GOSPEL MATTERS: ‘What Satisfies the Hungry Heart?’
Dr Christine Wood, Director of the Office of Evangelisation & Catechesis
The Psalmist says to God, “I have no good apart from you.” And he turns to us proclaiming, “Taste and see that the Lord is good!”
Many people long to receive a great inheritance from parents or distant relatives, thinking this will bring them happiness. In contrast, Scripture is replete with righteous people declaring, “The Lord is my inheritance.”
God is the one who satisfies our hungry hearts. The Psalmist says, “Your face, O Lord, do I seek.” The reward for seeking God’s will and walking in his ways is God himself: “The righteous will behold God’s face.”
Sometimes we are less than enthusiastic about this prospect. We would rather immerse ourselves in the pleasures of the flesh, wealth, even the day-to-day grind.
We do all we can to avoid meeting God. In reality this behaviour secures misery, not happiness, for our hearts remain dissatisfied.
Jesus speaks repeatedly about the Kingdom of Heaven. It’s a kingdom, so it’s not a place of individual solitude, or a just me-and-Jesus reality.
Rather, it’s God with his family, his people, who commune together, relishing being in the presence of their beloved Lord, singing and dancing freely.
Heaven is a wedding feast where those who attend are attired in beautiful wedding garments. Scripture calls this wedding garment the righteous deeds of the saints.
Christ, the divine bridegroom, is forever wedded to his bride, the saints. If we make it into this joyful celebration we will not be onlookers, but fully engaged in the wedding.
God’s plan of salvation aims at nothing less than sharing his divine life with us. For this, God must elevate us by bestowing a share in his divine life through grace.
This begins in the gift of faith and baptism. God also purifies us in this life, and if necessary, in the next in purgatory. The process reaches its culmination upon entry into heavenly beatitude.
It’s difficult to imagine seeing God’s face, and yet it is precisely what we are made for. It is the sole object of our heart’s desire whether we know it or not.
St John says, “God is love” and that “when [God] appears we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.”
Imagine dwelling securely in the presence of the One who knows us fully, and loves us unconditionally. Imagine seeing Love Itself. This vision of God will transform us into loving beings.
The Psalmist says to God: “In thy presence there is fulness of joy, in thy right hand are pleasures for evermore.” This indeed is heavenly joy, which satisfies the hungry heart.