For you have made us for yourself and our heart is restless until it rests in you. – St. Augustine
These are the immortal words of St. Augustine, from the first chapter of his Confessions. These are the words of a man who futilely sought satisfaction in a life of sin, paganism, philosophy, and the arts of rhetoric. He found the inner peace for which he so longed only when he turned to the living God in Jesus Christ.
This saint reminds us that we have many desires for created things and pleasures. These desires, many of which are conflicting, only leave us restless, confused, and frustrated. Only the God who created us for Himself can satisfy us completely. The psalmist confirms this truth, “The eyes of all look hopefully to you, and you give them their food in due season; you open your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing” (Ps. 145:15-16).
Through the Incarnation, this God who created us and satisfies us is present in Jesus Christ. He is present through all our life’s conditions and situations because He loves us. Because of His loving union with us, our needs—no matter how dire they may be—ought never distance us from Him. In the words of St. Paul:
Brothers and sisters, what will separate us from the love of Christ? Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword? No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through Him who loved us. (Rom. 8:35-39)
We see this undying love of Jesus, which satisfies all our needs, in John 14:13-21. Our Lord had just heard of the brutal murder of his beloved cousin, John the Baptist. His heart is filled with sorrow, and He goes in search of a place to be alone, as recorded, “When Jesus heard of the death of John the Baptist, He withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by Himself.”
But when He saw the crowd following Him, “His heart was moved with pity for them.” Even in His sorrow, He still had a heart full of compassion for the crowd because He saw their many needs and miseries. Our sorrowful and compassionate Savior then completely satiated their every need; “They all ate and were satisfied.”
Reflecting on God’s invitation to His people in Isaiah 55:1-3, we find four solid ways to allow Jesus to satisfy all our authentic desires. The crowd that followed Jesus exemplifies these four steps for us.
Firstly, we must come to Jesus.
God invites us to come to Him in all our desires: “Thus says the Lord; All you who are thirsty, come to the water!” None of our desires should drive us from God.
The crowd came to Jesus on foot and stayed with Him all day till late in the evening. They endured the long journey on foot. They spent a long time with Him, allowing Him to cure their sickness and teach them. They did not allow anything or anyone to distract them.
We, too, are to come to Jesus with all our desires. This means we come out of ourselves and refuse to search for answers within ourselves or in our own abilities. It also means that we are not to turn to human beings or created things to satisfy us completely. We are to pay full attention to Jesus and to Him alone.
We are to come to Jesus in prayer, in the sacraments of the Eucharist and Confession, in meditation on His words, in repentance for our sins, and in complete trust in Him.
Secondly, we are to receive all that Jesus offers to us.
God invites us to be open to receive from Him what we cannot pay for: “You who have no money, come, receive grain and eat; come, without paying and without cost, drink wine and milk.”
The crowd was open to receiving all that Jesus would offer to them. They were ready to receive His words, His healing, and His food. They did not worry about paying for Jesus’ gifts or about their lack of worthiness. They just came with open hands and hearts.
We also must come to Jesus with a sense of gratitude, ready to receive all things that He offers us. We are not to worry about paying for His gifts or about being worthy of them. We are to receive with gratitude His love, grace, truth, forgiveness, enlightenment, and courage. Jesus cannot satisfy us completely if we are not open to receiving all that He offers us.
Thirdly, we must listen to Jesus.
God invites us to come to Him and listen to Him: “Come to me heedfully, listen, that you may have life.”
The crowd paid attention to Jesus and to His disciples when they were told to sit down on the grass. They did not object or question their commands. They just listened and obeyed.
One reason why Jesus does not satisfy is that we are so fixated on what we want that we fail to listen to what Jesus may be saying to us. We hold onto our wants so much that His voice fades away.
We are so busy pursuing our desires that we become frustrated, frustrated because we are searching for something Jesus does not want for us at the present moment. If Jesus is going to satisfy us, we must allow Him to share His own desires for us. We must be open to what He actually desires for us.
Lastly, we must act on His word.
God invites us to observe and act on His words: “Come to me heedfully, listen, that you may have life.”
The more we listen and obey God’s words, the more that we desire what He actually wills for us. This is how we enter into Jesus’ inner rest.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, why do we have restless hearts today in the midst of so much affluence, technology, communication, and ease? We are searching for more power over our lives and over others. We search for more pleasure from the world and all that it offers. We are also seeking more of the goods and possessions of this world. Are we also searching for a deeper relationship with God?
Sadly, many of us are not asking how our search for these things is affecting our tending to God, who alone can satisfy us. We are searching for things in ways that hinder our trusting relationship with Him. We end up restless, frustrated, confused, and discouraged.
Remember the words of St. Augustine: only the God who made us for Himself can completely satisfy us. This God is Jesus Christ, and He is forever present with us in each Eucharist. He is always looking at us with pity as we futilely try to satiate our desires with worldly things. He loves us, and He desires to satisfy us completely.
If we come to Him always, receive all things from Him, listen to His words and not to our desires alone, and faithfully act on His words, He will surely satisfy us because He loves us and He will never stop loving us.
Glory to Jesus!!! Honor to Mary!!!
Image from Wikimedia Commons
