The Catholic tradition and its historical development

Catholicism Qs

Questions on the Catholic Faith

As our discussion implies, there is a tendency for mortal men to evaluate happiness according to the material, stimuli and achievements made during one's life. Catholicism makes as its primary viewpoint the case that these are merely devices by which we act toward ultimate happiness. This can only be realized, the Catholic Church tells, on the plane of the divine, by accepting the Holy Trinity into one's life. As the definition from the Catholic Dictionary (2009) reports on the Catholic Man, "there is for him a well-being of the whole and a well-being of the parts; a relatively brief existence here, an everlasting life hereafter. Beatitudo, perfect happiness, complete well-being, is to be attained not in this life, but in the next." (Knight, 1) This idea of perfect happiness indicates that the outcome of a life lived rightly and in a moral disposition befitting a human incarnation of God's will, will be to find true and total happiness for the first time only in the form of the everlasting soul. To translate this position, the Catholic definition of happiness is to be deserving of and granted eternal salvation.

This definition also comports with the purpose of life according to the scriptures of the Bible. So tells one source which draws its conclusion from the Book of John. Here, we are told that the purpose of life is to live through the grace of God so that one may ultimately be granted access to eternity at His right hand. So tells the text here, which responds to the question concerning man's purpose by denoting that "God made me to know him, to love him, and to serve him in this world and to be happy with him forever in the next." Here, in just 26 words, is the whole reason for our existence. Jesus answered the question even more briefly: "I came so that [you] might have life and have it more abundantly" (John 10:10). God's plan for you is simple. Your loving Father wants to give you all good things -- especially eternal life." (CA, 1) In essence, this sums up the focal point of this discussion, which is the achievement of salvation. To the Catholic, this is a path reserved for all Godly people, and should be seen as the one true happiness that we can achieve and constitutes the singular purpose of life.

2. Merton helps to suggest a perspective on human existence as itself a divine miracle with no equal in the universe. The grace of God, he argues, is best represented by man's own reflection of his goodness and righteousness. In these best features are we said to be crafted in his image. So denotes Merton when he contends that "it is a greater thing and a better prayer to live in Him Who is Infinite, and to rejoice that He is Infinite, than to strive always to press His infinity into the narrow space of our own hearts." (Merton, 97) This speaks to the premise that have an opportunity live up to the standards and expectations of the Lord and should thus not attempt to diminish Him by reducing ourselves.

4. The Church, while divided into countless denominative cells, is altogether a permanent seat of political power, moral influence and cultural relevance. Its beginnings were, however, the unlikely sequence of events which conveyed the phenomenon of one great man's sacrifices to peoples all over the world. The story of the life, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ of Nazareth is the seedling for the saga of Catholicism as an ethical and ideological leader of the world community.