Abiding sense of purpose

This will definitely help us to have passion and direction in our daily life. We need to develop an abiding sense of purpose so we can avoid getting entangled in distractions or, worse, lost in the maze of concerns or stranded in idleness, laziness, loneliness, worries, and the like.

And what kind of purpose can this be that would keep us going no matter what situation we find ourselves in? This could only be God, our love of God, from whom we come and to whom we belong. He is our beginning and end, our everything.

That's why we need to sharpen our awareness of him, feel his presence and his abundant merciful love for us, learn to discern his will and ways in every moment, and know how to relate everything in our life to his ever-functioning providence.

We need to strengthen our faith that only in God can we have the ultimate purpose in life. St. Paul said, "Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God" (1 Corinthians 10:31).

Before that, Christ himself told us to "love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind" (Luke 10:27). Nothing could be clearer than this as to what final purpose we have in life. All other goals and objectives we have in life should only be secondary and instrumental to this ultimate purpose of our life.

We need to find ways to correspond to this clear commandment of God to us. That effort will help us to broaden our mind, to continue making initiatives, to widen our perspectives, to deepen our hope, and to inflame our charity.

It will spur us to action always, not contented with knowing things alone or having some theoretical attitude in life. It will push us to develop a universal heart, capable of dealing with everyone and of reaching out to everyone, including the most difficult personalities and enemies. 

It will enable to have a sense of unity and continuity among the different elements and the different occurrences in our life, be they good or bad, favorable or unfavorable to us, etc.

When we have love of God as our abiding sense of purpose in our life, we would find it easy to go from thing to another, no matter disparate they are from each other. We would find meaning in everything, including what we consider to be human disasters in our life.   The effort to make God our abiding sense of purpose in life will identify us more closely with Christ who was also open to anything in his earthly life, including the worst possible things that happened to him, which was to die, and yet was consistent and ever faithful in doing the will of his Father. "'I do not seek my own will,' he said, 'but the will of Him who sent me'" (John 5:30).

We would know how to handle all kinds of situations, including the worst of them, like when we have deal with people who are full of malice and deceit. There is nothing that cannot be taken care of by God when he becomes the abiding purpose in life.

That effort will always fill our life with excitement. There will never be a dull and boring moment, even when we are alone or confined and restricted by sickness and other factors. Even when we are resting or in solitude because of prayer or study, our spirit will continue to be active and still in touch with God and others.

As such, we can aspire to continue being filled with peace and joy. We can more easily dominate the wayward impulses of the flesh. We can enjoy what are termed as the "fruits of the Holy Spirit": love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

For us to have God as the ultimate and abiding purpose of our life, we need to avail of a certain plan of pious acts that will always keep us in touch with God even in the midst of our most mundane activities. These serve to keep the flame of love burning.

Some moments of mental prayer everyday always help. A continuing practice of reading and studying the doctrine of our faith, the habit of living in God's presence and doing other devotional acts like saying the Rosary, dealing with our guardian angels, going to Mass and receiving Communion. These make us more discerning of God's will and ways in every moment.