God’s “Fierce Of Urgency Of Now” 

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the Second Sunday of Lent, Year B

St. Alphonsus Catholic Church, Brooklyn Center, MN

Sunday, February 28, 2021

The story of the Transfiguration of Jesus has charmed and dazzled Christian poets, artistes, preachers, and mystics for centuries. In many churches and cathedrals around the world, there are surpassing beautiful depictions of the Transfiguration in stain glasses. In books and writings, there is a preoccupation with the meaning of this event. So, what is it about the Transfiguration that fascinates the Christian mind? We are fascinated by it because it is the most explicit mention of mystical experience in the New Testament. We are a people of mystics. If you scratch at the surface of people’s lives, you will see lots of stories of the mystical. But what is the mystical? It is the experience of spiritual things within the ordinary. It is that experience that finally convinces us that spiritual realm or reality is far greater and far more beautiful than ordinary experience. 

Around the mid-point of his public ministry, three disciples had a mystical experience of Jesus. All three of the synoptic gospels— (Matthew 17:1-8; Mark 9:2-8; and Luke  9:28-36) reported this story. Mark says that “Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves.” The most causal reader of the Bible will be very familiar with the symbolism of mountain. Moses received the Law on Mount Sinai; he saw the Burning Bush on the same Mount Sinai. Abraham took his son Isaac to Mount Moriah to sacrifice him to God; the Temple of Jerusalem is built on Mount Zion. A lot of encounters with God happened on mountaintops. Mystics often used heights or mountains in a metaphorical sense to speak about the transcendence— heightened consciousness, heightened awareness, the vision from the hilltop (which is St. Thomas Aquinas definition of wisdom). When you get to the mountain, you see things from a broader perspective. It is like seeing all of reality from the standpoint of God. You see how all things are connected in and through God. Think of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. the night before he was assassinated in Memphis. In his famous speech, he said he has been to the mountaintop and has seen something that no one else saw. On the mountain “he was transfigured before them.” Transfigured comes from the Greek word metamorphoo which means to change into another form. Jesus’ body changes from a purely human form to one that more accurately displays his divinity and glory. He went beyond the form he had. Without ceasing to be what he was, he became something more. Through his humanity, his disciples saw his divinity. They saw something more, something deeper and stranger. The event is a theophany. 

After he was transfigured, what else happened? “His clothes became dazzling white, such as no fuller on earth could bleach them.” His clothes became whiter than snow. Now, light or brightness is often used by mystics as a symbol of mystical experience because it provides the ground for true vision. In a dim light, it is much difficult to see something clearly. But a bright light provides a clear illumination to see something clearly. If you are reading a newspaper in a dimmed lighted room, you will stretch your eyes to see the prints. But if someone walks into the room and turns on the brighter light, you will see things more clearly. That’s what happens in a mystical experience. It is the moment of clarification, of getting it, of seeing more clearly what is ab initio shadowy. Mystical experience provides the way forward. We also associate light with beauty. To experience the world beyond this one is to experience a sublime beauty. When describing the Woman she saw in Lourdes, the great visionary St. Bernadette, above all talks about her beauty. St. Catherine of Sienna describes her vision in the beauty of the world that opens up. Light reveals the stunning beauty of the supernatural. 

Now, in the presence of the Transfigured Christ Peter exclaimed, “Rabbi, it is good that we are here! Let us make three tents: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” For centuries, preachers (that includes me) had scolded and criticized Peter for his comment, for wanting to cling on the experience that is fleeting, vanishing and impermanence. It is true that mystical experience comes and goes and we cannot hang on to it. However, Peter’s instincts is a very good one. He wants to build three tents or tabernacle. For biblical Jews, that is not just a description of a physical objects or little habitations. Tents or tabernacle brings to mind the tabernacle or tent in the desert which was a prototype of the temple. It is where the Ark of the Covenant is kept. It is where the pilgrim people worshipped. So what is St. Peter saying when he said let’s build three tent here— one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah? He is requesting that the mountaintop where he and two other disciples of Jesus had a mystical experience of Jesus may be a focus of worship. And this is true. Oftentimes the mystical becomes a prompt for, and a place of worship. Remember Fatima, Lourdes, Guadalupe and so many other places where the mystical has become a locus of worship. In such places, we have built churches and tabernacles not just to commemorate the events that occurred, but to appreciate the mystical as a place of worship. 

Finally, the Gospel speaks of the voice from the cloud which says, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.” What is the significance of the voice? The voice shows that mystical experience is not an abstraction., rather a contact with a person—God who speaks to the heart. The voice coming from the cloud is a sign of authentic mysticism. The Father is witnessing and testifying for the Son, and also declaring to the human race, if I may use the words Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “the fierce urgency of now,” which is, “Listen to him.” The call to listen to what Jesus is saying, has to say and would say is God’s own “fierce of urgency of now” to the human race. The Father is basically saying, if you want to live, want to be happy, want to be at peace, listen to my Son. Do it now, not tomorrow. Get to it now. If you want to be transformed into the likeness of God, listen to my Son. “For on him the Father, God has set his seal” (Jn. 6:27b). He is God’s final and definitive Warrior. He has come to fight, and he will win the final victory for the whole human race. May the Transfiguration of the Lord remind you of your own spiritual experience. May it drive you, motivate you, and inspire you to aspire, so that you don’t perspire or expire.  

Reflection on Luke 9:22-25

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Thursday, February 18, 2021

In this Gospel, Jesus lays out the conditions for discipleship: “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.” 

Beloved in Christ, how can we overcome pain? Or better still, how can we cope with pain and human suffering and attain joy? Interestingly, some world religions and philosophies have something to say about the question. Stoicism believes that pain can be overcome by resignation. When faced with pain and suffering, stoicism proposes a shrug of resignation. A stoic endures pain or hardship without any display of feelings and without complaint. I once encountered a family whose spiritual tradition is deeply rooted in stoicism. The family had just lost a monumental figure, someone who wields a lot of influence in the family and who kept the family together. Her death was excruciatingly painful for all. But when I tried to offer the family spiritual care, I felt like I was talking to a wall. No word. No speech. No emotion was uttered or expressed. Platonism, which is the philosophy of Plato believes that pain can be overcome by an undistracted contemplation of the eternal forms. Plato taught that there are two realms or worlds— the physical realm and the spiritual realm. The physical world is not really the “real” world, rather a shadow or image of the true reality of the realm of forms. The physical realm is the material stuff we see and interact with on a daily basis. This physical realm, he says, is imperfect and changing as we know all too well. But the spiritual realm, which exists beyond the physical realm, Plato calls “the Realm of Forms.” What are these forms? Plato said they are abstract, perfect, unchanging concepts or ideals that transcend time and space. They exist in the realm of forms. To overcome pain therefore, one must stop thinking about the things that exist in the physical world, and contemplate on what exists in the eternal world of forms. For Buddha, suffering is the consequence of creating bonds of attachment with transitory and transient things of the world. Whatever is transient is painful. Suffering, he says is caused by desire, insatiable craving, thirst, attachment and clinging to passing things of the world. To end pain and suffering, Buddha proposes negation of the self or unattchement. What does Jesus say about suffering? How can we cope with pain and suffering? It is not by way of stoicism or platonism, or Buddhism but rather by way of the sacrifice of the self in love. 

Jesus did not pretend not to be suffering. He did not hide his feelings or emotions. He was not detached from his human experience of pain and emotions. From the beginning of his public ministry, he said over and over again that “The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised.” During his trial, he did not hide his feelings. Hung upon the cross, he was not oblivious of what he was experiencing. Jesus groaned. He cried. He experienced and expressed pain. He even prayed to his Father to take away his suffering, nevertheless, he submitted to his Father’s will. 

How can we cope with suffering? To answer this question I will turn my attention to two people. One of them is known by many of you; and the other is only known by me alone. One of them still living on earth, and the other lives in the company of the saints in heaven. The one that many of us know is Mary Jo Copeland, the founder of the Caring and Sharing Hands. She is widely known for her work of providing houses for the homeless, feeding the hungry, giving hope to children, and serving the general need of low-income families in Minneapolis, Minnesota. But as someone who has celebrated several Masses in her chapel, spoken to her one on one, I have also come to know her as someone who has a profound understanding of Christian’s concept of suffering. A few weeks ago, Mary Jo hurt her back. Whenever I ask her about it and about other aches and pains she is feeling, her response is always, “Father, I still feel the pain, but I have offered it to Jesus my Lord.” No doubt, she would want the pain to go away, but since it is not going away, she is not out there pretending that the pain is not there. She is not embracing the stoic or platonic or Buddhist spirituality to dealing with pain. She is authentically Christian. While she is acknowledging it, she is also offering it to the Lord as her own own share in the suffering of Christ. Another person is my late mother. In my entire life, I am yet to see someone who prays more than my mother. Her entire life was all about prayer. She began the day with prayer, went through the day with prayer and ended it with prayer. One early morning, I overheard her praying in her room, and this was what she said, “My Father in heaven, I depend on you for everything. I cannot do without you. Only you can heal me of my sickness, and I pray you heal me. However, if healing me will cause me to live a life that will prevent me from making heaven, please, keep the sickness. All I want is you. Jesus offered his life for me and the entire world. If this is my own cross, my own sacrifice, let it be so.” I wept when I heard my mother utter those words. And according to my siblings in Nigeria, her final words of prayer before she breathed her last was, “God’s will has been done. Jesus, be merciful to me. Into your hands, I commend my Spirit.” My mother did not have an easy life, but her faith in God was unyielding and solid as a rock. 

The Via Crucis (Way of the Cross) must be Via Christus. Jesus accepted his pain, suffering and humiliation as the sacrifice he has to pay for the ransom of the many. He did pray to the Father to remove the suffering, but in the end, he submitted to it. While we work and pray to eliminate our pain and suffering and that of others, we should be willing to accept what God allows. This acceptance is not the stoic acceptance or resignation. It is rather the sacrifice of the self in love. Jesus traveled to Jerusalem in order to give himself away, to sacrifice himself in love for the other, to become a source of life to others. We should be willing to sacrifice our very lives for him as well. This spiritual and theological approach to pain and suffering removes the purposeless and the meaninglessness that suffering oftentimes generates. And when no purpose is thought of, it most often than not leads to depression and sadness. 

Homily for the First Sunday of Lent, Year B

Unique Season to Confront the Tohu-Va-Bohu Around Us 

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the First Sunday of Lent, Year B

St. Alphonsus Church, Brooklyn Center, MN

Sunday, February 21, 2021

In the opening statement of the Bible, we read “In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless waste” (Gen. 1:1). The Hebrew phrase for “formless waste” is Tohu-va-bohu. Although scripture scholars disagree precisely what it means, the consensus is something like “watery chaos,” “the chaotic water.” Shortly after that the Ruah Yahweh, the Spirit of Yahweh (God) like a mother hen over her brood, hovers over the tohu-va-bohu bringing order and creation out of the primal chaos. The whole drama of the Bible is in this opening statement— forces standing against God, but God triumphantly bringing order, harmony and creation out of that chaos. And throughout the biblical narrative, tohu-va-bohu continues to reemerge and assert itself. Think of the waters of the red sea that has to part to allow the Israelites to escape. Think of the Jordan River that has to stop so that the Israelites can cross it to get to the promised land. Think about Jesus walking on the stormy water of the sea of Galilee. Throughout the biblical story, we see tohu-va-bohu threatening, and God finding a way to save the situation. Before the Fall, Adam was described as someone who walked with God. His wife Eve, also walked with God. But all of a sudden, they faced a moral tohu-va-bohu which overwhelmed them, broke apart God’s good order and broke down what God originally intended for the human race. With the passage of time the wickedness of the human kind was great upon the earth. It was so severe that God regretted creating human beings, so extreme that it awaken in God the desire to destroy the earth. Now, when you read those words, do not interpret it as God falling into a sort of psychological irritation or meltdown. What the writer of Genesis is talking about is a spiritual physics. If this happens, then that would happen. If you grab a red-hot object, it will burn your fingers. When we are cruel, violent, hateful, we break apart God’s good order. When we sin, the negative impact affects us all. There is nothing like “my little private sin.” My sin, your sin has the effect of breaking down and breaking apart what God intends for the human race. 

What did God do when moral, spiritual, and social tohu-va-bohu overwhelmed the human race? Genesis says “Noah found favor with the Lord.” Noah walked with God. To walk with God is to adjust your rhythm with his; it is to bring your mind and will into line with his. It is a a kind of spiritual choreography. So, in the midst of utter tohu-va-bohu of the world, God finds Noah who like Adam  before the Fall knows how to walk with God. Noah becomes God’s rescue operation team that saved humanity and creation. What did God tell Noah to do? What God said to Noah applies to everyone of us: “Build yourself an ark,” (Gen. 6:14). Apart from telling him to build an ark, God also instructs him how to build a strong ark that will allow him (Noah) to walk with God even in the midst of the primal chaos. This is why what God says to Noah applies to us all. But how do we build an ark to navigate the tohu-va-bohu (troubled waters) of this world?Tohu-va-bohu will always be with us, but if we don’t build s strong ship and don’t walk with God, we would be overwhelmed by it. 

Now, the rescue operation led by Noah, Moses, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Amos, and all the prophets was meant to steady the ship, but not to lead it to its shore, its destination. God’s most formidable and final rescue operation is done by the very incarnation of Yahweh, Jesus Christ. Only God who brought order, harmony and creation out of the tohu-va-bohu, out of the primal chaos is able to wage the final and definitive war against all that stands in opposition to God’s plan and intention.   

The liturgical week of Lent always begins with the story of tohu-va-bohu reappearing to bring down God’s final rescue operation. Immediately after the baptism of Jesus, shortly before he lunches his public ministry, tohu-va-bohu emerges to take him out and take him down. Jesus is tempted by the  devil in the desert. The singular purpose of tohu-va-bohu, i.e. the devil is always to move people off the path that leads to God and to order their desire in the direction of something else other than God. If devil succeeds in doing this, the primary desire of one’s life will become something other than the creator. So, after his forty days of fast and prayer, the devil confronts Jesus and gives him three basic temptations. The first temptation begins at a low level of the desert floor, a kind of basic floor temptation: “Command that these stones become bread.” This is the tohu-va-bohu of making sensual pleasure the center of his life, to make the satisfaction of bodily desire for food, drink, sex, pleasure the center of his life. Sensual pleasures are gifts of God, however when they become dominant, become lord of our lives, our deep desire for God will be compromised and not realized. When these desires become so pressing that we clamor for them ceaselessly, they will take over our lives. To that temptation, Jesus tells the devil “One does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” After the first temptation, the devil takes Jesus to a higher position, to the parapet of the temple. The temple in Jesus time was the very centre of the society. It was the economic center, the political, the cultural, and religious center of the society. To be at the parapet of the temple, the high point of the temple would be top of the society. Everyone can see you and admire you. This is the temptation towards glory, honor, esteem, and to be noticed. Some people can leave behind the low level temptation. They are not really enslaved to those desires. What they want is glory and the quest for glory becomes the center of their lives. Jesus has to resist that temptation too. The devil took him to the highest position, at one glance showed him all the kingdoms of the world, all the glory and said, “All these I shall give to you, if you will prostrate yourself and worship me,” (Matt. 4:9). That is the temptation of power. 

Of all the temptation we face, power is, in all probability, the greatest temptation we face. Some people can leave behind the low level stuff, they may not even be interested in glory, but they want power. They want to be able to manipulate others. And once they get power, they don’t want to let go of it. But the price they pay is to worship the devil in order to hold on to corrupt power. Having resisted the three temptations, Jesus is now ready to be the Messiah because he is now ready to make God the clear center of his life. In the season of Lent, that is what we are all doing. We are all meant to go into the desert, confront the moral tohu-va-bohu, confront all those temptations towards sensual pleasure, honor, power and glory. For if we make those the center of our lives, then we are no longer a fit bearer of God’s presence. But if we are able to rise above those te

Jesus Agrees With A Leper

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

St. Alphonsus Church, Brooklyn Center, MN

Sunday, February 14, 2021

In ancient Israel, no disease was more dreaded than leprosy. The fate of lepers was hard and disastrous. The law restricted them from participation in the community. They were considered unclean, unworthy of God’s holiness and blessings. They were regarded as untouchables and treated as outcastes. This inhuman treatment made lepers very lonely human beings. As we learn from today’s first reading (Leviticus 13:1-2, 44-46), they are to quarantine outside the camp; keep their rented garments, and have their heads shaved bare. When they move about, they are required to cry out, “Unclean, unclean!” 

This is the miserable condition of the leper in today’s Gospel before he encountered the Way, the Truth, and the Life. With humility, boldness and defiance, he draws near to Jesus, kneels before him and pleads, “If you wish, you can make me clean.” Compassionately moved by his plea, Jesus replies, “I do will it. Be made clean.” Instantaneously the leprosy submits to the authority of Jesus and the man is healed. Why is Jesus moved with pity for the leper? In all likelihood, Jesus is moved by the length of time the man has experienced the physical, emotional and spiritual pain and distress of leprosy; by the discrimination that kept him away from the community, from his family, and from the temple. At a time when he needs the support of others, he finds himself all alone in the world. Jesus is moved with pity for how a human being has been treated by his own community. After all, he too is a child of God, created in imago Dei. His disease did not strip him of his dignity. 

But what exactly gave this leper the audacity to break an age-long law that forbids him from approaching Jesus? What gave him the temerity to approach Jesus? Without a doubt, he heard that Jesus of Nazareth is a friend of sinners, the outcasts and rejects. He heard that Jesus raises the dead, restores sight to the blind, makes the lame and crippled walk. He heard that he causes the deaf to hear again, and the mute to speak. He heard that Jesus of Nazareth is establishing something new— the Kingdom of God. What he heard about Jesus causes his fear to make way for faith, and substitutes his timidity with courage. He is finally able to say to the Lord, “If you wish, you can make me clean.” To that Jesus replies, “You bet! I want you to be clean.” Jesus also “broke” the law when he touched the leper. He could have healed him with the power of the spoken word. He didn’t need to touch him. There are instances where he cast out evil spirits with words. So, why did he feel the need to touch the leper? The Pharisees were in the crowd and they know what the law says. Touching the leper is the most clear manner of affirming the leper’s dignity and self-worth, of demonstrating that he is greater than all those things people think he is. People were forbidden from touching a leprous person in order to prevent the disease from spreading, but Jesus touched the leper so that the cure could spread. Touching the leper did not render him unclean, rather, the leper was made clean. Jesus is God! Jesus touched the man because he did not consider him unclean. The unclean is not the leper. The unclean are all those who showed no compassion and treated him with disdain. Anyone who looked the other way upon seeing a suffering human being is the unclean. Those who only see the disability and not the person are the unclean. Those who only see the skin color, and not the human being are the unclean. Those who ignore the anguish cry of another for justice are the unclean. Our overall attitude towards the other— the poor, the immigrants, the elderly, etc. may be our biggest uncleanness. With the leprosy gone, Jesus dismisses him with a do and don’t. Don’t tell anyone. But go and show yourself to the priest and to offer the needed sacrifice. But he could not hold his excitement and joy. He could not keep to himself the mighty work that had been done for him. And do you blame him? He spread the word. His shout is no longer, “Unclean, unclean!” For the first time in a long time, he is able to declare proudly, “I am clean, I am clean.” For the first time in a long time, he would sit among people, enter the synagogue, go to marketplaces, and be accepted in the community.

Sisters and brothers, we are not lepers. We don’t have leprosy. But what leprosy does on the outside is what sin does in the inside. What leprosy does physically is what sin does spiritually. Leprosy isolates a man or woman from the human society. Sin isolates a person from God and from the people of God. Leprosy kills! Sin also kills. Sin fascinates, but then assassinates! The leper needed Jesus to be healed, we also need Jesus to heal us. The leper needed Jesus for restoration, we also need Jesus for restoration. The leper went to Jesus with a prayer request, “If you want to, you can make me clean.” We too need to go to Jesus and ask him to make us clean and whole. Jesus said to the leper, “…go, show yourself to the priest…” that is, “Go to church!” Why priest? It is the duty of the priest to restore a leper back to the community of faith after ascertaining that the leprosy has gone. Why go to church? To receive the sacraments, especially the Eucharist. The Eucharist is the means through which become christified, healed, blessed and delivered.

“For This Purpose Have I Come”

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

St. Alphonsus Catholic Church, Brooklyn Center, MN

Sunday, February 7, 2021

Today’s Gospel (Mk. 1:29-39) is a continuation of last Sunday’s Gospel (Mk. 1:21-28). After Jesus relocates to Capernaum, he enters the synagogue on a Sabbath day, assumes the role of a rabbi, teaches with authority, and delivers a man possessed with an evil spirit. Afterwards, “his fame spreads everywhere throughout the whole region of Galilee.” At the end of service in the synagogue, he goes to the house of Simon and Andrew with James and John to rest. After being told that Simon’s mother-in-law is sick with a fever, Jesus goes to her beside and heals her, and she in turn serves their needs of food and drink. By evening, all manner of persons—the sick, the demonic possessed were brought to him and he ministers to them. The next day, he wakes up very early in the morning and goes to a lonely place to pray. He is still praying when Simon and some people came to his “hideout” and said to him, “Everyone is looking for you.” Oh! how I wish everyone is looking for Jesus today, including all Christians. In response to Simon’s comment, Jesus presents a different schedule, “Let us go on to the nearby villages that I may preach there also.” Then he adds, “For this purpose have I come.” From there Jesus begins to go into their synagogues  preaching and driving out demons. 

From the onset of his public ministry, Jesus understood the reason why He came and severally spoke about it. In his response to Simon and others who disrupted his prayer time and wanted to take him back to Simon’s house where a host of people were waiting for him, he speaks about his purpose for coming into the world, which is, to preach the good news of the Kingdom of God. At his inauguration he declares “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim the good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind and to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord” (Lk. 4:18-19). In another occasion, Jesus says that the reason why he came is to call sinners to repentance (Mk. 2:17b). After his encounter with Zacchaeus, he says to him, “The Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost” (Lk. 19:10). He also says …”the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mk. 10:45). At his trial before Pilate, Jesus says to Pilate, “For this purpose I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice” (Jn. 18:37). Jesus understood his purpose on earth. He understood his mission. He knew the purpose of his coming is to be a Warrior against Satan, evil and death. He also knew the tools needed to wage this war and be successful. Jesus came to save humanity, to save you me. He was not confused or conflicted as to why he came. It was crystal clear to him. No wonder he is called the Triumphant Warrior. 

Sisters and brothers, what do you think is your purpose in life? Your purpose is not a sudden discovery that you are going to be a scientist or a doctor or a teacher, although it is a possibility. It is not a realization of what you are going to become; it is not one act or one career, but a profound realization that your entire life— private and public, inside self and outer life are altogether wired to God. In the first reading (Job 7:1-4, 6-7), Job paints a very sad, negative and pessimistic view of life. He describes life on earth as “a drudgery,” that is, a hard, dry menial, donkey work with no fun. He compares days on earth like those hirelings (poorly paid workers who work purely for material reward). As deeply sad and pessimistic those words are, they are basically true for those who live without purpose, whose purpose of life is not ordered towards God. From the standpoint of Christianity, our purpose in life is to join the company of those referred by Simon when he says to Jesus, “Everyone is looking for you.” If you are retired or working, if you are a nurse, a doctor, a clerk, a police officer, a priest, a politician, a janitor, a professor, a homemaker, a receptionist, or a bookkeeper etc look for Jesus while doing what you do. Reject the secularist ideology which says you can be perfectly happy with the goods of the world without God. This ideology does great violence to the human heart because as St. Augustine says our heart is wired to God, our heart is restless until it rests in God. We are ordered by innate natural desires towards ultimate truth, ultimate goodness, ultimate beauty, which is God. To finally realize this fact and live everyday looking for Jesus in everything we do is our very purpose in life.