Modern Culture vs. God’s Plan: Finding True Fulfillment

There are no limits. Do what you want. It’s easy. If you feel like eating, eat—have fast food, have dessert. No worry. Too tired to do that paper? No problem—that’s what AI is for. Relationships don’t matter. It doesn’t matter how other people treat you, or how you treat others. Do your thing. Make your own truth. Have fun. Don’t think too much. You can have it all, and it doesn’t get better than this. Modern culture makes a great pitch. One of the most tempting things about its way of thinking is that it’s so easy. But as Catholics, we believe and live by a witness. The Bible says that we know a tree by its fruits. This provides a test that modern culture fails. Let’s play it out. If you live according to modern philosophy, you’ll end up overweight, poor, anxious, depressed, and in really toxic relationships. It turns out that we can have limitless desires, but not limitless metabolisms, bank accounts, and emotional regulation. I live the secular life, and this is consistent with my experience. What I dislike most about the secular life is its mediocrity. In the Old Testament, the Israelites wanted to do whatever they desired over and over again. Each time, the results were disastrous. Moses brought them the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments put limits on all kinds of things. But when the Israelites lived according to them, their lives flourished. In the New Testament, Jesus gives us the Beatitudes—the perfect way of being. These guidelines provide challenging ways to live, but every time we live according to them, they bless us. If we follow them, we’ll end up healthy, peaceful, joyful, and in deep relationship with God and with man. This way of living is challenging, but it leads to a transcendent life of excellence. Most importantly, living this way leads to heaven, where there is no limit to our fulfillment or our joy. So when the modern world says, “Do what you want,” say, “No thanks.” I’m going to do what I should. That’s a healthy boundary. And there’s no limit to what God and I can do within it.