The development we experience as children is quite incredible, specifically in the youngest years. Infants from their youngest moments appear almost inseparable from their mothers and fathers. Eventually, they discover autonomy: that they are able to act independently of their mother and father. Eventually, this leads to a comfort that they can even go into a separate room, and know that they can come back and mom or dad will still be there. Fast forward many years, and eventually a son or daughter will live even further away, though there is still likely some sort of an important connection to their mother, father, or even both of them! Though we grow in our independence, and comfortability with it, we still do know our roots, and even where to go when everything goes south!
There is another relationship in our life that, though different in some ways, proves no less vital: our relationship with God our Father. From the first moments of our existence, He has been in relationship with us, though we certainly had to be taught more about this relationship, since God is a Divine Being, and we are loved creatures of this Being.
One question, though: do we need God? Can’t I simply live a life without acknowledging God’s presence, and still be okay?
Yes, we need God. No, we will, in the end, not be okay if we ignore God (and by extension, everything of God).
In the Catechism of the Catholic Church, it states the following:
The desire for God is written in the human heart, because man is created by God and for God; and God never ceases to draw man to himself. Only in God will he find the truth and happiness he never stops searching for:
The dignity of man rests above all on the fact that he is called to communion with God. This invitation to converse with God is addressed to man as soon as he comes into being. For if man exists it is because God has created him through love, and through love continues to hold him in existence. He cannot live fully according to truth unless he freely acknowledges that love and entrusts himself to his creator.
-CCC 27
In short, we can see three distinct reasons via the Catechism’s estimation:
- Man desires truth, happiness and God; each of these are only found completely in God Himself.
- God designed man and gives him (or her) dignity.
- God created man in love, and is inviting him into a return of that love.
We, as God’s creatures, are designed in a particular way. We are not restricted to only acting in accordance with this particular way, since God has bestowed on each of us Free Will. Certainly, we can choose to live as we wish. However, we have a God that is superabundantly good- and as a result of that overflowing goodness, He wishes to guide each of us to our ultimate fulfillment. The long and short of this is that we are designed to find full truth and happiness. Likely, we are all concerned with finding these things in any way that we can. The most complete way we will find them, though, is in relationship with God. This requires trust and vulnerability on our part, but our God, if we are willing to put out in this trust and vulnerability, will lead us to final and full fulfillment, not simply in this life, but especially in the life to come.
If we seek to be truly happy and fulfilled, we do need God. It does require us to trust that He will fulfill us (even, perhaps, in the face of things that have gone wrong for us in this life). If we seek an open and full relationship with God, we can trust that, in time, we will come to see Him in the fullness of truth and happiness, as we find our dignity, and rest in the shadow of a God that loves us far beyond our imagination.
“Man’s life comes from God; it is his gift, his image and imprint, a sharing in his breath of life. God therefore is the sole Lord of this life: man cannot do with it as he wills.”
-Pope Saint John Paul II in Evangelium Vitae
