God is pictured as the one who satisfies all of our desires. God does not satisfy every wish that pops into our heads. But God does satisfy all of our desires, as long as those desires are ones which lead us on the path of real living. In fact, desires have a very important role to play in our lives as we try to follow God's will for ourselves. We need to pay attention to our desires because they can point out important paths we should follow if we are to remain faithful to our calling as Christians. Our desires can be powerful indicators helping us to make life-giving decisions.

The key to understanding how our desires can be life-giving is to understand that when God's desire for us, and our desires, both come together in harmony, then we are doing what will be best, both for us and for our world. God desires what is best for us. When our own desires lead us to choose what is best for us, then we are actually doing the will of God.

There are many ways to test our desires, but allow me to mention what is probably the most important way. The key question we have to ask is this: What do I want? It is here that we have to be prepared to go to the depth of that question. What is it that I really want to do with my life? When I come to the end of my life, what is it that I would like to have accomplished? Do I desire a marriage that is filled with love and compassion? Do I want to give myself in special service to the poor? Do I want to develop some God-given talent in music or the arts? What is it that I really deeply desire? When we start to answer that question, we will have come a long way in finding out what God's will is for us.

  Peace, Fr. John