Thursday, March 16,
2017
Longing for God: coming home
Let’s begin where we left off
yesterday, with this passage from the Catechism
of the Catholic Church:
The desire for God is written in the human
heart, because man is created by God and for God; and God never ceases to draw
man to himself. Only in God will he find the truth and happiness he never stops
searching for. (¶ 27)
The sad truth of human existence
is that all too often we search for truth and peace and happiness in all the
wrong places.
Alan Watts (Behold the Spirit) speaks eloquently of the frustration of looking
in the wrong places, which can also serve as a sad commentary of our modern
consumerist society:
Man is characterized by a hunger for the
infinite, for an eternity of life, love and joy which, whether he knows it or
not, can be nothing other than God. . . . . his real appetite continues to be
God, for which these lesser goals are always unsatisfactory substitutes. Those
who set their hearts on finite goals are always discontented; they must always
have more and more of what they desire, and failing this are frustrated and
miserable. Profound contentment is only enjoyed . . . by the saints and mystics
who have realized union with God.
But God isn’t done with us yet. When
God initiates within us this longing for him, and invites us to follow it where
it will lead us, there is always a sense of return, of coming home,
of rediscovering where we are meant to be. And never forget that when we
experience such a longing, it is God Himself who has put this yearning within us.
God is always searching for us, long before we respond and begin seeking Him.
Consider the story of the Fall itself, when Adam and Eve hid themselves because
they realized they were naked (which is proof that they had sinned) and God
comes to the garden and calls out “Where are you?” (Gen 3:9) Now, why would God
have to ask such a thing when it is obvious that he already knew where they were?
I suggest that it was because he needed them (or us) to realize that despite
the fact that they had sinned, he would still seek them out. There would be
consequences of their sin not only for them but also for all of us, but the
important message here is that God was not giving up on them. And no
matter what we may have done, He does not give up on us either.
Perhaps the most beautiful and
consoling of all the parables of Jesus is the parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke
15:11-32). The son departed from the father and gave himself over to a life of
sin and debauchery. Finally, he came to his senses and began the journey back
home, not expecting a great welcome. Yet, what do we discover? That the father
had been at the door looking for him and yearning for him, and even bestowed
great blessings upon him without ever uttering a word of reproach.
As a Benedictine, I also think
of this line from the Rule of Saint Benedict: The labor of obedience will bring you back to him from whom you had
drifted through the sloth of disobedience. (Prol. 3)
Saint Augustine (354-430) confesses
what happened to him at the time of his awakening, as he traveled on his own
journey home:
“All my empty
dreams suddenly lost their charm and my heart began to throb with a bewildering
passion for the wisdom of eternal truth . . . My God, how I burned with longing to have wings to carry me back to you,
away from all earthly things, although I had no idea what you would do with me.”
(Confessions III, 4).
I conclude today with a prayer
uttered by St. Augustine. Perhaps you might make it your own.
“My soul is
like a house, small for you to enter, but I pray you to enlarge it. It is in
ruins, but I ask you to remake it. It contains much that you will not be pleased
to see: this I know and do not hide. But who is to rid it of these things?
There is no one but you.” (Confessions.
I was unable to find the exact location.)
Tomorrow: our awareness of our
own sinfulness.
God bless you!
No comments:
Post a Comment