DesireDesire

CafechurchCafechurch

2929thth July July 2014 2014

Overview

• Noticing my desires

• Learning to listen to and act on my deepest, most authentic desires

• The relationship between my desires and God’s will

The Power of Desire

• Our lives are stories of desire: desire is necessary for living

• Ignatius recognises the importance of desire in the Spiritual Exercises:

id quod volo ‘that which I desire’

The Marshmallow Test

The Power of Desire

• Desire shapes our decisions, actions and reactions: we do our own will (what we want)

• Multiple and often conflicting desires

• Desire can be a spring of life, or a destructive power

Reflection

• What desires are you conscious of right now?

• What desires are shaping your life and decisions at the moment?

God’s Will and My Desiring

… desire is usually presented as a dangerous tendency; something to be curbed and brought into submission to ‘the will of God’, which is the only ‘legitimate desire’ for a conscientious Christian. Gerard Hughes, God in all things, p73

•Split spirituality: ANYTHING I desire must be rooted in my own selfishness, which I must oppose

God’s Will and My Desiring • The will of God is seen as:

o remote and unknowableo probably opposed to my desireso I will be punished for not carrying it out

• Some possible responses:o hiding my real self from Godo forced self-transcendenceo feeling bad about feeling good

Discussion

• Do you recognise this approach to desire?

• Where have you encountered it?

• What are the effects (on you or others)?

God’s Will and My Desiring

• We are called to do God’s willo Jesus in the garden prayed ‘Let your will be

done, not mine’ Luke 22:42

• BUT this is not a matter of submitting my will to the remote will of God

Finding God through our Desires

• Instead of seeing the longings of our hearts as opposed to God, can we see our desires as helping us to find God?

• God’s Will – his desire for me – and my own deepest desire (when I am really ‘living true’) are one and the same thing

Margaret Silf, Landmarks, p135

The Thrust of our Desiring

• Desires for security and nourishment (root desires)oDesire for safety and comfort, for stability, for

friendship

• Desires for expression (branch desires)oDesire to do creative work, to reach out to

others with compassion

Our Deepest Desire is for God

• Desires are multi-layered and have deep roots in our longing for God, towards which all other desires point.

• Our deepest, most authentic desire:You have made us for yourself, and

our hearts are restless until they rest in You. Augustine, Confessions

Authentic Desires

• All desires are real experiences

• But not all desires are equally authentic

• Authentic desires move me to love God and others

The Story of Ignatius

• Two kinds of daydreams

oGreat deeds to win the love of a great lady

oOutdoing the saints

• Daydreaming about the saints revealed a deeper layer to his desiring

For your prayer and reflection

How is God speaking to you through your desires?

What is life-giving for you?