Search This Blog

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Desire is prayer

St. Augustine tells us that "God, by making us wait, stretches desire. Stretching desire, he stretches the soul. Stretching the soul, he makes us capable of receiving . . . such is our life: we must endeavor to desire."

My own experience with desire for God is that it becomes so intense that it hurts. In retreats, especially, I have felt such strong desire that I know it is creating a greater capacity in me to receive God's love. One of my favorite quotes is from St. Gregory the Great:
"The bridegroom hides when he is sought, so that, not finding Him, the bride may seek Him with a renewed ardor; and the bride is hampered in her search so that this delay may increase the capacity for God. and that she may find one day more fully what she was seeking."
The point is to desire to seek, to seek to find, and finding, to love and that will again increase desire. Try it and see!

No comments: