Robert, you seem oblivious of my statements.
Do you deny that evil strikes us more forcibly than goodness, a fact reflected in the relatively few number of threads about heaven and happiness on earth?
Do you deny that our blessings are often taken for granted and appear outweighed by our misfortunes?
Like Jesus we should appreciate the wonder and beauty of life on earth:
Philippians 1
To long for heaven to the extent where we devalue our life on earth implies we are useless, there is nothing we can enjoy and nothing we can do to help others…
catholic.org/hf/faith/story.php?id=46834
I’m not too sure about the psychological effects that good and evil has upon us. You may very well be correct, but I find the promptings of the Holy Spirit to be quite ‘forceful.’
Are our blessing outweighed our misfortunes? Again, this sounds like a psychological question. If you’re including atheists, you may be correct, but as for the truly devout, we ought to be thankful to God for all our fortunes.
Since when did Christ appreciate the wonder and beauty of life on earth?
We should never devalue our life here in this world. Where did I ever allude to this? We ought to feel great LOVE!
Where do any of your quotes
explicitly state that we should indulge in worldly pleasures?
How do you deal with all the Catholic teaching that are explicit in that we should not indulge in worldly things?
"The death of the just: Death will reach everyone, the good and the bad; but the destiny of each one is quite different. The just man sees himself in this valley of tears as a prisoner, serving a very hard term. He considers himself a slave in this world, suffering an extremely distressing servitude. He regards himself a sailor caught in a horrible storm. And as death means an end of his confinement, an end of his slavery, and is the port of his salvation, he ceases not to cry with David, ‘Woe is me that my sojourning is prolonged!’ (Ps. 119:5)… He ceases not to ask with the Apostle’… Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? (Rom. 7:24)”
-The Golden Key to Heaven, by Saint Anthony Mary Claret
“Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”
-John 12:25
“Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him.”
-1 John 2:15
Hail, holy Queen, Mother of mercy, our life, our sweetness and our hope. To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve. To thee to we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears. Turn, then, most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us, and after this, our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus. O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.
If only we were completely dead to self, and free from inner conflict, we could savour spiritual things, and win experience of heavenly contemplation.
-The Imitation of Christ, Book 1, Chapter 11
Oh, if only a man had a spark of true love in his heart, he would know for certain that all earthly things are full of vanity.
-“The Imitation of Christ,” Book 1, Chapter 15
1 Peters 2:21 “To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps”
Mathews 16:24 "Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”
These quotes cannot be ignored. We must integrate them within our belief system.
LOVE!
Why would anyone care about anything?
Evil always strikes us more forcibly than goodness, a fact reflected in the relatively few number of threads about heaven and happiness on earth. Our blessings are often taken for granted and appear outweighed by our misfortunes.