Joyful Witness / Kimberly Pohovey

Can you define your purpose in only five words?

We go about our daily life running from one thing to the next. We are consumed with our “to do” lists and how many tasks we can scratch off. We go to work. We study at school. We take care of our homes and yards, do laundry and go to the grocery. You get the idea … we are very busy.

In our busyness, I think we’ve lost the ability to simply be still and contemplate the purpose of our lives.

As Catholics, we know our purpose is to know, love and serve God. But do we live our lives according to that purpose?

I read an article many years ago in which the author challenged readers to describe the purpose of their life in one, five-word sentence.

As you can imagine, the readers’ comments included some funny responses. I recall one that said, “It’s impossible, there’s no way.” Another said, “Searching for the best beer.” Still another, “Belly-flopping my way through life.” Of course, many were inspirational, such as “I practice kindness every day.”

So, I challenged myself to come up with five words that I believe define my purpose. It seems like an easy task to come up with only five words, right?

I work in stewardship and development for the Church, so I figure my sentence should be something like, “Bettering people’s lives through fundraising.” But no, that describes what I do, not necessarily my life’s purpose. My next attempt was, “Being a mother who loves.” Kind of lame. This is harder than it sounds.

I decided to see what I could find about the purpose of a Catholic’s life.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church emphasizes that our life’s purpose is rooted in our creation in the image and likeness of God. It teaches that every human being has infinite value and dignity, which is rooted in their creation. The Church affirms that our ultimate destiny is to know, love, and serve God, leading to a fulfillment of our divine vocation. This purpose is not merely about worldly success but is centered on our relationship with God, as expressed in the teachings of Christ, who reveals the mystery of God to humanity.

It’s easy for us to confuse our purpose with what we do for a living, our wants and dreams, and even others’ expectations for our lives.

I could easily define my life by my role as a wife and mother or as an employee for the Church, but I think that would short-change God’s intention.

Our purpose lies beyond our daily lives here on Earth. I think we are from God, exist to love and serve God and, ultimately, to return to him. This being the case, our goal is heaven. Our purpose helps us reach our goal. Therefore, our purpose is to live a life in communion with Christ so that we can attain eternal life with our Creator.

That helped me clarify my purpose. Then it struck me. My five words are: “Trying to get to heaven.”

Can you define your purpose in only five words?
 

(Kimberly Pohovey is a member of Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ Parish in Indianapolis. She is the director of major and planned gifts for the archdiocese.) †