“What can give meaning to my life? How can I find meaning in everything?”

Life has a meaning, and one can align oneself with that meaning. One can “tune in” to the meaning of life, echo it.

If one discovers the meaning of life and acts in accordance with that purpose, one can give one’s individual life significance and fullness. I mean a discovery of meaning as an intimate personal experience, not as a concept, information or mere belief.

Observing nature, we see that there is a process of permanent transformation; that death is present in every process, and that life continually follows it in growing expansion.

The bud emerges, vigorous, anticipating the flower; then the flower bursts forth in a perfect, unrepeatable harmony of colour. In time it declines and dies, giving way to the seeds which, seeking a new place guided by the wind, seek to make the process eternal.

In everything there is this emergence, this unveiling as a particularity that contributes its diversity, and then a passage to a stage of consummation, in which what has been acquired is reproduced, but in a more perfect way.

The life of Christ shows in an exemplary way this unfolding of the meaning of life: the development of His mission, His passion and necessary death to bring forth the infinite grace of the resurrection.

Everything has a meaning, life and oneself inserted in it. It does not have to be created; it has to be discovered. It appears to us veiled by the many mirages in which we place our attention.

Besides being a reason, concept or postulate, the meaning of life is an experience, a way of living “in connection” with the sacred, which springs from divine grace, abundant and present in everything.

We continually look at things and people and move in a visual world, but we rarely notice the presence of light, without which everything we see would disappear from view. That light, which is in plain sight yet unnoticed, is like meaning, which is in everything and makes the existence of everything possible.

The experience of the meaning of life is revealed in everyday life and can become frequent, and even when it later withdraws, it leaves a clear memory that guides us in moments of relative darkness.

You ask me: How can I find meaning in everything?

By attending in silence… remaining in silence and stillness. Stopping, sitting down, staying in a listening attitude. At the slightest anxiety, pausing; not allowing oneself to live in a frenzy. No hurry; everything is at hand. There is nowhere to go, because “the kingdom” is within us.

Not seeking outside the satisfaction of our lacks. You sit down, become silent and listen to what is around you. Meaning emerges. Is it that easy? Yes; what is difficult is for someone to stop for a moment and begin to attend.

When one becomes still and pays attention, the interval between sounds is revealed, the space between things, a background of constant sensation… what is perceived there is what gives meaning to one’s own life and fills one’s actions with significance.

In our particularity there is a gift, which grows the more we give it. To make that talent which has been given to us and which we carry within grow, and to offer it, gives meaning to life. (Mt 25:14-30)

Attention is the tool that connects us with the meaning that dwells in everything; it is the door we can open to let grace pass.

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