Finding Happiness

In my Philosophy class we are just starting a new reading section on St. Augustine's Confessions. As told by my Professor, Father Thomas Regan SJ, it is "one of the greatest books to ever be written!" So far I am enjoying the themes and topics that St. Augustine presents. So I just wanted to share a few of them in this post.

St. Augustine wrote this book with the main goal of challenging the reader to be an authentic human being and be true to who we are. The book is a story of his life begins when he was a young 19 year old boy and makes promises that he will get his act together.

 St. Augustine became a great student and was excellent at rhetoric (speaking and debating). He was a rich and famous lawyer. He was so good that he could send the innocent to jail and the guilty free. He had everything that he could ever want, girls, money and fame. When he woke up one morning and looked in the mirror, he realized that he had totally forgotten about his goals that he had set for himself back when he was 19. Augustine realizes that he has more money that he knows what to do with, he doesn't really know what happiness is and he has no clue what true love is.

Augustine's Confessions is his story about his past search for happiness and how he came to find the happiness in God, that he always wanted. This book is an excellent story for all college students to read, for one it talks about learning and growth. It explains struggles that we all have and the genuine search for happiness that many end up searching for in all the wrong places. 

As young adults, I feel that it is so easy to be affected by the environments that the world sets up for us. As a result, we forget to be authentic human beings. This is an excellent book to relate to and will help people become who they really want to be. It reminds that only in God can we find the true happiness that we long for.

To the Young Catholic Voters

The Presidential election is today and what a crazy event it will be! Today will be the very first Presidential election that I get the chance to be a part of. Looking back on the Presidential race as a young voter, it was a very interesting experience looking at candidates, researching what their beliefs about how the country should be run and how they can bring peace and stability to a country hurting after violent events and economic troubles.

As a young Catholic voter it was always intriguing to hear how other first time Catholic voters tried to decide who they would vote for. Some liked candidates because of their appearance, others because of certain candidates views on the legalization of illegal drugs. What was surprising to me however was the how the issue of abortion and pro-life and religious freedom was so distorted by young adult Catholics. Every place I went that issue of abortion was brought up, I was surprised that so many Catholics my age were so misguided about the right to "life, liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." It bothered me that young Catholics do not realize that without laws concerning life, no other laws even matter. I think out of any issues right now, the pro-life stance and the defense against the HHS Mandate are the most important for young Catholics to look at while preparing to vote. I feel it it extremely important to look at church teaching, morals and how we want our Catholic church to be run in the future. I urge young people to make good sound moral decisions, not only considering your own life, but also the lives of others. Catholic means universal indicating that we are meant to bring all people together. This being said, we need to work together to protect the sanctity of human life, unite all people and the protect the freedom of religion. The only way we can make sure all these things happen is by voting and by voting particularly as Catholics. 

As the election draws near, I pray that the Holy Spirit may guide the hearts and minds of all those who are voting today that we may grow more closely together as one nation under God.