The Meaning of Human Existence: Why, What For, How
By scientist and priest Emmanuel M. Carreira, S.J.

Emmanuel M. Carreira, S.J.

This is logically unavoidable when we speak of the material Universe, and it is still more evident when we speak about Man, superior to mere matter and impossible to explain in terms of material laws and forces. I exist because a Creator has determined that I should exist.

A free act of the will of a personal Being -not a blind and amorphous "cosmic force"- is the only acceptable reason why I am, and why my life occurs in some concrete environment where I should find the necessary means to recognize my own dignity and my relationship with the fountainhead of all existence and goodness.

Because my life is not due to an accidental "chance" nor can be reduced to the material level of activity, it cannot be limited by time. I exist forever, and I have no choice. If my coming into being did not depend upon me, neither does my ceasing to exist. Nothing in nature can be totally destroyed, even the smallest atomic particle; the same has to be said of the marvellous reality of the human person.

It is absurd to live ignoring this eternal destiny. Ultimately, nothing has value if it isn´t valuable forever. Whether I want it or not, every free act of mine -or failure to act- will have consequences for all time. The true meaning of Religion is the responsible awareness of this fact. Basically, in its very essence, Religion expresses a personal relationship with the Creator who is the only sufficient reason why I exist, now and forever.

Religion is not primarily a code of Ethics -even if it must have a definite bearing upon my activities- and it is far from being a matter of social or cultural conventions. Without the free relationship to the Creator and Father -source of life- there will be a merely human succession of empty gestures in some special occasions, due more to social inertia or environmental pressure than to a true religious sense.

No sane person questions the fact of death as the necessary outcome of life in this world. With that perspective, nothing we have acquired has lasting value, not even the possibility of being remembered for a limited time and in a very restricted environment. When I stand before my Creator, the only possible source of eternal happiness, will I consider that I am before a stranger? Will I dare to ask to be accepted to share in the divine life at the most intimate level?

If in God's infinite mercy I am granted the grace to see my blindness and repent from it, what a painful shame to realize I have wasted a life that should have prepared me for the Father's embrace! God took my destiny so much to heart that He became man and died for me. This is not some fancy mythology: it is a historical fact, the foundation of Christianity, that makes it different from any mere human effort to approach God.

This is why there is no other way to obtain salvation: in the words of St. Paul, whoever refuses to accept Christ -with all the consequences of Faith in Him- will be answerable to God for the Blood of His Son. It is true that God will give -even if we do not know how- a true chance to be saved to those who have no opportunity to know Christ, but they will be saved by Christ and in Christ.

But we, favored with the gift of a Christian upbringing, endowed with grace and with access to all the sacraments, will be especially responsible: those who receive the most will be required to answer for those riches.

The sources of grace, of divine life, are fully found only within the Church instituted by Christ. The Church is not a bureaucracy of official documents and ceremonies: it is the Mystical Body of Christ, the only environment where divine life is shared with us. To this Church Christ has entrusted his Truth, his divine Power to forgive sins, his Body and Blood.

We need to take in all seriousness the words of Christ: "The one who listens to you, listens to Me; the one who despises you, despises me". And: "Whatever you bind on earth, will be bound in heaven".

Finally: "If you do not eat my Body and drink my Blood. You will not have life". Sharing in Christ's Passion, in the Mass and Holy Eucharist, is not only a social human act. It is the divinely established way to make present in our time the saving and redeeming mystery of Christ. And only through Christ can we go to the Father.