In today’s gospel reading, Jesus asks the two disciples “what are you looking for?”  This is the ultimate question that confronts all of us, what are we looking for and what is the meaning in our lives?

Invariably, when young persons are asked what they want in life, I will hear the same pattern in their answers.  I want to do well in school so that I can get a good job.  I want a good job so that I can get a car and then a house and then to live a good life.   Those are all good goals.  Those aspirations are similar to the ones that football players have, who focus so hard to have a chance to win in the Super Bowl, the crown jewel of accomplishment in an athlete’s life.

Worldly accomplishments and attainments are short lived.  Even when we have accomplished the ultimate rewards in this life, we may still feel that emptiness inside.  Only when we realize and is also revealed by some of the players that winning the Super Bowl does not compare to knowing Jesus in our lives.  The meaning of life is not a thing to be possessed, or a status to be attained. The meaning of life is a relationship to be lived out.  It is a personal friendship with Jesus Christ of knowing Him, praising Him and loving Him. 

As Saint John Paul II says, “all that is good on earth, all professional success, even the human love that you dream of, can never fully satisfy your deepest and most intimate desires. Only an encounter with Jesus can give full meaning to your lives.”

Encounter Jesus and develop a true friendship by spending quiet time with Him in the Blessed Sacrament weekly.  Receive Jesus in the state of grace in the Holy Eucharist as often as possible.  Jesus invites us to “come and see” and to experience  the true peace and joy that the world cannot give.

As Saint Augustine reminds us, “for You have made us for Yourself, oh Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.”

Let us never lose sight of our true meaning in our lives.