear Mike H

begotten, not made.

-- Ian (ib@vertifgo.com), August 01, 2003.

Ian,

"He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, for in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible.

All things were created through him and for him.

He is before all things, and in him all things hold together." Colossians 1

But you said talking about creators and creations that are simply light years apart in terms of understanding etc

If all was created in Him for Him and through Him, how can we be light-years apart? That is an excessive amount of separation. What good would anything be to Him if it was "light-years apart from Him?

-- Mike H. (beginasyouare@hotmail.com), August 01, 2003.

"In reality, it is the creature who closes himself to His love. Damnation consists precisely in definitive separation from God, freely chosen by man and confirmed with death that seals his choice for ever."

You can choose to be light-years away from God and we call that sin. God does not desire this separation and has built us a bridge to him with the blood of the cross.

-- Mike H. (beginasyouare@hotmail.com), August 01, 2003.