Desire

Some people say that human beings are basically good, that children are born innocent, and that it is society that causes people to do bad things.

Experience teaches otherwise, as does today’s first reading (Genesis 8:6-13, 20-22) in which God says that “the desires of man's heart are evil from the start” (i.e., from youth or childhood).

That is not to say that God created man evil (God created man good) but that all human beings since the Fall are marked by sin and to some extent are under its sway. The good of God’s original creation endures but through the Fall of Man, the dominion of sin has taken hold.

Traditional theology speaks of concupiscence: that from our birth, in the state of fallen human nature, our sensual appetites yearn for their own satisfaction: what feels good, without regard to reason or what is truly good.

For the creation waits with eager longing
for the revealing of the sons of God;
for the creation was subjected to futility,
not of its own will
but by the will of him who subjected it in hope;
because the creation itself
will be set free from its bondage to decay
and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God.

We know that the whole creation
has been groaning in travail together until now;
and not only the creation, but we ourselves,
who have the first fruits of the Spirit,
groan inwardly as we wait for adoption as sons,
the redemption of our bodies.
(Romans 8:19-23)

The bottom line is that we must be careful not to trust too much to human nature, fallen as it is, but rather that we as individuals and as societies must be diligent in applying the discipline of human reason in all our decisions, big and small.

Most importantly, we must seek the will and grace of God who is the true and ultimate Good and who will provide us what we truly desire: the satisfaction that flesh and the things of this world cannot give, a satisfaction of infinite and eternal intensity.