Finding happiness 3: Belonging
Finding happiness...
Photo by Helena Lopes on Unsplash
It is difficult to maintain belief in God while living in a Godless world. In a culture where relationships and even people are disposable, what we seek, and cannot find, is permanency. The deep desire of every human person is a love that is ever-present, never ceasing, and all encompassing. An honest look at the world and church reveals why there is escalating growth in the religious “none’s” and in those who opt-out of life altogether.
Belonging: An Invitation to Happiness for Millennial Catholics is an invitation to Catholics to discover the secrets to love and permanency already given within their faith. As the conversation unfolds about the mystery of belonging to Jesus, you will find understanding of your circumstances and overcome the difficulty in believing in God’s love for you. The faith becomes live and three-dimensional.
An excerpt from Chapter 10 Becoming His Own:
How often have you walked into a room of your home, looked around, and said, “Ugh. This must change!” The décor, paint and style are outdated. It may have looked good when you first decorated it. Now, the style no longer reflects your tastes and style of today. It no longer reflects you.
To be a part of this ‘people of God’, we need an interior redesign.
“No one born of God commits sin; for God's nature abides in him, and he cannot sin because he is born of God.” (1John 3:9)
This leads us to integrity. In secular thinking, integrity is walking the talk; a lack of duplicity; behaving in ways that match up to the values you claim. Now broaden this to view the spiritual realm within which we exist. Integrity begins in the soul and forms the thoughts, purifies the emotions, and controls the body’s desires.
Happiness, therefore, is a life of integrity.
Belonging is the discovery that you have had happiness with you all along, begging you to reach for Him and to live with Him in the grace of the present moment. Now available on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Belonging-Invitation-Happiness-Millennial-Catholics/dp/B09RG3BTKJ/ref=sr_1_3?qid=1645818907&refinements=p_27%3ADebra+Black&s=books&sr=1-3&text=Debra+Black
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About the Author
A cradle Catholic, Debra Black received the gift of completing the full 19th annotation of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola in 1998 under individual direction of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary. She repeated the exercises in 2001 and remained an Associate to the Loreto Sisters through 2009. In 2015 she was missioned through the Lanteri Center for Ignatian Spirituality to provide spiritual direction and lead the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises. She also is a perpetual member of the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars and a contributor to SpiritualDirection.com and CatholicMom.com. In addition to over 40 years of professional experience including 33 years of leadership in international higher education, her public service roles have spanned city commissioner, pregnancy clinic board of director, youth and college ministry, public citizen activism, and homeless street ministry. Debra is author of Belonging: An Invitation to Happiness for Millennial Catholics. For spiritual warfare: Kick Butt! The Quick Guide to Spiritual Warfare: Frontline Defense Strategies for Everyday Life; for spiritual growth: The Life Confession: A Discovery of God’s Mercy and Love, and for Advent preparation: Something is different…Advent meditations from the Gospel of Luke.
