Tag: Love

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The Secret to the Good Life

What is the essential ingredient to the good life?

Since Aristotle first spoke of “the good life” almost 2,500 years ago, it seems everyone has been on a quest to experience it. I have heard many people speak about it and I have read many books on the subject. Some people think it’s about success and accomplishment. Others think it’s about money and things. Some think it’s about love and family. Others think it’s about food, wine, travel, adventure, education, meaningful work, independence, friendship, and pleasure. There’s nothing wrong with these things, unless these things are all you’ve got. Because even all of these things together will not deliver the good life.

There is only one ingredient essential to the good life. So essential that without it, the good life is impossible. You would think that such an ingredient would be widely sought after. It isn’t. You might think that such an ingre- dient is scarce. It isn’t. You may think this ingredient is expensive. It isn’t. You may think people would be clam- oring to get their hands on it. They aren’t.

When people talk about the good life, you get the impression that it is mysterious and only available to a select few people. This isn’t true. There is no secret to the good life. It isn’t a mystery. No exceptional talent is required. It isn’t only for the rich and famous. It is available to everyone, everywhere, at all times.

What is the essential ingredient of the good life? Goodness itself. The secret to the so-called good life has always been right before our very eyes. If you wish to live the good life, fill your life with goodness. Fill your life with love, kindness, gratitude, compassion, and generosity.

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Meditation of the Day – The Lord is Gentle and Merciful

“I realize as never before that the Lord is gentle and merciful; He did not send me this heavy cross until I could bear it. If He had sent it before, I am certain that it would have discouraged me . . . I desire nothing at all now except to love until I die of love. I am free, I am not afraid of anything, not even of what I used to dread most of all . . . a long illness which would make me a burden to the community. I am perfectly content to go on suffering in body and soul for years, if that would please God. I am not in the least afraid of living for a long time; I am ready to go on fighting.”— St. Therese of Lisieux, p. 122

//Catholic Company//

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Minute Meditation – Rest in God’s Love

When the Significant Other says we are good, then we are good indeed. That’s what it means, psychologically speaking, to be liberated and loved by God. Anyone else can say it, but we will always doubt it, even though it temporarily feels good, and is the necessary “bottle opener.” Salvation is only secondarily assuring us of an eternal life. It is, first of all, giving us that life now, and saying, “If now, then also later,” which becomes our deep inner certitude. If God would accept us now, when we are clearly unworthy, then why would God change the policy later? We can then begin to rest, enjoy, and love life.

— from the book Things Hidden: Scripture as Spirituality by Richard Rohr, OFM

//Franciscan Media//

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Minute Meditation – No Straight Line to God

Just as the Bible takes us through many stages of consciousness and salvation history, it takes us individually a long time to move beyond our need to be dualistic, judgmental, accusatory, fearful, blaming, egocentric, and earning-oriented. Isn’t it a consolation to know that life is not a straight line? Many of us wish it were—and have been told that it should be, but I haven’t encountered a life yet that’s a straight line to God, including Mother Teresa’s! It’s always getting the point and missing the point. It’s God entering our lives and then us fighting it, avoiding it, running from it. There is the moment of divine communion or intimacy, and then the pullback that says, “That’s too good to be true. I must be making it up.” Fortunately, God works with all of it, and that mercy, or steadfast love.

— from the book Things Hidden: Scripture as Spirituality by Richard Rohr, OFM

//Franciscan Media//

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Meditation of the Day – Out of the Darkness

“Out of the darkness of my life, so much frustrated, I put before you the one great thing to love on earth: The Blessed Sacrament … There you will find romance, glory, honor, fidelity, and the true way of all your loves on earth, and more than that: Death. By the divine paradox, that which ends life, and demands the surrender of all, and yet by the taste (or foretaste) of which alone can what you seek in your earthly relationships (love, faithfulness, joy) be maintained, or take on that complexion of reality, of eternal endurance, which every man’s heart desires.”— J. R. R. Tolkien, p. 119

//Catholic Company//