The Quest of the Heart

What are you longing for at this stage in your life?  What is the desire of your heart?  What can make your heart happy?

In the story of King Solomon, we find a very unusual desire, an extraordinary kind of longing, the desire of his heart is to gain wisdom and prudence.  Many worldly comments would say, “Oh Solomon how unwise you are, how foolish you are, you are stupid.  You could have ask for riches, treasures, fame, power, strength and greater sovereignty and not simply wisdom."  But the heart of King Solomon desires nothing else but wisdom.  What makes his heart happy is to be able to serve his people better by his wise judgments as a King.

In the story of the rich young man in the Gospel of St. Mark 10:17-30, we have a story of a rich young man who went to Jesus because he was longing for something.  He approached Jesus and asked:

“What should I do to inherit everlasting life?”

Seemingly, this rich young man’s heart desires a noble aspiration and that is eternal life.  It seems that the rich young man was like Solomon, he seeks not something material but EVERLASTING LIFE … and so Jesus said, obey the commandments.  The rich young man answered:

“I have done all these things since my Youth.”

We see here again that the man seems to be aware of the word of God, aware of the commandments, perhaps he allowed the word of God to take root in his life.  It seems that he allowed the word of God to form him.  But Jesus wanted to truly purify his heart and said:

“There is one thing more, go and sell what you have, give it to the poor and follow me.”

And with those words, the rich young man’s heart was exposed,.  He was not ready to consider EVERLASTING LIFE as more precious than all his material possessions and wealth.  His face fell and with a heavy heart, he turned his back to the true joy of the heart which is EVERLASTING LIFE.  Jesus here issues a warning to all of us, If our hearts are not pure and determined like Solomon, if our hearts are not fully purified and tested by the Word of God , a great test might come to us and we might choose to turn away from God as well.

If our hearts are not pure and determined, a test over the grief of the death of a loved one might make us abandon God.  If our hearts are not pure and determined, a test of losing a job might make us abandon God.  If our hearts are not pure and determined, a test of sickness might make us abandon God.

St. Augustine once said:  “My heart is restless until it rests in God”  Let us find our happiness in God, let us desire nothing else but everlasting life with God.  In every decision we make concerning our desires, let us be enlightened by the grace of God.  In every longing that we face each day, let us beg the Lord to direct our hearts to the right way.  May we find our hearts one day resting in the heart of God.