You are just never satisfied. When have we heard those words? Perhaps as a child, we were told that by a
parent or other adult. Perhaps as an
adult, we uttered those words to a child.
As children, and perhaps even in adulthood, we seem to always be in a state
of constant want. We seem to have an
unsatiable appetite. Think for a moment
of the child at the foot of the tree on Christmas morning. Once he or she finishes opening the seemingly
countless gifts, they take another look under the tree in the hopes that there
are more.
In our fast-paced culture of immediate gratification, the
same is true. At our fingertips, there
are countless opportunities for entertainment.
Did you ever turn on your television these days and despite having
subscriptions to a number of streaming services, all filled with tons of
choices, you can’t find anything to watch?
Or you find yourself in the supermarket, amongst a smorgasbord of
culinary delights, and nothing seems to be the right food that you are looking
for. Or perhaps we have the opposite
experience. Perhaps we have just
completed several courses of a dinner at a fancy restaurant. We are literally filled to brim and yet, we
feel we have a hunger for dessert. It
does seem like we are never satisfied.
And when I say, “we are never satisfied,” I think that is a
commentary on society in this first quarter of the 21st century. We have so much, yet we don’t seem to have
enough. But that has been the human
experience since the very beginning. In
Genesis, we hear that God gave the first of human creation dominion over the
beauty of all creation. God gave us so
much, and yet we wanted more. We wanted
to be Him, as Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. We are just never satisfied.
And yet, despite the insatiable appetite we have, there is
something that is even stronger. And
that is God never being satisfied in how
much he loves us. God is the giver of
all that is good, but he doesn’t stop when he feels we have had enough. He continues to give. He is pure love. He is love that is not self-seeking. He is love that is total self-giving, that is
total gift. He gave of himself on the
cross and continues to give himself at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. What we receive in appearance seems totally
insignificant – a small piece of bread and a sip of wine, yet there is nothing
more significant. It is God giving us
what we wanted all along – a share in his divine life. The bread and wine are not symbolic of
something in the past or even merely a symbol of what is to come. It is really and truly the presence of what gives
us the satisfaction that we desire. And it
is not correct. The it, the
Eucharistic species, is indeed a who, the Body and Blood of the one who
is pure love.
We are not satisfied not merely because material gifts and
delicious food and other luxuries can never satisfy us. We are not satisfied, as a people, because roughly
three-fourths of those who have tasted this food from heaven do not make it a
part of their regularly lives. And
despite that apathy, out of love, He still makes himself available.
- - The Servant
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