Needs and Desires

"Our body has this defect that, the more it is provided care and comforts, the more needs and desires it finds." St. Teresa of Avila

Is that truth not self-evident? We all see it at times in our lives. We all recognize that once we sit down to rest, that we want to stay sitting down. We do not want to get up. Then, of course, we seek to justify following that line of thinking, and we do so quite effectively!

To take a cue from St. Teresa, let us each consider what our particular "comforts" are in life. They may be perfectly neutral, or even good and holy things. That is not the question. What we need to do is ask ourselves whether those things are becoming a temptation to us to seek more "comfort" than we truly need. The exercise alone can be a spiritual renewal.

The prayer that each of our hearts should be saying to God regularly is this: "Lord please help me to have the comforts I need, to let go of the comforts that hinder my faith, and the grace to know the difference".