{"id":32839,"date":"2018-01-27T19:52:57","date_gmt":"2018-01-28T01:52:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.markmallett.com\/blog\/?p=32839"},"modified":"2018-01-28T12:23:25","modified_gmt":"2018-01-28T18:23:25","slug":"the-storm-of-our-desires","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.markmallett.com\/blog\/the-storm-of-our-desires\/","title":{"rendered":"The Storm of Our Desires","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Peace Be Still<\/em>, by Arnold Friberg<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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FROM\u00a0<\/strong>time to time, I receive letters like these:<\/p>\n

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Please pray for me. I am so weak and my sins of the flesh, especially alcohol, strangle me.\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

You could simply replace alcohol with “pornography”, “lust”, “anger” or a number of other things. The fact is that many Christians today feel swamped by the desires of the flesh, and helpless to change.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So the story of Christ’s calming the wind and sea in today’s Gospel is most appropriate (see today’s liturgical readings here<\/em><\/a>). St. Mark tells us:<\/p>\n

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A violent squall came up and waves were breaking over the boat, so that it was already filling up. Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion. They woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” He woke up, rebuked the wind,\u00a0and said to the sea, “Quiet! Be still!” The wind ceased and there was great calm.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The winds are like our inordinate appetites that whip up the waves of our flesh and threaten to sink us into serious sin. But Jesus, after calming the storm, rebukes the disciples in this way:<\/p>\n

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Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

There are two things of importance to note here. The first is that Jesus asks them why they do not “yet” have faith. Now, they could have responded: “But Jesus, we\u00a0did\u00a0<\/em>get into the boat with you, even though we saw storm clouds on the horizon. We\u00a0are\u00a0<\/em>following you, even when many are not. And we\u00a0did\u00a0<\/em>wake you.” But perhaps Our Lord would reply:<\/p>\n

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My child, you have remained in the boat, but with your eyes fixed on the winds of your appetites rather than Me. You indeed desire the consolation of My presence, but you so quickly forget My commandments. And you do wake Me, but long after temptations have crushed you instead of before. When you learn to rest beside me in the bow of your life, only then will your faith be authentic, and your love genuine.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

That’s a strong rebuke and a hard word to hear! But it’s pretty much how Jesus answered me when I complained to Him that, even though I pray every day, say the Rosary, go to Mass, weekly Confession, and whatever else… that I still fall time and again into the same sins. The truth is that I have been blind, or rather, blinded by the appetites of the flesh. Thinking I was following Christ in the bow, I have really been living in the stern of my own will.<\/p>\n

St. John of the Cross teaches that the appetites of our flesh can blind reason, darken the intellect, and weaken the memory. Indeed, the disciples, though they had just witnessed Jesus casting out demons, raising paralytics, and curing a host of diseases, had just as quickly forgotten His power and lost their senses as soon as they became transfixed on the winds and waves. So too, John of the Cross teaches that we must renounce those appetites that so command our love and devotion.<\/p>\n

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As the tilling of soil is necessary for its fruitfulness\u2014untilled soil produces only weeds\u2014mortification of the appetites is necessary for one’s spiritual fruitfulness. I venture to say that without this mortification, all that is done for the sake of advancement in perfection and in knowledge of God and of oneself is no more profitable than seed sown on uncultivated ground.<\/strong>\u2014The\u00a0Ascent of Mount Carmel,\u00a0<\/em>Book One, Chapter , n. 4;\u00a0The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross,\u00a0<\/em>p. 123; translated by Kieran Kavanaugh and Otilio Redriguez<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Just as the disciples were blind to the omnipotent Lord in their midst, so it is with those Christians who, despite the exercise of many devotions or even extraordinary penances, do not diligently strive to deny their appetites.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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For this is a characteristic of those who are blinded by their appetites; when they are in the midst of the truth and of what is suitable for them, they no more see it than if they were in the dark.<\/strong> \u2014St. John of the Cross, Ibid.\u00a0 n. 7<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

In other words, we must go to the bow of the ship, so to speak, and…<\/p>\n

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Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (Matt 11:29-30)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The yoke is Christ’s gospel, summed up in the words to repent<\/em> and to\u00a0love God\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0neighbour.\u00a0<\/em>To repent is to reject the love of every attachment or creature; to love God is to seek Him and His glory in everything; and to love neighbour is to serve them as Christ loved and served us. It is at once a yoke because our nature finds it difficult; but it is also “light” because it is easy for grace to achieve it in us.”Charity, or the love of God”, says Venerable Louis of Granada, “renders the law sweet and delightful.” [1]<\/sup><\/a>The Sinner’s Guide<\/em>, (Tan Books and Publishers)\u00a0pp. 222<\/span><\/span>