Intimate yearning for God

Living faith is not a purely intellectual exercise, as today’s readings testify.

Indeed, today’s first reading (Jer. 20:7-9) and today's responsorial psalm (from Psalm 63) are poetic, powerful, and passionate in describing overwhelmingly deep emotional bonds with God.

Jeremiah begins with imagery of intense and dramatic seduction.

You duped me, O LORD, and I let myself be duped;
you were too strong for me, and you triumphed.

(How foolish we are when you and I resist God in our souls and in our lives. How truly empty the triumphs we seek for ourselves. May we, like Jeremiah, be overwhelmed by God’s grace and experience the wonders of God’s triumph.)

God’s triumph over Jeremiah, however, does not leave Jeremiah passive – quite the contrary.

I say to myself, I will not mention him,
I will speak in his name no more.
But then it becomes like fire burning in my heart,
imprisoned in my bones;
I grow weary holding it in, I cannot endure it.

(How dull, dreary, and lackluster our lives so often are. How wonderful it would be to feel the fire of God’s spirit truly burning in our hearts, pressing out from deep within our bones, overcoming all fear, and ready to pour forth in a glorious dynamism of grace and word and deed.)

A wonderfully deep, intimate yearning for God also fills David.

For you my flesh pines and my soul thirsts
like the earth, parched, lifeless and without water.
Thus have I gazed toward you in the sanctuary
to see your power and your glory…

(And how much more magnificent and jubilant is the attainment of God.)

For your kindness is a greater good than life;
my lips shall glorify you.
Thus will I bless you while I live;
lifting up my hands, I will call upon your name.
As with the riches of a banquet shall my soul be satisfied,
and with exultant lips my mouth shall praise you.
You are my help,
and in the shadow of your wings I shout for joy.

(And how firmly and gently do the bonds of God’s love hold his dear ones close)

My soul clings fast to you;
your right hand upholds me.

May we pray always for the graces that blessed Jeremiah and David, graces that overflow in superabundance in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ: graces that make us yearn, graces that stir us to life, graces that flow like a torrent, graces that lift us to the heavens, and graces that draw us ever closer into the eternally living, loving mystery that is God.