The Longing for God (part one)

Tuesday, March 14, 2017

The Longing for God, part one

Deep within us

there is a longing for God.

It is buried beneath many lesser things,

beneath cares and anxieties and worries,

beneath hopes and dreams and plans and projects,

beneath joy and sorrow, happiness and misery,

beneath all that happens to us and all that we cause to happen.

It remains within. It is eternal. It seeks to be satisfied,

but cannot be satisfied

with what isn’t eternal,

with what is merely ephemeral,

or with what is trivial or distracting.

Psalm 42: “Like the deer that yeans

for running streams,

so my soul is yearning

for you, my God.

My soul is thirsting for God,

the living god;

when can I enter and appear

before the face of God?”

Psalm 63: “O God, you are my God: at dawn I seek you;

for you my soul is thirsting.

For you my flesh is pining,

like a dry, weary land without water.”

No matter what may delight, excite or thrill us,

we will never be satisfied

until we are in touch with this longing.

(Not that we find God as much as we seek after Him.)

Rule of Saint Benedict 58.7:

The concern must be whether the novice truly seeks God.

The Song of Songs

Upon my bed at night

I sought him whom my soul loves:

I sought him, but found him not.

. . .

Spend quiet time before God.

Seek Him; long for Him, desire Him

as one desires the arrival of the Beloved.

And if you do this, you will discover

that it was He Who was seeking you all along.

to be continued . . .

God bless you!