Perfect happiness and salvation of the soul.

Philosophical schools are mostly eudaimonic; they consider happiness to be the goal of life. However, they differ from each other in what they seek happiness in and in the way they want it to reach. Nevertheless, even Christians are united in that perfection leads to happiness, peace, contentment not only for eternity but partly already here on earth. The gospel promises the joy that the eye did not see, nor the ear heard (1 Cor 2: 9).
The first Christian authors liked to point out that only God can completely free us from everything so much the ancient man feared: from death, loneliness, unhappy destiny, evil beings, and all evil. He is the only one good (Mt 19:17) and loves people. “You created us for yourself,” writes St. Augustine, “and our hearts are unhappy until it will not rest in you. »
However, the usual Scriptural expression is not “happiness,” they say
here more about “salvation.” Already in the Old Testament, promises are often made that God will come and “save” the people (cf. Is 43: 3; Z 26: 1).
The grace of our Savior appeared in the New Testament (Titus
2, 11). There is no salvation in anyone else (Acts 4: 11-12). How is he
the difference between happiness and salvation? Happiness is expressed rather as a psychological condition, the fact that someone is feeling well. Greek the term for salvation Soteria originally means health, bodily integrity, mental balance. We express the team
rather an ontological state, a real one although not yet fully felt. If we are in God’s grace, we are already saved. Therefore, also it calls the gospel to save the soul; everything else is secondary. After all, what benefits a person, even if the whole world won, and would he harm his soul ?! (Mk 8.36).
Eternal life
“Ascetic life has no other goal,” writes St. Basil, «than save the soul. » However, the word soul is complete in Scripture and primary meaning, without further psychological determinations: life principle. The life of God in which we share is eternal life in Christ and with Christ, who said: I I am living… (Jn 14: 6).
However, the term «eternal life * can be understood in two senses: ‘!, life in eternity, after death, until this early life ends (this is the so-called eschatological sense); 2. This life after death, however, begins now; we wear it in itself, like a seed that is already germinating but will grow fully only in the time of eternal spring at the end of the ages.
Both meanings are true and belong to the completeness of Christian preaching. However, folk preachers indeed prefer to talk about the first sense. People are too in tow the hustle and bustle of this early life. So, it shows them the beauty of eternity. On the contrary, in the contemplative e contemplative orders whose members have left worldly life, that emphasizes that they should do what they do now for all eternity, praising God in prayer and seeking happiness in direct contact with him. 24 God’s life The words new life are used in Scripture to denote all that Christ has brought us, the benefit of redemption. The Holy Spirit is the “animator,” the “giver of life.” This
name thus expresses the completeness of Christian perfection.
Other images}, although correct, tend to be incomplete. It’s being talked about, e.g. about the reward in heaven. People work and receive a reward for brave work. This reward is either here on earth, but especially in eternity. To some, he seemed to be here a kind of spiritual mercantilism, a sacred trade with values. However, Christ knows human nature better. He uses the parable of the entrusted drachmas, in which the faithful servants are rewarded, brave work (compare Mt 25, 15).

So, he who expects a reward from God does good. However, if someone says they do not think of a reward in heaven, that he tends to live here in a truly Christian way, and that his way of life is right. After all, love for God is expressed by keeping the commandments (Jn 14:15). However, some admit that they are weak. They are aware that they are badly keeping the commandments that they will march badly, if God would reward them “in merit” in eternity. Yet,, they trust that God is merciful and believes in the power of prayer. «If I save, I will only save prayer, »he said at the end of the life of St. Alfons of Liguria. However, we have nothing to blame for this attitude either one-sidedness of the statement.
Life is rich in its various manifestations and partial attitudes. Therefore, also «to a new life,» «to a life in Christ,» «to a life in the Holy Spirit.» includes a characteristic and moral attitude, the hope of reward, trust in God’s goodness, and other manifestations of God’s multifaceted wisdom (Ephesians 3:10)
St. Cyril of Alexandria likens the reviving power Of the Holy Spirit to the water. It turns white in the lily, red in the rose, and purple in the violet. So is God’s life in people manifested on the outside in different shades. , However, they complement and together lead to the harmony and beauty of the spirit of the world.