Univeersal Mission

There comes a time in the life of each person when he or she wonders why they were born. They ask why am I here? What is my reason for being? What am I supposed to accomplish? These and similar questions often occur more than once. It seems they most frequently occur when we experience hardship, seemingly insurmountable obstacles, defeat, failure and depression. Yet, we may also ask these questions when our experiences are positive but we are bored, confused or are searching for a sense of direction and an overriding goal onto which we can hold. Many psychologists believe humans are the only species that are self-aware and, thus, capable of asking these questions. It would seem, therefore, that asking these questions are unique to the human family. The questioning of our reason for being appears to be hardwired; some would say instinctual. Yet, due to our sense of self and the intangible nature of the questions, this desire goes beyond mere instinct, which is usually tied more directly to the urges prompted by Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.

Our desire to know or find our purpose in life arises from an intuitive, almost subliminal sense of destiny. Integral to finding our purpose or mission is the desire to do something important, something great. Regrettably, many of us appear to envision this greatness in purely worldly terms such as fame, power and wealth. We set our sights on temporary, fleeting things when in reality our desire and our destiny are for far greater things, things that are timeless.

In our search for purpose, we seem to focus increasingly on the limited things of the world. However, each of us, whether we acknowledge it or not, have been given a mission. The successful completion of that mission will bring us the total, perfect fulfillment and happiness for which we hunger. It is a mission that is integral to who we are as human persons and has been given to us out of love by our Creator. That mission is a mission of agape love. It is a mission that is to culminate in a life of eternal union with God, to experience endless joy by sharing in His love as His adopted children.

The specific means of fulfilling this ultimate, universal common mission during this life differs for each person. The state of life we choose, the career path we follow, the activities in which we engage all contribute toward the fulfillment of this overriding mission, even when we have one or more specific missions in the world. Thus, the person who chooses a mission to heal the sick and becomes a physician to do so, contributes to his or her fulfillment of the universal mission to achieve union with God by using his or her education, talent and skills with love and compassion in accordance with the unchanging moral law established by God. Likewise, the person who chooses marriage assumes the goal of a lifelong commitment of responsible love for his or her spouse and the children that are born to them. Faithfully fulfilling this commitment and the promises of the marriage contract contributes to his or her eventual eternal union with God. All that we do in our daily lives has a bearing on whether or not we successfully complete the universal mission we have been given. The more our thoughts, words and actions are in obedience to the law of love and morality, the more successful we will be in completing the general mission all of us have been given. It is by love and goodness not by hatred and evil that we achieve the end for which we have been created. That love and goodness is most perfectly pursued by each of us emulating Jesus as His disciples.