Denver Catholic

7 DENVER CATHOLIC | FEBRUARY 2021 Independent Living Assisted Living 2835 West 32nd Avenue | Denver, Colorado For more information, call our trusted advisors today at 720.909.3814. The Gardens at St. Elizabeth HomeIsHere.org New Year, New Home! Reserve your apartment today with a $20.21 move-in fee. * We're made for relationship, and it's relationships that give our lives meaning. ... Meaning ful relationships, our intimate relationships, our family and ultimately, our relationship with God." FATHER BRYAN DUGGAN M A D E FO R R E L ATI O N S H I P To believe there is "something" rather than "nothing" is empowering for human beings. As Father Bryan Duggan puts it, it allows us to abandon the sense of control that is so inher- ent in each of us and admit that we are powerless without God, who is ultimately the one who's in control of our lives. "Someone who is living in relationship with God has a healthy sense of, 'there's some things in my life that I can control and there's some things that I really do abandon to divine providence,'" said Father Duggan, who is a priest of Diocese of Vancouver and a doctoral candidate currently interning with St. Raphael. Father Duggan referred to the example of Victor Frankl, the Austrian psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor who is best known for pioneering logotherapy, a school of psy- chotherapy which describes a search for a life meaning as the central human motivational force. Frankl described his experience of surviving various Nazi concentration camps in his bestselling book, Man's Search for Meaning. "[Frankl] observed that those who found a reason to live were more likely to survive [in the concentration camps], and [he] observed this in himself," Father Duggan said. "He found a reason, some meaning in his life that kept him going and kept him with some sense of hope, even when it seemed like all hope was lost." For Frankl, it was his relationship with his wife, Tilly Grosser, that kept him going while he suffered at the hands of the Nazis. Frankl was simply searching for what we're all searching for: A reason to live. In Man's Search for Meaning, Frankl wrote, "Ever more people today have the means to live, but no meaning to live for." While this remains ever truer in 2021, Father Duggan urged that it doesn't have to remain this way. "There's always that desire for more, for our lives to be meaningful. I think it's getting in touch with that and being honest with ourselves about where that is manifest in our lives and really engaging with that question of, 'Why do I get up in the morning?' 'What is meaningful for me in my life?'" Father Duggan concluded. "Ultimately, we're made for relationship, and it's relationships that give our lives meaning. [It's] prioritizing those meaningful relationships, our intimate relationships, our family and ultimately, our relationship with God."

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