The Fire Up Podcast

In this episode we discuss the deepest longings and desires of the human heart. We all long for happiness and fulfilment, we all ache for the infinite. What does this desire for God really mean and how can we attain it. Join us for episode 4 of the The Fire Up Podcast!

Challenge for the week

Simon - Identify an idol in your life that keeps you from communion with God, and get rid of it.

Maddie - Get in touch with your ache for God - spend some time in prayer or pondering some spiritual reading. Don't run from your desire, press into it. 

Show notes

• St Teresa of Avila's Ecstasy 

Look up :1582337395112&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj2nOaSiuTnAhWj7HMBHdK8BWMQ_AUoAXoECBkQAw&biw=1159&bih=624#imgrc=lkFuk3hMsH0x4M" rel="nofollow">St Teresa of Avila's Ecstasy. This beautiful marble sculpture by Bernini encapsulates a great saint on fire with desire for God! 

This is what she had to say about her mystical ecstasy which Bernini uses for his inspiration:

“Beside me, on the left, appeared an angel in bodily form. … He was not tall but short, and very beautiful; and his face was so aflame that he appeared to be one of the highest rank of angels, who seem to be all on fire. … In his hands I saw a great golden spear, and at the iron tip there appeared to be a point of fire. This he plunged into my heart several times so that it penetrated to my entrails. When he pulled it out I felt that he took them with it, and left me utterly consumed by the great love of God. The pain was so severe that it made me utter several moans. The sweetness caused by this intense pain is so extreme that one cannot possibly wish it to cease, nor is one’s soul content with anything but God. This is not a physical but a spiritual pain, though the body has some share in it—even a considerable share.”

For more on St Teresa of Avila and her mystical experience, watch this video by Christopher West.

Journal Question:

1. Jesus asks the same question to you, that he asked His disciples - ‘What do you seek?’ What would your response be?
   

Quotes to pray with:

“Jesus always gives me what I want because I only want what he wants.” - St Therese of Lisieux

"If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world." - C.S Lewis

"The Fathers of the Church say that prayer, properly understood is nothing other than becoming a longing for God." - Pope Benedict XVI

"You have made us for yourself O Lord and our heart is restless until it rests in you." - St Augustine

Scripture of the Week:

John 1:35-42

Catechism Reference: 

CCC #27

The desire for God is written in the human heart, because man is created by God and for God; and God never ceases to draw man to himself. Only in God will he find the truth and happiness he never stops searching for.