Rediscovering my purpose as a source of my happiness.ppsx

Rediscovering
My Purpose As
A Source Of My
Happiness
Dr. Maria Fidelis Manalo, MSc.
FEU-NRMF
Philippines

Topic Outline
1. Redefine our purpose in life
Align our priorities with our purpose
2. Decide to make commitments
3. Live our commitments to the fullest
mcmanalo@feu-nrmf.edu.ph

Knowing your purpose
gives meaning to your life
• “The greatest tragedy is not death, but life without purpose.”
• “Without a clear purpose, you will keep changing directions, jobs, relationships,
churches, or other externals — hoping each change will settle the confusion or fill
the emptiness in your heart.
• You think, maybe this time it will be different, but it doesn’t solve your real problem
— a lack of focus and purpose.”

Knowing your purpose
gives meaning to your life
• “Without a clear purpose you have no foundation on which you base decisions,
allocate your time, and use your resources. You will tend to make choices based on
circumstances, pressures, and your mood at that moment.
• People who don’t know their purpose try to do too much — and that causes stress,
fatigue, and conflict.”
• “We were made to have meaning. This is why people try dubious methods, like
astrology or psychics, to discover it.
• When life has meaning, you can bear almost anything; without it, nothing is
bearable.”

“Without God,
life has no purpose, and
without purpose,
life has no meaning.
Without meaning,
life has no significance
or hope.
God exists
and you are
loved by Him!

Busyness, Slowing
Down, & Simple
Living
“A life devoted to things is a
dead life, a stump; a God-
shaped life is a flourishing tree.”
— Proverbs 11:28

•
•
•
•

It all Starts with God (it’s not about you)
“Unless you assume a God, the
question of life’s purpose is
meaningless.” — Bertrand Russell

The purpose of your life is far greater than your
own personal fulfillment, your peace of mind, or
even your happiness.
It’s far greater than your family, your career, or
even your wildest dreams and ambitions. If you
want to know why you were placed on this
planet, you must begin with God.
You were born by His purpose and for His
purpose.

The Master Plan
• Because every day of your life was written on God’s
calendar before you were born, everything that
happens to you has spiritual significance. Everything!
• Nothing in your life is arbitrary. It’s all for a purpose.
Nothing is the result of pure chance but that everything in our lives
can become a way of responding to the Lord, who has a wonderful
plan for us. - Pope Francis (Christus vivit, 248)

You are a custom-
designed, one-of-a-
kind, original
masterpiece
• Before God created you, He decided
what role He wanted you to play on
earth. He planned exactly how He
wanted you to serve Him, and then He
shaped you for those tasks.
• God formed every creature on this
planet with a special area of expertise.
• You are not an assembly-line product,
mass produced without thought.

Have you discovered what is God’s
dream for you?
During spring in 1981, Cardinal Ratzinger preached in the cathedral
of Munich on the passage of Genesis about Creation, saying that
“God has created the Universe in order to begin a love story with
us. He has created it so that love may exist.”
• We are well aware that our lives are not the result of blind
chance, and that each of us has a place in the Creator’s
heart.
- Cardenal Joseph Ratzinger, Creación y pecado, EUNSA, 2005, p. 54.
https://opusdei.org/en/article/sharing-in-gods-dreams/

In what specific way can you share in
God’s dreams?
God wants to count on us to care for all the good things He has
seen come forth from his hand: The Lord God took the man and put
him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it (Gen 2:15).
• God has wished to entrust to us the world He created out
of love, to leave his master work to us as an inheritance.
• He has entrusted to us not only the care of the natural
world but also of all his sons and daughters and the
society in which they live.
• And thus He dreams that each day we may make this
world He has created a more loving home for
everyone.
https://opusdei.org/en/article/sharing-in-gods-dreams/

What course is your life taking?
• If the helmsman of a ship becomes careless, he is fired
straightaway for not taking his sacred responsibility seriously.
• As for our lives, are we fully aware of the course they are taking?
• If it is necessary to give this more thought, I would beg each one of
you to give it the highest consideration, because to get it right is
tantamount to success; to err is quite simply to fail.
- Pope Francis (Christus vivit, 257)
https://opusdei.org/en/article/going-on-vocation/

What do you think is your calling?
• Vocation is not recruitment.
• It is a gift, a plan for complete happiness offered to us
by God.
• Our Lord is calling each of us to be a special friend to Him,
to be there for Him and to 'be there for others.’

Our mission in life impacts on many other lives.
What do you think
is your mission?
Many great things depend—don't forget it—on
whether you and I live our lives as God wants.
– St. Josemaria Escriva (The Way, 755)

A human rights activist rom the Philippines since she was
16 years old. As a Youth Champion for the Asia Safe
Abortion Partnership, she is fighting for women’s sexual
and reproductive rights in her country and beyond. She
has also worked with the Family Planning Organization of
the Philippines and the Student Christian Movement and
is a registered nurse, artist, and actress. She has used her
diverse skills to advocate for sexual and reproductive
rights for young people, and to help mobilize
marginalized women in urban, rural, and poor
communities to stand up for social change.
Sarah Jane Biton
26-year-old
An American anti-abortion activist who is the founder and
president of the anti-abortion organization Live Action.She has
conducted undercover, investigative exposés of abortion
facilities in the United States, including affiliates of Planned
Parenthood Federation of America.
In 2003, at the age of 15, Rose founded the anti-abortion
group Live Action and began giving presentations to schools
and youth groups. While at UCLA, she partnered with
conservative activist James O'Keefeto conduct undercover
videos of abortion providers.
Lila Grace Rose
(born July 27, 1988)
Pro-Choice Pro-Life

Do you think you
have a vocation?
But more than inventing ourselves or creating
ourselves out of nothing, vocation consists in a
discovery: finding our true selves in the light of
God and letting our lives flourish and bear
fruit ... Your vocation inspires you to bring out
the best in yourself for the glory of God and the
good of others.

Christ is passing
by…
Jesus is walking in our midst, as he did in
Galilee. He walks through our streets, and He
quietly stops and looks into our eyes. His call is
attractive and intriguing.
Yet today the stress and quick pace of a world
constantly bombarding us with stimuli can leave no
room for that interior silence in which we can
perceive Jesus’ gaze and hear his call ...
It is better to seek out that calm and quiet that
enable you to reflect, pray, look more clearly at the
world around you, and then, with Jesus, come to
recognize the vocation that is yours in this world.

Christ is passing
by…
To begin with, you cannot choose your vocation. You discover it or you
don't, you follow it or you don't, but you don't just 'pick one of the
options.' God can't change His Mind. You can't bargain with Him. You
can, of course, reject the offer.
Nobody can fulfil a mission that was exclusively designed for you.
You are definitely capable of it. You can't make excuses, saying that it is
too much or too little for you, since the mission and the person were
thought up together. You, and only you, can do it.
God doesn't make mistakes. Whenever you feel like it is too much for
you, it may mean that you are not in shape, but it never means that it is
not your vocation. Like a football player, talent is not enough. You need
grit and training.
- George Boronat, Going on Vocation, 27

Christ is passing
by…
• God chose you before He decided on the color
of trees and the number of stars and the
temperature at which water should boil.
• He thought about you before He started to build
the world you see around you.
• He loved you then and decided to create you for
a particular, exclusive, personal mission that
belongs only to you.
• He then created the world and all that is in it to
allow you to fulfil your role.
God is waiting for each person's reply…

Christ is passing
by…
• Nowadays there is a special obstacle: so many
selfies are taken, people see themselves in so
many photos, that they could even begin to
think they already know themselves perfectly.
• Nevertheless, to truly find one’s own identity
one needs to rediscover what one doesn’t yet
see about one’s own life: its element of
“mystery,” God’s presence and His love for each
person.
• Living fully means discovering and abandoning
oneself trustingly to this mystery, accepting a
logic and way of reasoning that we cannot fully
grasp.
- Something Great That Is Love (VIII):Am I making the right decision?, 2019
https://opusdei.org/en/document/something-great-that-is-love-is-this-the-right-dec/#_ftn6
Our life has an element of “mystery”

Christ is passing
by…
• It isn’t surprising that each of us needs to ask for
advice.
When we begin to sense God’s love in our
heart…
• What should I do to give Him my life?
• What do you think the best path is for me to
find happiness?

When you came to exist,
everything was ready.
There is nothing missing,
nothing lacking -- except
your decision.
And you in
God's hands.
All you need to become a
saint 'your own way',
'your exclusive way' is all
set up, waiting for your
resolution.
All you need to do is to
find your vocation;
then, everything will be
in your hands…

Every choice is a risk
Every decision makes you dismiss other options, but in order to keep all options open
you have to choose nothing, and to choose nothing is not the action of freedom.
Yes. Freedom is a risk. Every choice is a risk. And the most important choices in life, the
ones that bring real happiness, the ones made for love, are always a risk. But the risk is
relative to the person you give yourself to.
However, you risk nothing when you give yourself to God. He can't come up short.
Boronat, George. Going on Vocation: Texts for meditation about vocation (p. 35).

I can hear you but I won't
Some look for trouble
While others don't
There's a thousand reasons
I should go about my day
And ignore your whispers
Which I wish would go away
You're not a voice
You're just ringing in my ear
And if I heard you, which I don't
I'm spoken for I fear
Everyone I've ever loved is here
within these walls
I'm sorry, secret siren,
but I'm blocking out your calls
I've had my adventure,
I don't need something new
I'm afraid of what I'm risking
if I follow you
Into the unknown
Into the unknown
Into the unknown
What do you want?
'Cause you've been keeping me
awake
Are you here to distract me
So I make a big mistake?
Or are you someone out there
Who's a little bit like me?
Who knows deep down
I'm not where I'm meant to be?
Every day's a little harder
As I feel my power grow
Don't you know there's part of me
That longs to go
Into the unknown?
Into the unknown
Into the unknown
Are you out there?
Do you know me?
Can you feel me?
Can you show me?
Where are you going?
Don't leave me alone
How do I follow you
Into the unknown?
AURORA, Idina Menzel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIOyB9ZXn8s

Are you willing to leave your comfort zone?
As Pope Francis told us in Krakow: “My friends, Jesus is the Lord of risk, he is the Lord of
the eternal “more”. Jesus is not the Lord of comfort, security and ease.
Following Jesus demands a good dose of courage, a readiness to trade in the sofa for a
pair of walking shoes and to set out on new and uncharted paths. To blaze trails that
open up new horizons capable of spreading joy, the joy that is born of God's love and
wells up in your hearts with every act of mercy. To take the path of the “craziness” of
our God...
In all the settings in which you find yourselves, God's love invites you to bring the Good
News, making of your own lives a gift to him and to others. This means being
courageous, this means being free!”

All you have and all you are have
been designed by God for a purpose
When you consider in your prayer your talents, your gifts, your situation, your
possibilities... it gives you a glimpse of what God might have had in mind when He
made you that way.
Your parents were carefully chosen by God for you for a reason, your brothers and
sisters, your nationality, your IQ, your genius, your mother-tongue, your sensitivity,
your abilities, your imagination, your creativity...
Checking the contents of your 'rucksack' may give you a clue to the 'mission' you have
ahead. However, this is not an exact science. You need to count on grace and the power
of the supernatural.

Are you feeling overwhelmed with
God’s call?
That feeling of inadequacy is present in the vocation of the saints. When you
understand the high expectations that God has for you, you necessarily feel a sense of
unease, even a sick feeling or a sense of 'vertigo'. No one thinks he or she is the person
for the job.
Without humility, you can't become a good instrument in the Hands of God.
That is why that sort of 'vertigo feeling' is always a good sign. If someone doesn't feel
overwhelmed by the vocation God is placing in front of them, that would be a clear sign
that they don't understand it well.

Do you think you can do it?
There is always a great disproportion between what you can do and what God can do in
you. What God is asking from His saints is always beyond them. Their vocation was
always 'too large' for them, just as your vocation will be 'too large' for you. It might
seem presumptuous, even a temerity, to say 'Yes'. But it is not. It is quite the opposite:
humility. It's the humility to recognise that I can do nothing but God can do everything
in me.
Vocation is not about what you can do. It is about what God can do with you.
You can repeat this prayer of St Augustine: "O Lord, command what you will and give
what you command."

Do you know that you have a
vocation to holiness?
We might not know what God wants from us in the future, but we know for sure what
God wants from us NOW. He is very specific: "This is the will of God, your
sanctification" (1 Thess 4:3).
God wants us to become saints and we can start now to fulfil that vocation whilst we
wait for the next step – when God decides to reveal it to us.
Whatever vocation we have, whatever calling God has prepared for us, whatever
mission in life, whatever it is, let's be assured that it is included in this one: our vocation
to holiness.

I HAVE A
VOCATION?!?
We all have a vocation. We all
have been created for it. We
are all called to holiness. And
we must start struggling for it
now.
• Boronat, George. Going on Vocation: Texts for meditation about vocation (p. 52).
There is no time
to waste. Let's
keep moving
towards it.
Whatever God has
planned for us for
tomorrow requires us to
move towards holiness
now.
So, let's ask
ourselves if we are
really committed, if
we are determined,
if we have decided
to become saints
and have put
everything into it.

- George Boronat, Going on Vocation, 54-5
God also considers our
willingness before He
reveals to us our vocation –
which is also a proposal, a
declaration of love. If He
sees that we are not very
willing or ready to say 'Yes'
to His offer, He might
decide to wait.
For negotiations with
God it is absolutely
essential to convince
Him that we are willing
to do whatever He
wants us to do.
If, on the other
hand, You
were to ask
me 'that'… my
answer would
also be 'Yes'."
In our prayer we can go
through the different
options and say: "Lord, if
You were to ask me
'this'… I'd say 'Yes';

Sincerity is essential in this negotiation
Boronat, George. Going on Vocation: Texts for meditation about vocation (p. 55). iPray with the Gospel. Kindle Edition.
We must be honest. Do not say 'Yes' when you feel like saying 'No’.
Therefore, sometimes our prayer might be more like: "Lord, if You ask me 'this'… I will say 'Yes'; but if you ask me
'that'… Well, Lord, if You really want me to do 'that', You may have to give me special graces, because right now I
don't feel like saying 'Yes' to that…"
That is a disposition of trust. I don't feel like accepting it, but I trust in God my Father and know that He would
never propose a vocation for me that wasn't the best for me.
So, if my Father God was asking me to do something I feel incapable of doing, I would remind Him that I trust
in Him and ask Him to make the changes necessary for me to be able to say 'Yes'.

We cannot haggle over
our vocation with God
Trying to negotiate with God to reduce our
commitment or reach a compromise just will not
work.
We are free to either accept it or reject it, but we
can't change it. "If you are in, you are in."
God never settles for less than 'everything'.

The concept of the blank cheque is
used often to describe our acceptance
of God's calling.
• People write a blank cheque when they don't
know the exact amount they have to write.
• The cheque is signed but has no figures on it.
• It is risky because if we lose that cheque,
someone can write whatever number they
want and get all that money from our
account.

When God asks someone to follow Him,
He is asking for that blank cheque
He is not just asking for everything that we have right now; He is
asking also for everything that we will have in the future. God is
not interested only in what we are now but also in what we will
be.
God knows our talents, our skills, our inclinations, our passions,
our interests, our projects, our ambitions... He also knows our
miseries, our mistakes, selfishness and sins. And He asks for it all.
That's the greatness of our vocation.

God counts on what we are and on
what we will become
• Therefore, it is necessary to decide in our
prayer whether we are ready to give it all – or
whether we feel like bargaining with Him.
• Our vocation is not a part-time job or a society
or charity that you can join as a volunteer in
your free time.
• God needs us all and He needs the
whole of us.

Now it is time to think about
my disposition
Am I ready to allow God to write any figure He
thinks I can give?
Honestly, if God calls you to celibacy in the
middle of the world, or to become a priest, or a
nun, or a missionary, or a Capuchin friar or a
wife-mother of 12 children... are you ready to
say 'Yes’?
Boronat, George. Going on Vocation: Texts for meditation about vocation (p. 60). iPray with the Gospel. Kindle Edition

Some people are afraid to say 'Yes' to God's plan because they don't
know to what they are really committing themselves.
How can someone at the age of 14 promise to fulfil a mission without knowing
exactly what will be demanded in the future?
The answer is quite simple: God only asks what
we can give.
If He asks a 14-year-old girl to give her life to Him, like St Thérèse of Lisieux, it is
because He is expecting from her what a 14-year-old girl can give.

After all, is there any situation in life that
can be completely predictable?
A wife marries her husband without knowing whether he will
have any illness in the future or whether he can have children,
whether her husband’s job will be stable or whether they will
always live in the same house or city, whether they will have a
sick child… so many things can happen in the future! But that
doesn't stop her from committing her future to that man.

In the end, we trust in the Person
who has chosen us.
That wife could go crazy and leave
her husband, but God is faithful.
God doesn't fail. If He gives a vocation,
He gives the grace we need to carry it
out and He stays at our side all the way.

Saints didn't demand to see what was ahead. They knew that God
was always ahead of them. It was enough for them to know that
God was taking care of that and He would only bring what is best
for His children.
When St Teresa of Calcutta said 'Yes' to God at the age of 12, she
couldn't possibly know to what exactly she was saying 'Yes'.
God never gives the whole picture at the beginning, just as films
don't tell you the ending right at the start. God always always
shows what He wants now and expects that we do it now.
Boronat, George. Going on Vocation: Texts for meditation about vocation (pp. 62-63). iPray with the Gospel. Kindle Edition.

Jesus said it clearly, "Therefore do not be
anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be
anxious for itself. Let the day's own trouble be
sufficient for the day" (Mt 6:34).
God wants us to trust Him. Like a GPS or Sat-
Nav, God doesn't give all the instructions for the
journey in one go, but step by step; otherwise it
would be very overwhelming, wouldn't it?

Never forget it: God is our Father. A good
father will never be content with his child
being mediocre.
A good father will always encourage his children to develop their
talents from the beginning. When the child is 7, he can be asked
what a 7-year-old boy can give. When the child is 15, he can be
expected to do what a 15-year-old man can cope with.
As a good Father, God never asks for more than we can
give; but He never asks us for less. All He asks is that we
trust in Him and allow Him to lead our steps.

• Trusting in God, opening to Him the doors of
our life, leads us to have compassion on the
multitude that is hungering for Him, like
sheep without a shepherd.
• And to realize that He is relying on us to bring
his Love to all these people. And then, to set
out, because it is an endeavor we could never
have conceived of on our own account.
• To set out, realizing that with God’s help we
will go forward: placing ourselves in his
hands, relying totally on Him. And since God
does not impose Himself on us, a “leap of
faith” is needed.
Why don’t you give yourself to
God once and for all . . . really . .
. now!” - Saint Josemaria, The Way, no. 902
Decide to make
commitments
What is keeping
you from making
commitments?

• We need to consider all that we are and have,
so as to be able to offer everything, as we see
in the parable of the talents (cf. Mt 25:14-30).
• We can’t keep back anything for ourselves
and fail to invest it, to share it.
• This is the key for a mature and sincere
decision: the readiness to give everything, to
abandon ourselves completely in God’s
hands, without keeping back anything for
ourselves, along with the realization that this
self-giving of ours brings a peace and joy that
doesn’t stem from ourselves.
• And then the strong conviction begins to take
shape that we have truly found our path.
Live our commitments
to the fullest
Are you keeping
anything back for
yourself?

I'm limited
Just look at me
I'm limited
And just look at you
You can do all I couldn't do
Glinda
So now it's up to you
For both of us
Now it's up to you
I've heard it said
That people come into our lives
For a reason
Bringing something we must learn
And we are led to those
Who help us most to grow if we let
them
And we help them in return
Well, I don't know if I believe that's
true
But I know I'm who I am today
Because I knew you
Like a comet pulled from orbit
As it passes the sun
Like a stream that meets a boulder
Halfway through the wood
Who can say if I've been changed
for the better
But because I knew you
I have been changed for good
It well may be
That we will never meet again
In this lifetime
So, let me say before we part
So much of me
Is made of what I learned from you
You'll be with me
Like a handprint on my heart
And now whatever way our stories
end
I know you have rewritten mine
By being my friend
Like a ship blown from its mooring
By a wind off the sea
Like a seed dropped by a sky bird
In a distant wood
Who can say if I've been changed
for the better
But because I knew you
Because I knew you
I have been changed for good
And just to clear the air
I ask forgiveness
For the things I've done, you blame
me for
But then I guess
We know there's blame to share
And none of it seems to matter
anymore
Like a comet pulled from orbit (like a
ship blown from its mooring)
As it passes the sun (by a wind off the
sea)
Like a stream that meets a boulder (like
a seed dropped by a bird)
Halfway through the wood (in the
wood)
Who can say if I've been changed for
the better
I do believe I have been changed for
the better
And because I knew you
Because I knew you
Because I knew you
I have been changed
For good
.
Idina Menzel, Kristin Chenoweth
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZ0pXUb5jVU

References

Rediscovering my purpose as a source of my happiness.ppsx

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

Similar to Rediscovering my purpose as a source of my happiness.ppsx

Similar to Rediscovering my purpose as a source of my happiness.ppsx (20)

More from Dr. Liza Manalo, MSc.

More from Dr. Liza Manalo, MSc. (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Rediscovering my purpose as a source of my happiness.ppsx