Jesus Is Our Hope
“It is Jesus in fact that you seek when you dream of happiness; he is waiting for you when nothing else you find satisfies you; he is the beauty to which you are so attracted; it is he who provokes you with that thirst for fullness that will not let you settle for compromise; it is he who urges you to shed the masks of a false life; it is he who reads in your hearts your most genuine choices, the choices that others try to stifle.”
This quote by John Paul II sheds a lot of light on our common search for meaning and purpose in our daily lives. This great saint understood human nature and how we continuously turn to things of this earth to satisfy us and make us happy. On our daily pursuit of holiness, it’s easy to become discouraged when we discover that our attachments to things like money, sex, power, shopping, control, fame, likes on social media, and other earthly things still have a hold on us. Although the things of this earth are not inherently evil and are, in fact, necessary and unavoidable, our battle is not against flesh and blood but with principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens. Ultimately, our lives will end one day and we will have to break free from our earthly attachments in order to put on our wedding garments and enter the kingdom of heaven.
Searching for happiness among the pleasures of this world is something I struggle with daily. After I realize that I’ve chosen something else over my relationship with God, it makes me sad and discouraged. I wonder why I keep prioritizing what I think will bring me happiness over what I know will give me a life full of joy and lead to true happiness. The reality is that we are all made for God and only Jesus can satisfy the continuous ache we feel inside.
If you feel lost, empty, or discouraged, I encourage you to remember the words of John Paul II. Jesus is our hope and cultivating a relationship with Him is our ultimate goal. Whenever you fail to put him first, do not be discouraged. Jesus is always patiently waiting for you, urging you forward, until you finally surrender everything to be his.
