It seems to me that we all make life too darn complicated. In many ways we get lost in the weeds. And yet, the prescription for a happy life is really very simple. The Baltimore Catechism set it down in question #6:
6. Q. Why did God make you?
A. God made me to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him forever in heaven.
This gives us our goal and the roadmap. Where are we headed? Heaven! Why should we want to go there? For our own happiness. How do we get there? Follow the three steps:
- Know God.
- Love God.
- Serve God.
So how do we actually follow that map? Study the coordinates!
#1 How do we know God? St. Jerome gave us part of the answer when he said, "Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ." Studying the Bible helps us to know God. But we need to be careful which Bible we choose. The new translation coming from the USCCB, for example, whitewashes sodomy. Are we surprised? The sin that cries to heaven for vengeance gets the white glove treatment.
When you realize that many of our bishops are themselves either homosexuals or sympathetic to deviance (and even sex abuse of children), it's no surpise to see them messing with the word of God. Even a Protestant scholar called their new translation "gay-washed." Can we trust the USCCB for anything? Easy answer -- HELL NO! And I mean that literally. The best thing that could happen for the Church in the U.S. is the suppression of the USCCB. I firmly believe that all orthodox bishops should pull out and stop sending them money. That monstrous bureaucracy in D.C. always makes me think of C.S. Lewis's novel, That Hideous Strength about the satanic bureaucracy in his space trilogy. But I'm ranting. Stop rant and move on.
So what are the best Bible translations? The Douay-Rheims is certainly trustworthy. I always go to that first on Bible Hub, but sometimes the archaic language is challenging. Do any readers have information about Bible recommendations? I'd appreciate input. Has anyone used the Ignatius Press Study Bible. At over 1,000 pages it looks overwhelming.
In addition to the Bible, however, we have an abundant source of documents to help us know God. Teachings from the Fathers of the Church, encyclicals, etc. Pope Leo XIII released Annum Sacrum in 1899 on the Consecration to the Sacred Heart after being cured of a serious illness. If you want to enter into the heart of Jesus and know Him intimately, what more powerful way than to consecrate yourself to His Sacred Heart. Pius XI wrote Miserentissimus Redemptor in 1928 on reparation to the Sacred Heart and its importance to the Catholic faith. And in 1956 Pope Pius XII released Haurietis Aquas exploring the Biblical roots of the devotion and its relevance to Catholic spirituality.
Pope Francis also wrote an encyclical on the Sacred Heart, but, frankly I don't trust anything from that source since you never know when there's a pinch of poison in the mix. On the other hand, the summaries on the encyclical describe the many saints devoted to the Sacred Heart offered as witnesses by Francis. So maybe I will read it after I focus on the works of more trustworthy popes and the saints in their own words.
In fact, reading the lives of the saints who imitated Jesus most closely offers another powerful means to know Him. Make friends with Christ's friends and learn from them, especially from our Mother Mary. As the saying goes, "Birds of a feather flock together." Let's make sure we flock and fly with angelic witnesses.
The second coordinate on the map calls us to "love God." Jesus gave us the means when He said, "If you love Me, keep My commandments." We can hardly even begin to love Christ unless we have banished serious sin from our lives. Every mortal sin is an act of hatred against God. Until we become seriously committed to conforming our wills to God's and eliminating grievous sin, we are play-acting. Can a person love God and still commit a mortal sin? Yes. We are weak and sinful, but unless we have reached the point where we are horrified by our rebellion and quick to run to the sacrament of mercy, we can't say we love God.
But love is more than keeping the commandments. Jesus made it clear that those who loved Him would take up their cross daily and follow after Him. Do we flee every painful experience and moan and groan about the unfairness of life? How can we do that when Jesus submitted to the most horrifying persecution and agonizing death to save us? He didn't need saving. We did. St. John describes love when he reports the words of Christ:
Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends. 14You are my friends, if you do the things that I command you. 15I will not now call you servants: for the servant knoweth not what his lord doth. But I have called you friends: because all things whatsoever I have heard of my Father, I have made known to you. 16You have not chosen me: but I have chosen you; and have appointed you, that you should go, and should bring forth fruit; and your fruit should remain: that whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. 17These things I command you, that you love one another. John 15
Should we not be willing to lay down our lives for the greatest friend of all? Should we not rejoice that He chooses us and appoints us to help Him in His work? What an honor! And do we not prove our love for Him by the love we show to others in His name?
Which brings us to the third very challenging part of the prescription, to "serve" God. How do we "serve" the Creator of the universe? Does He need us? Not really. But, unbelievably, He wants us and he wants our meager service. St. Paul says we "make up what's lacking in the suffering of Christ." What could possibly lacking? Only our willing union of our sufferings to His. And why? For the salvation of souls.
So how do we serve God? The primary way is to be faithful to the duties of our state in life. A mom serving her family serves God. A dad going to work and providing for his family serves God. Parents committed to praying with their children and teaching the faith serve God. There is no generic workbook for serving God; each of us has our own special service that only we can perform. We are all called to pray and put God first. Our primary duty is to Him. After that we need to love ourselves so that we can love our neighbors "as ourselves." There is a priority in service: God, self, family, work, others. The umbrella encompassing them all is charity. Every day we have the opportunity to consider service. What is God calling me to do today? How can I best please Him with the time I have? Who can I bring to Christ today? As a dear priest once said to me, "Be a friend, make a friend, bring a friend to Christ." Let us see everyone we meet as a friend.
My favorite form of service is to smile a lot. So many people in the world need a smile and a kind word. And what an easy thing to do.
The muscles that control a smile are voluntary. Even a person not accustomed to smiling can practice in front of a mirror. Not only that. Smiling lifts your whole face. And it releases endorphins which makes one feel better. And did you ever notice that when you smile at a person and make eye contact, they almost always smile back?
A second favorite service is to express gratitude. Express gratitude for everything! To the hostess and wait staff at a restaurant, to the cashier at the grocery story, to the child who picks up something you dropped or the person who opens the door for you. How easy to serve a stranger a dose of joy just by smiling or saying thank you.
Write notes or make phone calls and let people know what a great impact they've had on you. I remember a phone call from one of my natural family planning students calling after several years to say thank you. "I was on the way to hell," she said, "And you saved my life." I was shocked and humbled. We always taught that NFP was about planning to have families, but I never realized what an impact we were having on some of the students in our classes. What a gift that call was to me!
I don't know how the Lord wants you to serve Him, but I know He has something that only you can do. May we all constantly seek to know Him, love Him, and serve Him while we look forward to being happy with Him in heaven. In the meantime, keep smiling!
My Jesus, I trust in You.
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