Is there more to life than this?

As a child grows up, the most persistent question he or he will tend to ask is ‘why?’ As beings endowed with reason, we not only ask what things are but also why things are. At some stage in one’s life, a human being will ask questions like: Why is the universe here? Why is there something rather than nothing? Why are we here? What is the goal of human life? What is the purpose of our lives? Why is there suffering in the world? Is death the ultimate destiny of human existence? Men and women throughout history have attempted to answer these questions.

For thousands of years, wise men and women have discussed and speculated about the meaning of life. In their discussions on the meaning of life, most of the greatest thinkers have concluded that there is a necessary, eternal and unchanging First Cause, an originating principle which creates and sustains everything. This First Cause is what people naturally call GOD.

We know that God is real, not only because there are convincing reasons for God’s existence, but also God has made himself known to us. With deeds and words, prophecies and miraculous works, God reveals himself and his plan of loving goodness. He made himself known to us by stages until He sent his eternal Son – Jesus Christ. God reveals himself in order to invite us to his friendship, to guide and strengthen us in our journey of life, and ultimately attain eternal happiness in his heavenly kingdom.

Come and see.

Encounter with Christ which elicits a decision to entrust oneself to him in freedom is the beginning of an active journey of friendship with Christ. It is that moment in a person’s journey of life when God becomes real, and Christ is alive and the Holy Spirit is present, and chooses to enter into personal relationship with God. There are many ways the Lord Jesus uses to make himself known and offer his friendship: “Look, I am standing at the door, knocking. If one of you hears me calling and opens the door, I will come in to share his meal, side by side with him.”(Revelation 3:20) A person’s response to this invitation may start with interest with a positive association with Christ or Christianity, curiosity, openness and active search about God, Christ, the Church. The culmination of this search is a free and explicit decision: to accept Christ’s invitation or to reject it.

Come. Follow Me.

Those who decide to accept Christ’s invitation live as his disciple within his Church, the movement of growing disciples. A disciple is a learner, that is, he or she commits to learn from Christ how to think, make choices, and act. The call to be disciples of Christ comes to us by means of this community. Christ calls us to become members of his Church so that within it, we may grow and reach maturity of faith. Christ entrusted his Church with the fullness of divine truth and the means to be holy. The Church exists to make us saints – disciples who are fully open to God’s grace. The Christian doctrines, the Sacraments especially the Eucharist, the Commandment of love, Christian Prayer are the means to be saints. It is by living as a disciple within the Church that one receives the gift and fulfil duty to become saintly men and women.

Go and make disciples

After a Christian has reached a certain maturity within the Church, the Lord sends him or her to fully share in his mission. The mission the Risen Christ entrusted to his Church is “to make disciples of all nations”(Matthew 28:19) Therefore, all the disciples of Christ “should everywhere on earth bear witness to Christ and give an answer to everyone who asks a reason for the hope of an eternal life which is theirs.” All members of the Church share in this mission, though in various ways. The Christian calling to discipleship and mission are lived out in different settings and states of life.