Introduction and Purpose

I've done a lot of reading recently and consequently have been considering what I'm doing in life that is meaningful. After reading about Viktor Frankl (article here) as well as finishing the last chapter of Style, Sex, & Substance (written by Catholic women bloggers), I got to thinking about creating my own blog. I've kept a prayer journal off and on in the past few years, and although the pages are full of my most private musings, I'm starting to think they should be accessible to others. Mostly, I want to give food for thought to my group of Catholic women who sustain me and who already know me better than most. If others read this and find inspiration, I will be overjoyed that the faith I've been given has made a difference to someone else.

Meaning. I know life's purpose is "to know God, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world and to be happy forever with Him in the next". Yes, that is directly from the criticized Baltimore Catechism, but it really sums things up well and provides an easy phrase to remember and refer back to. I may be a cradle Catholic, but I didn't learn from the Baltimore Catechism growing up. I still find value in the truths it contains, even if the methods were questioned. So there's a clear purpose to life, but it can be difficult to translate that into career choices, daily chores, and every day decisions.

One quote that has been sticking in my mind recently is from C.S. Lewis:

How monotonously alike all the great tyrants and conquerors have been; how gloriously different are the saints.

 In our quest for purpose, the saints provide examples but not a step-by-step guide to life. They each carried out different missions and bettered the world using their unique talents. It sounds like there's a clearly laid out path to becoming a tyrant (I wouldn't try it though!)...it's much more difficult to determine how to be a saint. We're left to our own devices to figure out how our uniqueness can be used to further life's purpose. No two people were created to do the same work; we each have a role to play, and it's up to each of us to fulfill our own destiny...with help from others along the way!