Tuesday of the sixth Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 336

Rather, each person is tempted when lured and enticed by his desire.

Then desire conceives and brings forth sin,
and when sin reaches maturity it gives birth to death.

I am not well-versed in Eastern Religions – Hindu, Buddhism, Sikh, Zoroastrianism, Tao or Confucius – but since this is my own blog and the imaginary setting is a weekday homily before a small congregation of friends I don't have to be an expert to offer a thought.

The issue is desire. As I understand, Buddhism teaches that desire is the root of all our problems. The “Four Noble Truths” of Buddhism teach: 1) life is painful, 2) our pain is born of our desire, 3) pain can be alleviated by the lessening of desire, and 4) there are “noble paths” that help to lessen desire.

Watch a child in the candy section of a grocery store and you will see a human being in agony. She wants it all; she can have so little. Taking a child to the store seems like a form of punishment, but they want to go! The child’s desire is acutely painful and yet she cannot turn away from it.

Unlike the Buddhist tradition, our Christian tradition does not renounce desire; it refines it. There is a purpose to desire beyond inducing pain. Jesus asked the blind Bartimaeus, “What do you want?” When the beggar responded, “I want to see!” he didn’t tell him to "be content with your blindness."

Many counselors believe alcoholism and other forms of substance abuse are born of the spiritual desire for satisfaction. The alcoholic may be the most spiritually sensitive person in the family. He finds dissatisfying what everyone else considers good enough.

Faith offers a kind of answer to that desire. It gives a reason to hope for satisfaction, which is found in the present moment by the act of love. We don’t live simply for heaven, a place that might exist after we die. Rather, our eternal life begins in the moment that we love; and it continues forever. Ardent lovers – most of us – remember seemingly endless moments when we shared time with the beloved. Heaven seemed to come to earth for an achingly brief visit. It was beautiful and yet it hurt because we knew it could not last long in this troubled world. The hurt was our desire expressed; “I want more; I want it all!”

The Christian learns to keep that desire, living with it, refining and treasuring it. We will not attempt to  satisfy our longing with anything less than God. Saint James teaches us what to desire:

Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers and sisters:
all good giving and every perfect gift is from above,
coming down from the Father of lights,
with whom there is no alteration or shadow caused by change.

Unlike the Buddhist who renounces desire and, in effect, erases the self; the Christian desires perfect desire. Let me burn with my craving for God and never be tempted by anything less than God.