The Human Connection
May 28, 2024
Man is made for communion, connection with one another.
The Communal Character of the Human Vocation (cf The Human Communion, Chp 2, Catechism of the Catholic Church, nos. 1878-1885). No. 1878 All men are called to the same end: God himself. There is a certain resemblance between the union of the divine persons and the fraternity that men are to establish among themselves in truth and love. Love of neighbor is inseparable from love for God.
No. 1881 Each community is defined by its purpose and consequently obeys specific rules; but “the human person… is and ought to be the principle, the subject and the end of all social institutions.”
For more of the above, I would suggest turning to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Chapter 2 and reflect on the truth in those articles in the presence of the Holy Spirit in quiet moments of prayer/conversation with him.
I am running late by two days with this post. Yesterday, I was able to join two of my friends for a pilgrimage to Our Lady of Peace in Landmark, Makati. It is edifying for me to join these two, both of whom are examples of joy in going through personal situations that could be challenging. I guess you also find yourselves in similar situations where you experience joy after conquering yourselves. I am sure such victories, small or bigger, add to one’s youthful spirit, to meaningfulness, intimacy and virtue to one’s life. They give life to one’s years on earth.
It was amazing because each one of us had in mind what the day would be. Each one had in mind what to do, what to take for lunch and still head for home at the convenient time. The conclusion we agreed upon in the end was next time we meet, we will only do one thing so that we could really do what each one of us had in mind. We laughed at ourselves and agreed!
Now, let us get back to business as usual, finish this post and publish it today.
Abundance Through Community (From Broken Gods, Hope, Healing, and the Seven Longings of the Human Heart, Gregory K. Popcak, Ph. D. Ch 4).
Perhaps most important, the pursuit of meaningfulness, intimacy, and virtue helps us to achieve abundance by enabling us to rediscover our essential human need for connection with others. Remember that in Genesis God says that it is not good for us to be alone (see Gn 2:18). It is our ability to connect with others that enables us to be fully human.
Fostering meaningfulness in our lives facilitates this connection by motivating us to use our gifts for the good of others.
Even virtue orients us toward others, by both helping us be more open to what we can learn from them and having our experiences serve as an inspiration to them.
Both Christian tradition and psychological research show us that the keys to experiencing abundance on every level of our personhood—emotionally, spiritually, and even physically—are found in choosing to pursue meaningfulness, intimacy, and virtue in everything we do. This is the happiness that God wants to give you, the happiness you long for in your bones. The authentic, bone-deep joy that comes from living life more abundantly (Jn 10:10).
But even when we realize that the happiness our hearts long for is best achieved by pursuing abundance, it can still be challenging to discover and remain on the pathways that lead to it. What is the secret? St. John Paul the Great pointed to the answer in the second part of his quote on happiness, which I referenced earlier in this chapter: “Christ has the answer to this desire of yours. But he asks you to trust him” (2002).
Although Jesus
Christ certainly deserves our trust, most of us do not have an easy time
trusting him. We have a hard enough time
trusting the friends we can see, much less the God we can’t see. We insist that we and we alone, have the
right to determine what will make us happy.
Like the toddler who, in his mind, is much more competent than reality
would suggest, we all want to “do by self!”
We fear that if we trust anyone, most of all God, we will be condemned
to a life of lonely, miserable servitude.
Oh, sure, if we listen to others we may become good. If we listen to God we might become
holy. But we strongly doubt that we will
be fulfilled and happy.
As you discovered in Chapter 2, the assertion that we alone can find our way to happiness is at the very heart of the sin of pride. Christianity considers pride to be the deadliest of deadly sins because it thwarts the very deepest of all the longings of the human heart—our divine longing for abundance. Pride compels us to hoard our gifts and attempt to find our own paths to abundance, but abundance can be achieved only by being humble enough to realize that I do not have all the answers and my gifts are not sufficient on their own. Achieving abundance requires participating in community, sharing my gifts with others and benefiting from the gifts of others, as well as recognizing that I have a lot to learn about life and what living life to the full requires.
God wants us to
be happy, and he offers a vision of happiness that will truly satisfy us in
both this life and the next, but because we are afraid to “trust Christ,” we
end up running around chasing after lesser joys that can never satisfy us. Not really.
Depositphotos
We just have to learn to trust God and let go of our fears. God is a loving Father who wants the best for each one of us. Imagine He created each one of us out of love and He wants to share Himself who is love, joy and peace with each one of us. Ask Him to help you and me conquer our fear or better still let you and I throw all our fears to Him. Then let Him lead the way and do what He tells you to do. Cooperate with Him in making His plans for you work.
Again I will never tire of reminding you and myself to talk to God in our quiet time of prayer about these things.
See you in the next post, “May tomorrow be a perfect day; may you find love and laughter along the way; may God keep you in his tender care; ‘til He brings us together again.”
Guadalupinky
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