St. John of the Cross tells us that we do not truly know what it is we need, but Jesus knows. The soul properly disposed “does no more than represent its misery and pain to the Beloved … so that the beloved one may do what to him seems good.… The soul is more secured against self-love and self-seeking by indicating its necessity, instead of asking for that which it thinks is needed.” The Spiritual Canticle II.8.
The point is not simply to suppress our desire for things, as though desire was a weed in the garden. This is not at all what Catholic asceticism is about, in Advent or Lent or at any other time. God created all pleasures, and they are good, because He created them. The desire for pleasure, at its heart, is human and wholesome. The problem isn’t that pleasure is bad, but that we want it for selfish reasons. We become attached to the gratifications that are offered to us, and St. John of the Cross has a lot to say about the danger, not of desires, but of attachments. The disciplines he encourages are not meant to destroy desire but to teach us what desire is for.
In our overstimulated culture, we must struggle to avoid settling for meager comforts and cheap thrills, because our hearts are made for great things. To embrace this truth is hard, but profoundly liberating.- Spiritual Direction blog
May the intercession of the saints lead us to desire rightly, to long only for the only One who can satisfy our longings!
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