Episode 3261: Life Is Not a Game: The Catholic Path to Eternal Victory

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Life Is Not a Game: The Catholic Path to Eternal Victory
Welcome, dear listener. Today, I want to reflect on an idea that is becoming more and more common in the modern world the claim that life is “just a game.” Popular philosophers like Alan Watts spoke of life as a cycle, a dance, something to be toyed with rather than taken seriously. Many today live by this creed, working frantically for retirement, chasing pleasures, and hoping to hack the system to gain some comfort.
But the Catholic faith teaches us something very different. Life is not a game it is a pilgrimage with eternal consequences. Every moment has meaning. Every decision shapes our soul. And our finish line is not retirement, but eternity itself.

Segment 1: The Illusion of the “Game”
The world tells us that life is about moving from one stage to another: study hard in youth, work frantically in middle age, retire in comfort, and then fade away. It seems like a board game where the only real goal is to get to the end with the most security or the most enjoyment.
Alan Watts himself warned of the futility of chasing goals endlessly. Yet his solution was to treat life as a playful illusion. This may sound liberating, but it is hollow.
The Catholic faith does not say life is meaningless. Quite the opposite. Sacred Scripture reminds us: “It is appointed unto men once to die, and after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). Life is a one-time gift, not a simulation. The Catechism reminds us that each of us will stand before Christ, and every choice we make here will echo into eternity.
There are no “do-overs.” No reset button.

Segment 2: The Catholic Vision of Life
St. Paul used another image not of a game, but of a race. He wrote: “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it” (1 Corinthians 9:24).
This does not mean we live anxiously, but intentionally. Unlike a game, life has an eternal goal: heaven.
The saints prove this truth. Consider St. Ignatius of Loyola, a soldier who once lived for honor and earthly glory. At Pamplona, a cannonball shattered his leg, and his illusions collapsed. During recovery, he realized that the game of earthly honor was vanity. From then on, he lived only for eternal glory.
The world says retirement is the finish line. The Church says heaven is.
Segment 3: Work, Suffering, and True Purpose
Modern life trains us to think of work as a burden we endure until we can finally rest. Alan Watts criticized this frantic cycle, but he missed the deeper purpose.
Work, for the Catholic, is not meaningless drudgery. When united with God, it becomes sanctification. St. Joseph the Worker shows us that ordinary labor, done faithfully, is holy. St. Benedict gave the rule: “Ora et Labora” prayer and work together.
And suffering? For the world, suffering spoils the game. For us, it is the ladder to heaven. Christ has transformed suffering into redemption. The Cross is not an obstacle but the narrow gate. Unlike the escapism of secular philosophy, Catholics know suffering embraced with love unites us to Christ Crucified.
Segment 4: The Danger of “Hacking Life”
Secular voices tell us to take shortcuts to avoid responsibility, indulge in pleasures, and outsmart the system. But these hacks only enslave the soul.
Christ asks: “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, but loses his soul?” (Mark 8:36). The modern “life hacks” of consumerism, addiction, and endless entertainment may soothe temporarily, but they cannot satisfy.
St. Augustine said it best: “Our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee, O Lord.” The real error of modern man is not working too hard, but working for the wrong prize.

Segment 5: The True “Hack” Holiness
If there is any “hack” for life, it is this: holiness. Holiness is the great shortcut, because it allows us to see everything work, suffering, even death through the light of eternity.
St. Thérèse of Lisieux found her path in the “little way”: turning small, hidden acts into great victories of love. St. Francis of Assisi rejected the world’s game of wealth and prestige and embraced holy poverty, gaining eternal joy.
Holiness is not about escaping reality, but transforming it. And the tools are simple: prayer, the sacraments, mortification, and devotion to Our Lady.
Closing: Living Eternity Now
Life is not a meaningless game. It is a test, a pilgrimage, a preparation. Each of us is called to live not for retirement, not for fleeting pleasure, but for eternal victory.
EPISTLE (Ephes. IV. 23-28.) Brethren, Be re¬newed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man, who according to God is created in justice and holiness of truth. Wherefore, putting, away lying, speak ye the truth every man with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry, and sin not. Let not the sun go clown upon your anger. Give not place to the devil. He that stole, let him now steal no more; but rather let him labor, work¬ing with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have something to give to him that suffereth need.
EXPLANATION St. Paul admonishes the Ephesians to lay aside the- old man, like a worn out garment, and put on the new man, that is, to renew their internal and external life. This renewal according to his teaching takes place, when we by a true repentance put away our vices, shun all lies, anger, injustice, and adorn our soul with virtues, and zealously seek after Christian justice and perfection. We have, perhaps, already sought to change our manner of living, for which a jubilee or some other particular solemnity of the Church gave us occasion, and at that time, perhaps, purified our soul by a general confession, making the firm resolution to live for God, and work out our salvation, we appeared converted, and to have become other men: but how long did this conversion last? Ah, how soon did we fall back into the old, sinful ways. And why? Because we lived in too great, deceitful security. We thought everything accomplished by the general confession; we were satisfied, and omitted to employ the means of remaining in the state of grace. We did not thank God for the grace of conversion; we did not ask Him for the grace of perseverance; we frequented evil company, and did not avoid dangerous occasions; we indulged in idleness and pleasures as before. How can it appear strange, if such a conversion is fruitless? Ah, we should remain in wholesome fear even after the remission of our sins. (Ecclus. V. 5.) Even if we could say that we have done everything, nevertheless we cannot be certain, whether we be worthy of hatred or love. (Ecclus. IX. 1.) We should, therefore, work out our salvation according to the advice of St. Paul (Philipp. II. 12.) in fear and trembling, and thus not fall into the old life of sin, losing the hope of a new conversion.
GOSPEL (Matt. XXII. 1-14.) At that time, Jesus spoke to the chief priests and the Pharisees in parables, saying: The kingdom of heaven is likened to a king, who made a marriage for his son. And he sent his servants, to call them that were invited to the marriage, and they would not come. Again he sent other servants, saying: Tell them that were invited, Behold I have prepared my dinner; my beeves and fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come ye to the marriage. But they neglected: and went their, ways, one to his farm, and another to his mer¬chandise: and the rest laid hands on his servants, and having treated them contumeliously, put them to death. But when the king had heard, of it; he was angry: and sending his armies, he destroyed those murderers, and burnt their city. Then he saith to his servants: The marriage indeed is ready; but they, that were invited were not worthy. Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as you shall find, call to the marriage. And his servants going forth into the ways, gathered together, all that they found, both bad and good; and the marriage was filled with guests. And the king went in to fee the guests; and he saw there a man who had not on a wedding garment: and he saith to him: Friend, how camest thou in hither, not having on a wedding garment? But he was silent. Then the king said to the waiters: Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the exterior darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen.
REMARK Thir parable agrees in many respects with that for the second Sunday after Pentecost, and has the same meaning. See, therefore, the explanation of that gospel:
EXPLANATION In this parable the king is our Heavenly Father who has espoused His only-begotten Son to the Church, and on this occasion prepares the most sumptuous marriage-feast by giving the evangelical doctrine, the holy Sacraments, and the heavenly joys. The servants sent to invite the guests are the prophets, apostles and disciples of Christ. Those invited are the Jews who despised the honor and grace of the divine King, destined for them, abused and killed His servants, and were, therefore, cast aside and with their city Jerusalem, destroyed by the armies of their enemies, as a just punishment; in their stead the heathens and all those nations were called, who were on the broad road to destruction, and who now occupy the places of the unfortunate Jews at the marriage feast of the Church, and shall also occupy them in heaven. In the Jews to whom Christ addressed this parable, is verified that many of them, nay, all are called, but few chosen, because they would not heed the invitation.
APPLICATION We have the honor not only to be invited to this marriage-feast, but are in reality guests at it, because we are members of the Church of Christ by faith. "But the Christian," says St. Gregory, "who is a member of the Church by faith, but has not charity, is like to a man who comes to the marriage-feast without the wedding garment." With this garment which is charity, Christ was vested, when He came to celebrate the nuptials with His spouse, the Church, and by the bond of charity the Son of God also unites Himself with His elect. He clearly lets us know that charity is the wedding garment which should vest us. Those, therefore, who believe and are in the communion of the Church, but who do not preserve the grace of charity, are indeed in the wedding-chamber, but they are not adorned with the wedding garment. They are dead members of the Church, and shall not be admitted without this garment into the celestial marriage-feast in the triumphant Church, but rather be cast like that unfor¬tunate guest into exterior darkness. This guest was silent, when asked by the king, why he had not .the wedding gar¬ment. By this we see, that no one can excuse himself to God for not having charity, because every one can have it, if he asks it from God, and, as St. Augustine says, our heart is the workshop of charity, and every one who has a heart can practice it.
Let us remember the words of St. Alphonsus Liguori: “Remember, O Christian, that thou hast but one soul, and if that is lost, all is lost.”
If the world tells us to hack life, let us instead sanctify it. If the world says life is a game, let us respond: no, it is a gift and the prize is heaven.
SAINT PETER of ALCANTARA
Franciscan Priest, Reformer
(1499-1562)

Saint Peter was born in 1499 near the Portuguese border of Spain. While still a youth of sixteen, he left his home at Alcantara and entered a convent of Discalced Franciscans near Valencia. He rose quickly to high posts in the Order, as a guardian, a definitor, and then Superior of the Province of Saint Gabriel. But his thirst for penance was still unappeased, and in 1539, being then forty years old, he founded the Congregation of Saint Joseph of the "Strict Observance," to conserve the letter of the Rule of Saint Francis. He suffered great tribulations to conserve that Rule in its integrity. Eventually Saint Peter himself, the year before his death, raised it to the status of a province under obedience to the Minister General of the entire Seraphic Order. The Reform he instituted has since been extended even to the farthest Orient and the Indies; it is believed God ordained that it repair the ravages to the faith of the sixteenth century.

The modesty of Saint Peter remains proverbial in the Franciscan Order; never did he raise his eyes to look at the non-essentials of his interior life with God. His fast was constant and severe; he lived perpetually on bread and water alone, even during his illnesses. He devised a sort of harness to keep him upright on his seat during the short hour and a half of sleep which he took every day, for forty years. He acknowledged to Saint Teresa of Avila that this mortification was the one which cost him the most. The cells of the friars of Saint Joseph resembled graves rather than dwelling-places. That of Saint Peter himself was four and a half feet in length, so that he could never lie down; his sackcloth habit and a cloak were his only garments; he never covered his head or feet. In the bitter winter he would open the door and window of his cell in order that, by closing them again, he might be grateful for the shelter of his cell. Among those whom he guided to perfection we may name Saint Teresa, who fully appreciated this remarkable director. He read her soul, approved her spirit of prayer, and strengthened her to carry out her reforms.

Everywhere he could do so, he planted crosses, for the Passion of Our Lord was engraved in his heart. Wherever they were to be placed, even on mountains, and however heavy they might be, he went to the destined sites carrying them on his shoulders. From these heights he would then preach the mysteries of the Cross, afterwards remaining in prayer there. Shepherds saw him several times in the air, at the height of the highest trees of the forests. Never did he go anywhere except on foot, even in his old age. He was often seen prostrated before a large crucifix, shedding torrents of tears; and he was found in ecstasy once at the height of the traverse of a crucifix. Saint Peter died at the age of sixty-three, repeating with the Psalmist, "I rejoiced when it was said unto me, let us go unto the house of the Lord!" The date was October 18, 1562; he was kneeling in prayer.
Let us close with prayer: O Lord, teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain wisdom of heart. Through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Joseph, may we live each day in grace, and reach the eternal joy of heaven. Amen.