...concerning our hidden desires?

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There is a deep yearning within us that’s hunger is so enormous it often seems unrealistic that something could fill it…and this desire for ultimate satisfaction, ineffible joy and a completely perfect end, for this reason, sometimes seems absurd. How can a joy be so much greater than joy here (indeed, the thirst suggests it makes Earth’s joy (not value) seem tiny in comparrison).

Now, I believe I am not the only person to experience this emotion. Thomas Aquinas wrote about all men’s deepest desires being fulfilled. Has the Pope or Magesterium ever put forward an official announcement as concerns this longing and its fulfillment?

I know this is the millioneth time I’ve asked this sort of question…but I’ve always been researching on a Protestant basis. I’m researching Catholicism.😉

Also, whilst I’m at it (so this doesn’t become ANOTHER question…) have the Pope/Magisterium ever issued a statement on how Earth’s arts might reflect God’s being? (Arts as in ALL Arts: books, films, tv, radio, painting, sculpture…)
 
My deepest desires are fulfilled by Jesus Christ. Our deepest desires are the desire to know love and serve God. When we try to fulfill our deepest desires by any other means we are never satisfied.

Oops, I do not know if the Pope has said this in so many words! I am only speaking from my own experience.
 
i believe this is all covered in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. it’s a great read and would be invaluable to your research. all the best!👍
 
Hello from across the pond Thomas! You’d better ask this one at Vatican.va.

Consider this: Some folks deepest desires could jail them.:eek:

I once saw a comedy skit that showed people’s thoughts across their foreheads like a marquee…would that be embarrassing for you Thomas, or would it read “Jesus Christ” over and over again?

That being said, I will volunteer my own personal deepest desire and that is that my children will be to Heaven before me for all that I’d wish for myself I’d gladly give to them if it would be God’s will. My second deepest desire is to be with God forever loving Him in Heaven. Oh and you didn’t ask for this, but it proves the point that most folks would rather talk about themselves then the Pope or anyone else. Does that matter? :rolleyes:

Glenda
 
glendab said:
Hello from across the pond Thomas! You’d better ask this one at Vatican.va.

Consider this: Some folks deepest desires could jail them.:eek:

I once saw a comedy skit that showed people’s thoughts across their foreheads like a marquee…would that be embarrassing for you Thomas, or would it read “Jesus Christ” over and over again?

That being said, I will volunteer my own personal deepest desire and that is that my children will be to Heaven before me for all that I’d wish for myself I’d gladly give to them if it would be God’s will. My second deepest desire is to be with God forever loving Him in Heaven. Oh and you didn’t ask for this, but it proves the point that most folks would rather talk about themselves then the Pope or anyone else. Does that matter? :rolleyes:

Glenda
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Love this post glendab 👍 🙂 🙂 🙂
 
You should read Christopher West if you haven’t yet. I just went to a talk of his yesterday. He talked of how the Greeks had a word for an intense, yearning desire - which is known as eros. He went on to talk about how Pope John Paul II in his writings on the Theology of the Body, talked about how this deep desire is good as long as it is directed toward God. That is a very simple way to state it, but I recommend checking out some Christopher West books, as he expounds upon Pope John Paul II’s teachings in this area.
 
Doeco said:
You should read Christopher West if you haven’t yet. I just went to a talk of his yesterday. He talked of how the Greeks had a word for an intense, yearning desire - which is known as eros. He went on to talk about how Pope John Paul II in his writings on the Theology of the Body, talked about how this deep desire is good as long as it is directed toward God. That is a very simple way to state it, but I recommend checking out some Christopher West books, as he expounds upon Pope John Paul II’s teachings in this area.
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Thanks for this! Any particular book of his?
 
The premise of the Church is that man’s deepest yearning is a “yearning for the infinite” - that’s why we can’t be fully satisfied by anything that world has to offer and we always end up by wanting more or something else, so any desire for perfection, ultimate satisfaction, knowledge and ineffable joy has God as its object, even when we don’t realize.

We can find this idea in Pope Benedict’s encyclical Spe Salvi: “Day by day, man experiences many greater or lesser hopes, different in kind according to the different periods of his life. Sometimes one of these hopes may appear to be totally satisfying without any need for other hopes. Young people can have the hope of a great and fully satisfying love; the hope of a certain position in their profession, or of some success that will prove decisive for the rest of their lives. When these hopes are fulfilled, however, it becomes clear that they were not, in reality, the whole. It becomes evident that man has need of a hope that goes further. It becomes clear that only something infinite will suffice for him, something that will always be more than he can ever attain”.

Reflections about man’s “yearning for the infinite”:
vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2012/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20121107_en.html
vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2013/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20130116_en.html

Art as “epiphany”:
vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2011/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20110831_en.html
vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2009/november/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20091121_artisti_en.html
chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/articolo/206168?eng=y

And something that may answer to your questions about heaven and Platonism (from “In this regard I would like to reflect…”):
vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/homilies/2010/documents/hf_ben-xvi_hom_20100815_assunzione_en.html
You can recognize here an echo of Paul’s “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known”.
 
vames said:
The premise of the Church is that man’s deepest yearning is a “yearning for the infinite” - that’s why we can’t be fully satisfied by anything that world has to offer and we always end up by wanting more or something else, so any desire for perfection, ultimate satisfaction, knowledge and ineffable joy has God as its object, even when we don’t realize.

We can find this idea in Pope Benedict’s encyclical Spe Salvi: “Day by day, man experiences many greater or lesser hopes, different in kind according to the different periods of his life. Sometimes one of these hopes may appear to be totally satisfying without any need for other hopes. Young people can have the hope of a great and fully satisfying love; the hope of a certain position in their profession, or of some success that will prove decisive for the rest of their lives. When these hopes are fulfilled, however, it becomes clear that they were not, in reality, the whole. It becomes evident that man has need of a hope that goes further. It becomes clear that only something infinite will suffice for him, something that will always be more than he can ever attain”.

Reflections about man’s “yearning for the infinite”:
vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2012/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20121107_en.html
vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2013/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20130116_en.html

Art as “epiphany”:
vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2011/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20110831_en.html
vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2009/november/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20091121_artisti_en.html
chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/articolo/206168?eng=y

And something that may answer to your questions about heaven and Platonism (from “In this regard I would like to reflect…”):
vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/homilies/2010/documents/hf_ben-xvi_hom_20100815_assunzione_en.html
You can recognize here an echo of Paul’s “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known”.
Click to expand...
I agree with you when you say that on Earth, we can’t be fully satisfied.

And only God can bring us to the perfect happiness. 🙂

hope19
 
The ordinary teaching of the Catholic Church – which I think is part of the Magisterium – is that everyone has this longing you describe, which can only be satisfied by God. St. Augustine, 4th century North African bishop, wrote many things and was a brilliant man (for starters, read his Confessions, if you haven’t already; I read the translation by Rex Warner), yet people risk reducing him to a One-Hit Wonder when they incessantly quote one statement in particular: “Our hearts are restless until they rest in You.”
 
vames said:
The premise of the Church is that man’s deepest yearning is a “yearning for the infinite” - that’s why we can’t be fully satisfied by anything that world has to offer and we always end up by wanting more or something else, so any desire for perfection, ultimate satisfaction, knowledge and ineffable joy has God as its object, even when we don’t realize.

We can find this idea in Pope Benedict’s encyclical Spe Salvi: “Day by day, man experiences many greater or lesser hopes, different in kind according to the different periods of his life. Sometimes one of these hopes may appear to be totally satisfying without any need for other hopes. Young people can have the hope of a great and fully satisfying love; the hope of a certain position in their profession, or of some success that will prove decisive for the rest of their lives. When these hopes are fulfilled, however, it becomes clear that they were not, in reality, the whole. It becomes evident that man has need of a hope that goes further. It becomes clear that only something infinite will suffice for him, something that will always be more than he can ever attain”.

Reflections about man’s “yearning for the infinite”:
vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2012/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20121107_en.html
vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2013/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20130116_en.html

Art as “epiphany”:
vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2011/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20110831_en.html
vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2009/november/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20091121_artisti_en.html
chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/articolo/206168?eng=y

And something that may answer to your questions about heaven and Platonism (from “In this regard I would like to reflect…”):
vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/homilies/2010/documents/hf_ben-xvi_hom_20100815_assunzione_en.html
You can recognize here an echo of Paul’s “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known”.
Click to expand...
Thank you very much indeed for these quotes! I’ve looked very long and hard for this sort of thing- God bless you!
 
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