Creation of the world

Question from Anon on 1/31/2008:  
Greetings!

I read this somewhere about God.

"From all eternity, therefore, within His own infinite essence, He enjoys the fullness of love given, love received, and love returned. He enjoyed that fullness of perfect love before He ever made the world — and even if He had never made any world at all, He still would have enjoyed this perfect beatitude of eternal love, for "God is love."

In the infinite, eternal love that He is, in the inner life of the Blessed Trinity, there is no need for "mercy," for there is no "want" or "misery" or "suffering" that needs to be overcome in the Infinitely Perfect Being.

With due respect to God, I have these doubts. If God was happy whether He created the world or not, and if in the inner life of the Blessed Trinity, there is no need for "mercy," for there is no "want" or "misery" or "suffering" that needs to be overcome, why would God create a world of human beings with free will knowing we would choose those things that give us short term pleasure and cause us harm in the long run? I know being human, I cannot see the larger picture as God does, but right now I'm facing 3 problems in my life which have repurcussions on me and my family. I know these are bad habits, I know I have to overcome them, but I just dont have the willpower to do so. I console myself thinking that I will overcome it, but when the time comes, I weaken and take the easy way. Then I cant help thinking that if God had not created the world, I would not have to face this situation. I acknowledge the fact that I have been blessed in many ways and am less miserable than others. This does not stop me thinking that they too would be less miserable if the world was not created. Please pray for me to understand why God made me, in my limited way of thinking.
Answer by Richard Geraghty on 2/5/2008: 
Dear Anon,

You are right in saying that God does not need the world, that he is so perfect that he is infinitely happy whether he creates the world or not. That brings out the point that he made the world so other other creatures might enjoy life and be happy. Consequently, when God became man, he did not do that for his own happiness. He did it for the happiness of man. Now you are in the position of being alive but are not too happy because you keep failing in your resolution to get rid of the bad habits which are making you and your loved ones unhappy. In acknowledging this you are half way out of your hole. You keep trying and keep praying and God will hear you. He will give you the grace. But you have to keep asking and asking and asking. This is quite hard, as you well know. It is certainly beyond your power as an individual. That is what grace is for. It does what we cannot do. So keep praying.

Dr. Geraghty