St. Paul answers the question of our purpose, why we are here on this earth, bluntly and with beautiful simplicity: we exist to praise God…to give God the glory. How simple a response. I am not here to first and foremost to be happy in my own life, but to praise God for creating me in love.  Everything I do must be for the glory of God, and only then can I find happiness. I think sometimes we have the cart before the horse. 

Synchronicity is a wonderful phenomena: things happen as a series of meaningful events that don’t seem connected but are. There is a purpose and a plan that unfolds gradually and quietly, provided we do what we can to discover what the plan is. This process of synchronicity must begin with praising and thanking God. We surrender our life AND our own plans to what God’s purpose is for us. The right career, vocation, relationship will somehow follow when we FIRST give God the glory and ask that He lead us to  open our hearts to this glorious plan. 

So many people are unhappy and filled with anxiety because life is not going as they wish or had “planned.” Unhappiness seems to be a growing spiritual problem in our culture, so much so, that we are becoming unhinged and unanchored. And so we flee to the various forms of social media becoming absorbed in what others think or do. Immersing one’s self in external distractions only deepens the problems we face. 

We are God’s possession, says St. Paul, and our hearts can only find security in the Heart of God. From the foundation of the world, each one of us, every human being who lived, is living, or will live, was conceived in the mind of God. Every pregnancy, especially those that didn’t come to term, ends with LIFE fulfilled in God. God will fulfill every human life, no matter what. This ultimately gives God the glory: when each one of us lives a life of joy rooted in the praise of God. When life doesn’t go as planned, as it rarely does, when we are broken, when we make bad decisions, when we have regrets… the mercy of God will embrace us and heal us. 

Immerse your life and plans in this awesome truth that God knew you before you were even conceived. You are loved by this God. Give God the glory for the life that is yours and may your life and witness help others to uncover their hidden dignity. There is no better way to give God glory than to help another person see themselves as loved by God. Every human being is a reflection of the Divine Imprint in all of creation. 

Buen camino. Fr. Frank