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29 Apr 2026

 

Our Search For Meaning

We are all prone to error and self-indulgent moments, yet we all have within us the sources of Goodness and Virtue. Some of us react to life’s unpredictable vagaries with admirable patience. Others react with self-righteous indignation, especially when they do not get their way. With dramatic flair, disgruntled persons even reject God whom they blame. But their rejection of our Creator has considerable side effects, and we all pay a price for their self-righteous puffery… as we shall explore.

For starters, we are all on a personal Search for meaning beyond our everyday experience. We wonder: “What’s it all about?” Many of us ask God to give us a sign of His care. There’s nothing wrong with asking … except God doesn’t ordinarily work that way.

Hope and Good Will keep us going. Eventually, our Search becomes our prayer of simplicity and gratitude which every honest person utters in one fashion or another, as long as our Hope and our Good Will remain untarnished.

To Search Is Human

So, when self-righteous persons abandon God, they miss the point that our universal Search for meaning actually defines human nature. And, when we’re Faithful, our Search elicits humanity’s most noble traits … which we call the Virtues.

However, when self-righteous people deliberately remove God from their Search, sterility of soul ensues. Unsavory instincts are unleashed, including anger and violence (however muted or disguised) in thought, speech and behavior. Wayward pride ascends. The Virtues of Faith, Hope, Charity, Prudence, Justice, Fortitude and Temperance are forgotten. All that matters is to satisfy their unruly egos. Of course, denial of Truth becomes a regular habit … and that’s a horrid way to live.

Denial Of Meaning

Self-righteous persons who reject God pay a dehumanizing price, and so do the rest of us (although they deny that, too). They are quick to defend their position: “Why should I believe in God? Why should I believe in Jesus or worry about Virtue? My will be done”

• After all, they argue, Jesus made the outrageous claim He was God, that His Life explained suffering and loss.


• After all, they argue, it was Christ Who confronted the ruling class and angered them to the point that they put Him to death. Does not this denote madness?


• Why, they argue, follow such a Man? Why imitate Him as a Model for individuals and even for entire societies?


• Why, they argue, should we want a relationship with Him when so many of His followers prove their weaknesses time after time … and He does nothing?

The Cost

In practice, these self-righteous persons believe nothing matters except satisfying their egos. “Get what you want and do as you please; that’s what counts.”

In time, they sever communication with their critics, which isolates them in unhealthy ways from the responsibilities and restraints of Truth. Further repellent traits soon appear. Examples:

• They become immune to expressions of Good Will and eschew civilized discourse.


• They avoid reasoned communication as their irrational thinking prevails; civility and factual dialogue fade.


• They make accusations which have no basis in reality.


• They refuse to take responsibility for their behavior, as mature adults do.


• Their sense of righteousness dominates.

The Voice Of Reason

One major flaw in such distorted thinking is that it leads directly to selfish chaos and distrust.

Living a life of Virtue is admittedly tough … BUT it is the most reasonable way to live. It’s rational to strive for Virtue in everyday life because the outcomes of Virtue make eminent sense to individuals and to the culture, too. A few examples:

• It is reasonable to be Kind and Gentle with one another, to listen to others, to wait before acting.


• It is logical to be Patient when we are angry with children or, for that matter, upset with one another.


• It is rational for society to balance Mercy with Justice.


• It makes sense for everyone to exercise Temperance in our use of drugs and alcohol.


• Everyone benefits (family, friends, strangers, society) when we persevere with Fortitude and respect Truth over our own agenda.


• And where would we be as a nation without Patriots?

Maturity means we are aware of our ego’s impulses and do not give in to them. We face the Truth about ourselves and one another. This is Humility, which means that our thinking and behavior are rooted in the earth - the soil - of reality, of Truth.

Furthermore, Humility requires growth in Prudence, i.e., in sound moral judgment about our behavior … and we use Self-restraint instead of indulging our ego’s wayward urges. The need for Self-restraint introduces the virtue of Temperance and gives us moral strength to avoid whatever distorts Truth, be it booze or drugs, narcissism or ego's self-righteous impulsivities.

As time passes, the practical value of the Virtues as a lifestyle becomes apparent as we grow in Wisdom in our Search. Wisdom inclines us to seek the genuine intimacy of a solid relationship rather than the distracting superficialities of our cell-phone culture.

A relationship of true value is rare because it involves the Virtue of Trust, and Trust always involves risk. Relationships differ according to the depth of Trust and Intimacy. Trust and Intimacy rest upon awareness of, and respect for, willingly shared vulnerabilities.

Trust and Intimacy are supposed to be binding forces in every solid family wherein unity prevails and the Virtues are taught by word and example, especially Christian Virtues of Responsibility and Accountability, Empathy, Altruism, Benign Confrontation, Patience, Humility, Prudence, Fortitude, on and on.

What’s The Point ?

The point is this: Christian Virtues are an indisputable response to our Search for meaning in life on a practical, everyday basis.

The Virtues exist, first and foremost, within a relationship by which we approach God through Christ. In brief, we find God through our relationship with Jesus, Who becomes for us a real Person, not some historic figure obscured in the mists of myth.

Like all authentic relationships, our relationship with Christ is an interactive, two-way, here-and-now friendship. There is abundant evidence that Jesus spelled out His willingness to uphold His side of the friendship … even when we do not.

Jesus constantly holds out His hand, seeking our cooperation, asking us to uphold our side of the friendship. He offers us many assists to uphold our side, such as the Catholic Sacraments, a slew of documented miracles, centuries of Church teachings, a world filled with Creation’s Beauty, the Love and support of solid family life … and so on.  

BUT ..... we are still human, not divine. Jesus has the benefit of both a human nature and divine nature; we do not. So, we are blessed with the graces of our Faith, yet burdened by the anchors of our humanity. We lug around the good and the not-so-good, but that’s life … and that’s why we need His friendship.

A Friend Indeed

The saving part of this reality is that Jesus understands the burden we carry, the distractions and weariness and nagging doubts, the spiritual burnout we undergo. Happily, His constant response is to hang onto us as our Eternal Friend, to be with us, to uphold us, to be always our dedicated friend.  

Our relationship with Him has constant stability because He is the driving force in it, not us. Even when we doubt ourselves, even when we waver and falter, even when we are emotionally and spiritually drained, He is constant and steady and trustworthy. His word is a given, His friendship everlasting. He is here … now. Nothing is more powerful or more enduring than His desire to uphold us in this friendship.

Thus, Wisdom and all the Virtues urge us to keep going forward and to endure … as He did in His last hours. Thus, too, does our Search for meaning naturally bring us to the practical value of the Virtues and their value to the everyday business of living.

Finally . . .

To the agnostic, the skeptic and the self-righteous person, this may all seem a stretch. To them, being a believing Christian and a person of Virtue does not come naturally. But being a person of Faith is an achievement of value and dignity because it is an act of the will by which we persevere in our Search for meaning and for a Divine friendship well worth our lives.  

So, as friends of Jesus, must we still go through the darkness of our doubts and the absence of rewards? Of course, the answer is, “Yes, we do.” Just as Jesus did, so also must we follow His path.

On His path we find the Virtues.

On His path we find The Way.

On His path, our Search makes sense because we also find ourselves.

God's ways are not our ways, but we grow in our awareness of our closeness to God when we awaken to the fact that Jesus has trod this path before us and He now leads us in our Search with a steady, kindly hand.  

Let us walk with Him. He knows The Way.