Meaning and Purpose

This year it seems that I'm constantly being reminded about the meaning and purpose of life so I wanted to share some quotes that I've gathered from my book and online reads. Please note that these are all from a Catholic perspective.

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"So it may be said that the chief purpose of life for any one of us, is to increase according to our capacity our knowledge of God by all the means we have, and to be moved by it to praise and thanks." ~ J.R.R. Tolkien

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"My purpose is to become closely united to God through love, and my destiny is to praise and glorify God's mercy." ~ St. Faustina (729)

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Alicja Lenczewska: "Why am I still living?"
Jesus: "To learn to love Me and people even more."

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According to Arthur Brooks, "to find the meaning of your life is to seek coherence, purpose, and significance." He gave the following questions for guidance:

1. Why do things happen the way that they do in my life? (Coherence)
2. Why am I doing what I'm doing? Why am I moving in this direction? (Purpose)
3. Why does my life matter? (Significance)

Now imagine a Catholic answering those questions:

1. Why do things happen the way that they do in my life? Because this is what God wills.
2. Why am I moving in this direction? To get to Heaven.
3. Why does my life matter? Because the Lord loves me. I matter to God.

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"God has created me to do Him some definite service. He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission. I may never know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next. I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons. He has not created me for naught. I shall do good; I shall do His work." ~ St. John Henry Newman