Q & A Catechism – Part 3 – “Desire”

Des – i – i – i – i – i – re! … Des – i – i – i – i – i – re! This is the word boldly sung in the 1988 hit song, “Desire,” by U2. While multiple things in the video are contrary to our faith, the video on the one hand speaks to the desire of the body, for example. It is written on our hearts, on our bodies, and in human nature that we long for and are made for union. But at a deeper, spiritual level we desire and long for union with God forever in heaven, who longs for union with us too. St. Paul proclaims, “We also groan within ourselves as we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies…The Spirit itself intercedes with inexpressible groaning”(Rom. 8:23, 26). Yet is only God who can satisfy and fill that God-sized hole in our hearts.

While I remember Christopher West, an expert on St. John Paul II’s, “Theology of the Body” (a series of 129 “Wednesday Audience” talks delivered by the saintly pope from 1979 – 1984) sing U2’s “Desire” during a conference at the National Shrine of the Little Flower Basilica in Royal Oak, MI (and he actually did a good job :), the real desire, whether we know it or not, points to a deeper desire for God.

This Week:
Q: What does it mean that we have a desire for God?
A: 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:

The dignity of man rests above all on the fact that he is called to communion with God. This invitation to converse with God is addressed to man as soon as he comes into being. For if man exists it is because God has created him through love, and through love continues to hold him in existence. He cannot live fully according to truth unless he freely acknowledges that love and entrusts himself to his creator.1

In many ways, throughout history down to the present day, men have given expression to their quest for God in their religious beliefs and behavior: in their prayers, sacrifices, rituals, meditations, and so forth. These forms of religious expression, despite the ambiguities they often bring with them, are so universal that one may well call man a religious being: From one ancestor (God) made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him – though indeed he is not far from each one of us. For “in him we live and move and have our being.”2

But this “intimate and vital bond of man to God” (GS 19 # 1) can be forgotten, overlooked, or even explicitly rejected by man.3 Such attitudes can have different causes: revolt against evil in the world; religious ignorance or indifference; the cares and riches of this world; the scandal of bad example on the part of believers; currents of thought hostile to religion; finally, that attitude of sinful man which makes him hide from God out of fear and flee his call.4

“Let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice.”5 Although man can forget God or reject him, He never ceases to call every man to seek him, so as to find life and happiness. But this search for God demands of man every effort of intellect, a sound will, “an upright heart”, as well as the witness of others who teach him to seek God.

You are great, O Lord, and greatly to be praised: great is your power and your wisdom is without measure. and man, so small a part of your creation, wants to praise you: this man, though clothed with mortality and bearing the evidence of sin and the proof that you withstand the proud. Despite everything, man, though but a small a part of your creation, wants to praise you. You yourself encourage him to delight in your praise, for you have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.6

Source: Catechism (#s 27-30 ) found at www.vatican.va

References:
1 Vatican Council II, GS 19 # 1. (Gaudium et Spes > Joy and Hope)
2 Acts 17:26-28.
3 GS 19 # 1.
4 Cf. GS 19-21; ⇒ Mt 13:22; ⇒ Gen 3:8-10;⇒ Jon 1:3.
5 Ps 105:3
6 St. Augustine, Conf. I, I, I: PL 32, 659-661. (Conf. > Confessions)

Theology of the Body Reference Links:

A. USCCB > United States Conference of Catholic Bishops http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/marriage-and-family/natural-family-planning/catholic-teaching/theology-of-the-body.cfm USSSB > United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

B. http://www.theologyofthebody.net

Last Week: Q & A Catechism – Part 2
Q: What does it mean to hand on the faith through catechesis or oral instruction?
A: Catechism #s 3-10

Author: Fr. Jeff Allan

Biography - Fr. Jeff Allan, was ordained a Catholic priest on June 7th, 2014 for the Archdiocese of Detroit (AOD). He graduated from Adrian College in 2001 with a degree in Business Administration and a minor in Criminal Justice. After working in the pharmaceutical sales industry for almost three years, he felt called to discern the priesthood. Before being ordained a priest, Fr. Jeff was blessed to receive three degrees from Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit. They include a Bachelor of Philosophy, Baccalaureate in Sacred Theology (STB), and a Master of Divinity (Theology). His assignments in the U.S. have included serving at multiple parishes in the Archdiocese of Detroit as an associate pastor and currently as a weekend assistant. Fr. Jeff is certified as a hospital chaplain through ACPE (Association for Clinical Pastoral Education). He has had the opportunity of serving at three Metro-Detroit Area Hospitals since 2017 where he serves in full-time ministry as a Catholic Priest and Hospital Chaplain. View all posts by Fr. Jeff Allan