What Do You Want?

In this episode we discuss the deepest longings and desires of
the human heart. We all long for happiness and fulfillment, we
all ache for the infinite. What does this desire for God really
mean and how can we attain it.





Challenge for the week


Simon - Identify an idol in your life that keeps you from
communion with God, and get rid of it.


Maddie - Get in touch with your ache for God - spend some time in
prayer or pondering some spiritual reading. Don't run from your
desire, press into it. 





Show notes



St Teresa of Avila's Ecstasy 



Look up St Teresa of Avila's Ecstasy. This beautiful marble
sculpture by Bernini encapsulates a great saint on fire with
desire for God! 


This is what she had to say about her mystical ecstasy which
Bernini uses for his inspiration:


“Beside me, on the left, appeared an angel in bodily form. … He
was not tall but short, and very beautiful; and his face was so
aflame that he appeared to be one of the highest rank of angels,
who seem to be all on fire. … In his hands I saw a great golden
spear, and at the iron tip there appeared to be a point of fire.
This he plunged into my heart several times so that it penetrated
to my entrails. When he pulled it out I felt that he took them
with it, and left me utterly consumed by the great love of God.
The pain was so severe that it made me utter several moans. The
sweetness caused by this intense pain is so extreme that one
cannot possibly wish it to cease, nor is one’s soul content with
anything but God. This is not a physical but a spiritual pain,
though the body has some share in it—even a considerable share.”


For more on St Teresa of Avila and her mystical experience, watch
this video by Christopher West.


Journal Question:
Jesus asks the same question to you, that he asked His
disciples - ‘What do you seek?’ What would your response be?

Quotes to pray with:


“Jesus always gives me what I want because I only want what he
wants.” - St Therese of Lisieux


"If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can
satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for
another world." - C.S Lewis


"The Fathers of the Church say that prayer, properly understood
is nothing other than becoming a longing for God." - Pope
Benedict XVI


"You have made us for yourself O Lord and our heart is restless
until it rests in you." - St Augustine





Scripture of the Week:


John 1:35-42





Catechism Reference: 


CCC #27


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.