The Purpose of This Life
Bishop Donald Sanborn
Saint Augustine says that the only reason why the evil people of this world are kept alive is to exercise the virtues of the just. This, of course, makes sense, since there would be no other reason to tolerate them. This truth tells us that the purpose of this life is to increase in virtue, and that it is the only purpose of this life. When we consider the amount of evil which God tolerates, we understand
how important it is in His mind that we increase in virtue. If we place on one side of the scale the moral evil of human beings, which is incalculable, we understand the importance which God places upon our spiritual perfection.
Why, for example, will God permit the Antichrist to come? For a single purpose: in order to confirm the faith of the just and draw them into martyrdom. I believe that He permits the present occupation of the Vatican by heretics for the same reason, which is to strengthen the faith of Catholics through their resistance to Modernism and their rejection of the Modernists.
Saint Alphonsus says that the only reason why God keeps us alive is to carry crosses. Again we learn from this one comment the whole purpose of human life on earth: to bear the cross. The business of this life, in other words, is primarily and essentially to bear the cross, and in so doing to merit our salvation. Human beings have no other purpose for existence. It is a sobering thought