Speaking for the Lord, Isaiah asks a very pertinent question: “Why spend your hard-earned money on things that fail to satisfy you?” I look at myself, shake my head, and say, “Ain’t that the truth!”
Even though I’m sitting in my office, my mind is over at the Annex where my woodworking shop is. There’s a bunch of stuff there that looked really good at the time I purchased it, but has either never been used or rarely used.
My closets and my apartment same story. Every Holy Week I always take a bunch of stuff to Goodwill my rule of thumb is “If I don’t use it in two years that means I really don’t need it,” so out it goes. The funny thing is that there’s always stuff to get rid of! Always!! Ya thunk I’da learned sumthin!!
Having all kinds of stuff is only symptomatic of a far deeper hunger that afflicts every one of us. It’s evident in our everyday life. Unless something drastic happens by way of a total conversion, the US is going to decline into a babble of tribes that fight over this and that and the other thing. The decline has already started. We try to find sustenance in the Church, and sometimes are really fortunate to belong to a life-giving parish where priests and parishioners work together to give life to each other and to their community. Absent a place that gives life to our spirits and souls, we tend to become critical and withdrawn.
Blessed are those families who offer a safe haven to each other their hunger is filled by their love for each other. Where there is conflict or disunity, then the hunger rears its head again and we start looking for someone or something to blame.
Blessed are those couples and friends who have a deep love for each other, because the hole in their hearts is filled. But even then, it’s a paradox of love that when I love another person deeply, I start regretting the fact that I can only go so far in love, because skin gets in the way! So even the deepest love has a built-in hunger for even more.
Fortunately, as St. Paul says, there is nothing that separates us from God’s love. God is perfectly content to wait until we realize that only in God can we be fully satisfied.
Love deeply, laugh often, pray faithfully!
