There's no need to complicate things. The purpose of life is to love. More precisely, life's purpose is to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself (Mark 12:30-31). We do this so we may be with God, who is love, for all eternity.
How Do We Love?
But that simple answer doesn't really settle the matter, does it? What does it mean to love, exactly? How do we love in life's many complicated situations? "How do we love?" may sound like too general of a question, one that has been asked and answered over and over in a countless number of ways while always falling short, but we still shouldn't shy away from revisiting the question or trying to answer it.
In recent generations, the emphasis has been on love as a feel-good emotion. Not wanting to get caught up in that trap, many Christian communities downplay that aspect of love. But, while it is much more than just an emotion, love is still an emotion. If we take out the emotional part of love, it's like taking the heart out of it. We then run the risk of loving others just to check off a box, or to appear righteous in God's eyes. But God weighs the heart. When he calls us to love others, and him, he wants us to do it with enjoyment, for God loves a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7). He wants us to love others because he wants us to enjoy others. He wants us to love him because he wants us to enjoy him.
Every generation can emphasize different aspects of love and still be right. The emphasis can be different every time yet still remain true because love is universal, infinite, unbound by human language, yet still founded upon the principles God gave us in the Bible.
"Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, [love] is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails."
St. Paul's definition encapsulates many of love's qualities, and the rest of the Bible demonstrates these qualities through the most profound love story ever told; God's love for humanity. To love is to put the beloved before one's self. It's the willingness to sacrifice for the sake of the beloved. That is why the Gospels are such a perfect example of love. When asked, "What is love?", we can quote St. Paul's definition, or point to the Gospels to show love in action.
Love must be active, but it is still much more than action. It's also that deep ache inside when something good or bad happens to the one you love. Love is so many things, and yet it is one. It is one God in three persons. Love is also between two persons, a personal bond unlike any other. Love brings pain, suffering and sacrifice, but it can also bring desire, intimacy and pleasure.
Love is always one even though it has many forms. It is God. It is as diverse and complex as life itself, because God is life, but it is always whole and never in conflict with itself. It is always in harmony with all of existence. The purpose of life is to love because God is life and love, and all of existence is sustained through his love of it. Love is never lacking but is complete. Our experience of it is always directed toward our transcendent end in heaven. Even its sting is a means to purification. Even our enjoyment of it is a means to deeper discovery of truth and knowledge of God. Love is an eternal flow of graces that is perpetually growing, and yet it is already perfect. Love's nature is to diffuse itself throughout all of creation. It is the most powerful force in the universe and it is unstoppable.
Perhaps love is the most succinct answer to our question, "What is the purpose of life?" because it encompasses all of life. We have not lived if we have not loved because if we have not loved we haven't experienced the full range of our humanity---the joy, the pain, the fulfillment, the loss. Many people may still wonder what the purpose of life is simply because they refuse to accept that its purpose involves so much pain, the inevitable pain that comes from loving someone. They may try to remove the painful parts from the pleasurable parts, but that is not love.
For instance, what if you love someone but they don't love you back? In some cases, it may be best to move on, but in other cases we must continue to love the beloved. I've seen parents love their children despite receiving the cold shoulder from them. These parents still love their children and will always welcome them back into their graces, because the love a parent has for a child is unconditional, like the love God has for us. This unrequited love is different, but it's still love. If we ever truly loved a person, that love will remain even when receiving none in return because love is perfect and never fades.
When love is not returned, it is sustained by the one who is love himself, through prayer which strengthens our relationship with him. The ability to love even when we receive no love in return, in fact, is a kind of proof of God's existence. It is proof that our love did not originate from us, and actually came from an infinite source that can never be exhausted no matter how much we unrequitedly give it. We can only love infinitely in this way if we have a strong connection with the Infinite Font of Love.
Love never fails. That is the verse that has remained with me the most lately. Love may err, but it will always seek reconciliation with the beloved because love is stronger than our human weaknesses. My idea of love may even be incomplete or errant, but if I keep persevering in my attempts to love, love will reorient my intentions to align with God's perfect will. If I do not orient my heart correctly when I try to love, I can get all of the actions of love right and still fail to get what I desire from love. That does not mean love failed, though. It simply means that I was seeking the wrong things when I tried to love. Intentions matter because they dwell on the heart and God weighs the heart above all else. I can get love wrong, but as long as I remain in God's love, he will correct my course so my intentions eventually become as pure as his will.
Leisure
This post isn't supposed to be all about love, though. I audaciously set out to answer the massive question, "What is the purpose of life?", and in my quest to find an answer I have found that life's purpose has at least one more layer that is akin to love, but has its own unique flavor.
God loves all of existence and he created everything for our enjoyment. While pain, suffering and sacrifice are inevitable burdens of love in our fallen state, God did not intend for life to be this way. That is why I have been thinking a little differently about the purpose of life lately. While I used to think our fallen world necessitates the perpetual battle between good and evil, lately I've reconsidered this outlook. Good and evil will not always remain in an eternal stalemate. Good will win in the end, so it is vital for us to welcome its victory. I used to think this victory would come all of a sudden at the end of time, when Jesus descends back to earth in all his glory with the angels and saints. I believe that will happen still, but I also believe God's kingdom is achieving small victories every day to prepare us for the eternal joy that awaits us.
The Church has always celebrated feasts, carnivals, weddings, and all kinds of festivities not just because she understands the human need to forget our worries and enjoy life. These celebrations foreshadow our eternal end with God, who wants us to enjoy life for all of eternity.
That's why, while the purpose of life is to love, it's not too far-fetched to admit that its purpose is also simply to have fun. In our culture today, we often forget that leisure is an essential part of life. In fact, it is more than essential. It is an end unto itself. We need leisure not just to recuperate from our work routine and return refreshed. If that were the case, our leisure would serve as a means to an end, the end being just working more efficiently. But leisure activities ought to be the final goal, the end game.
I don't know what heaven will be like, but I imagine it will involve enjoying an eternity of leisure with God. I imagine there will be much to do but nothing we have to do. I believe there will be no stressful work, but still plenty of intriguing, engaging activities to experience. Our goal in this mortal life ought to be to bring more of that heaven to earth. Our loving God wants us to enjoy life. He wants us to start eternity now.
Josef Pieper's classic book Leisure: The Basis of Culture argues that leisure is what will save our civilization. We've been caught up in the idea that the purpose of life is to work, not to love. I'm not going to bother explaining how none of what I wrote above could be true if we were subject to such a utilitarian existence. Let's just say, while we live in a fallen world and while work is necessary to sustain our frail human societies, it is important to remember that God did not design the world to be this way. He wants us to exist while participating in what Pieper calls "active leisure", or those activities which are ends unto themselves: music, art, religion, celebrations of life.
“Leisure, it must be remembered, is not a Sunday afternoon idyll, but the preserve of freedom, of education and culture, and of that undiminished humanity which views the world as a whole.” --Josef Pieper
When we live to love, it is easier to see how God wants the world to be full of joy, active leisure, inspiring art, beauty, vibrant and diverse cultures, and all the things we all enjoy anyway.
“The soul of leisure, it can be said, lies in 'celebration'. Celebration is the point at which the three elements of leisure come to a focus: relaxation, effortlessness, and superiority of 'active leisure' to all functions.” --Josef Pieper
So relax and enjoy the efficacy of life all around us. God made everything for us to enjoy. All of existence is his gift to us, given out of love.
We are all called to love in specific ways. Some of us are called to combine a handful of our passions into one unique purpose. I've spent the past few years trying to carve out a unique purpose in my life, only to find that the fabric of modern society is not very conducive to carving out one's own path. Therefore, I decided to be "everything to everyone, that by all means I might save some" (1 Corinthians 9:22). My work is not what I've chosen as much as it is my attempt to fill the needs I see when I can and where I can. I saw the need to share the truth with clarity, so I started writing. I saw the need to provide transportation and delivery services, so I started working with driving gig apps. I saw people struggling to sell their homes or find a home, so I became a real estate agent. I do all of these jobs out of love for the profession itself, and out of love for my neighbors. What Pat Green says is true, "If you're not in it for the love, you're in it for the money."
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