Do we desire God? Do we desire to desire him? Even our yearning for God is a grace from him and yet we mostly tend toward lethargy when it comes to stirring up zeal for the spiritual life.
The writings of the saints and the Scriptures teach us that we need only ask for what is lacking and the Lord delights in giving it to us like the good Father that he is.
“You have no need of our praise, yet our desire to thank you is itself your gift ….” We hear this prayer at Mass during the liturgy of the Eucharist. Through the priest, we give thanks that God truly gives us everything we need; even the desire to draw near to him.
“You stir man to take pleasure in praising you, because you have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you,” St. Augustine writes.
The whole Bible is a resounding echo of man’s yearning for God; our striving for the infinite from within the confines of our mortality … this is our soul’s constant refrain. The Psalms say that our soul shall be filled “as with a banquet.” The more we desire God, the more we will have our desire fulfilled and yet we will pine for God all the more like “a dry and weary land without water.”
In a sermon on the Song of Songs, St. Bernard of Clairvaux writes that it “is not with steps of the feet that God is sought but with the heart’s desire; and when the soul happily finds him, its desire is not quenched but kindled.”
We know that goodness abounds and multiplies. It is the same with the gifts of God; our desire increases the more that we taste of God’s goodness. Bernard continues: “Does the consummation of joy bring about the consuming of desire? Rather it is oil poured upon the flames … joy will be fulfilled, but there will be no end to desire, and therefore no end to the search.”
What do the saints call this eternal treasure hunt of sorts; this endless search for God? It is a wounding of love. Intense desire can feel like an affliction. The yearning causes more yearning and more love and adoration to be uncovered within the soul.
To the soul who seeks the Lord wholeheartedly, he gives the “kiss of his mouth” as the Song of Songs so beautifully articulates in the most stunning love poetry this world has ever seen. When we lay ourselves bare before the One who first loved us, we are merely responding to grace and putting creation in right order; we were made to be loved and ravished by God’s love.
When we understand the fervour and devotion with which God loves us and seeks us, we have no choice but to become reverent towards those around us. Each soul is romanced, beloved and sought after. Few souls allow themselves to be truly swept away in God’s love which pours forth upon the world through the heart of Jesus. But those who have tasted what it is to be consumed by desire for God are windows into the heavenly banquet.
“What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived the things God has prepared for those who love him – these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.” (1 Cor 2:9)