So, What are You Longing For?

I am going to be bold and claim that I can “prove” to you that God exists, and that our desires and longings are that very proof! Think about it: your desires and longings are infinite aren’t they? When was the last time you were ever completely satisfied and needed absolutely nothing? If we’re really honest, we have to admit that our desires and longings are infinite—without any limit. But wait a minute! The world in which we live is finite; it has limits. How can a limited, finite world give us unlimited and infinite desire? The answer is that it cannot. There is an old saying in Latin: Nemo dat quod non habet (no one can give what he does not have). So we must have received these infinite, unlimited longings from that which is also unlimited and infinite. This unlimited and infinite One we call God. Have I proved my case? Let me know what you think. The world couldn’t give you these deepest longings! Only the infinite God could have done that! He exists and he has written his name on our hearts. All these desires and longings we have are ultimately pointing us to God. Consider reading the Gospel of John, Chapter 4, where Jesus meets the Woman of Samaria at the well. She comes to the well of world to satisfy her thirst. But Jesus reminds her that “everyone who drinks from this well will be thirsty again.” He goes on to teach her that He  is really the only one who can give her water that will truly satisfy her longings. In effect he says to her, “What are you longing for? Maybe it’s God!”

3 Replies to “So, What are You Longing For?”

  1. “Living Life in Quiet Desperation”
    All my life, or should I say during the time of age when I had control of my “interpreting sensory impulses, the Brain” I always felt like I was living in quiet desperation. An unknown feeling of longing deep within me that never goes away. A feeling of extending your arms out and reaching and grabbing out into space. I know all about the infinite longings of the world and they have served me well, but you come to realize that these worldly desires are stronger than the satisfaction. Then time would go on and I would ask myself. So whats next? Just never satisfied. These are times when I would fall into quiet state of despair, a state of being desperate. Then one day someone must have asked me in a quiet way, “What are you longing for? Sometimes this feeling of craving somthing this appetie for life is so great at times I can not utter words, then I started crying, I started praying, I started reading and I started asking, I started surrendering and I started realizing that my longing was GOD. So now that I know where this longing originates, my desires and hopes and my dreams are centered around God. Its a cross to carry but I find joy in it.

  2. You are so very right, the ultimate meaning and purpose we seek can only be found in God and in his Church. Nothing else lasts or suffices. We can satiate our immediate physical needs, but such satisfaction never endures. If we are thirsty, we can drink. If we are hungry, we can eat. But we also have a desire for life and life everlasting. If God gave us this desire without any way of acquiring it, he would be a monster. Such is contrary to the very definition of a benevolent God. Evil or privation cannot exist in an absolute fashion, only goodness in the infinite perfections found in God. We can trust that if we desire a life, healing, forgiveness and justice (that the world cannot give) — the God of infinite mercy and power can do so. Nature is not deceptive and neither is the Creator of the natural order. We yearn for a banquet that never ends and for a joy that knows no bounds. Such is the promise we receive in the sacraments and the living Word of God.

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