St Ignatius College - Ignatian Yearbook (San Francisco, CA)

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HEART YEARNINGS 11 rest and once again we resume the quest. And so on through our entire span of existence come desire, success, discontent. Those three words, small in themselves, easily understood, form the impassable barrier rendering perfect happiness in this life an impossibility. . . Perfect happiness is unattainable in this life. Does that mean that we are never to taste of the sweets of true beati- tude, or merely that what we are unable to obtain in this life may be possessed in a life to come? Can the heart find satisfaction some place or is it doomed to an eternity of unrest? The answer must necessarily be that we can attain perfect happiness in a life to come for we cannot reconcile the fact that God, having given us this compelling desire, would leave us without the means necessary for its attain- ment. No one believing in the Creator can doubt the existence of a life wherein perfect happiness is to be found. Has God given to us a desire higher than the things of this life only to withhold from us the fulfillment of that desire? My life on this earth has been one of unrest, of sorrow and sadness. In a distant land there awaits us an everlasting existence of joy and gladnessg a life of rest and peace g a dominion of perfect happiness. The soul is made for heaven and for the possession of an uncreated good. God being the only uncreated Good, it follows that in Him alone perfect happiness is found. Even in this life, by a knowledge indescribable, are we made aware of the fact that God is the ultimate end of our desires. To him do we turn in adversity, and thus acknowledge our de- pendence, and his powers of comforting and rendering us happy. Our bodily cravings find satisfaction in the material goods of life, but not so with the soul. It is continually stretching forth in its search after loftier things, and, possessing the capability of love, truth and goodness, seeks to perfect these

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10 IGNATIAN some one seemingly more worthy of recognition may appear to obscure the former's worth. Noble souls have lived and died in obscurity, whether through their own modesty or through the blindness of humanity. Ignoble men have received the plaudits of the mob and their names have become household words, though their lives have been unworthy and their ideals low. Placed upon the pinnacle of fame, man still seeks to attain a wider recog- nition. Contentment is not his. Further quest and the ac- companying fear of failure are strangely inconsistent with that peace of mind which perfect happiness should bring. Far better is it to have peace and contentment in this life than honor, bringing with it too often selfishness and the envy of small minds. Thus can be seen the failure of earthly gifts to bring true happiness. Perfect happiness, as we know, is that condition of the soul in which every good is possessed, every evil ex- cluded, and there is present the conviction that that condition shall be enduring. From a consideration of this definition the faults and shortcomings of riches, honor and pleasure are self-evident. All leave in their wake marks of pain upon the heart. The pleasures of the earth are imperfect, are not conducive to the highest ideals or safeguards from suffering. We labor for many years in the pursuit of wealth, yet in one instant we lose all in the advent of death. Well can we ex- claim as did Solomon of old: Vanity of Vanities, and all is vanity. Life after all is but a turbulent ocean upon which we are tossed as a tiny craft in the teeth of a mighty gale. As long as we are upon the earth there is a continual warfare between our lower and higher natures. The passions, ever rebellious, seek to lead us to ignore the dictates of conscience, make the soul subservient to the body and keep the heart in a constant state of disorder. Endlessly seeking for a greater share of good things we go through life. We gain the object of our desire, but once gained, fascination gives place to un-

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12 IGNATIAN great gifts by an intimate association with their Author and Creator. Through revelation we gain a knowledge of God, but this knowledge only causes us to seek a more perfect understanding, and hence a greater love of the Divine Being. Perfect happiness, we can therefore see, must consist of a union with God in all that would serve to make this union perfect-in knowledge and love. As St. Paul says, In Him it hath well pleased the Father that all fulness should dwell. What joy and happiness awaits those fortunate among men who pass within that abode over whose portals are writ- ten the words No sorrow enter heref' no pen such as mine can describe. The mind will find opened to it the eternal truths of the fountain of knowledge, the heart will be en- gulfed in Divine Love, to the exclusion of all fear or unrest, and then will the possession of these two great gifts so per- meate the soul of man, as to bring with them a life of eternal rest, a haven of perpetual peace, where warring passions cease to trouble, and where heart yearnings are no more. Here shall be beauty and joyance and light, as Dante says so beautifully: O Prime Enlightener! Thou who gavest me strength On the high triumph of thy realm to gaze, Grant virtue now to utter what I kennid. There is in heaven a light, whose goodly shine Makes the Creator visible to all Created, that in seeing Him alone Have peace, and in a circle spreads so far, That the circumference were too loose a zone To girdle in the sun. All is one beam Reflected from the summit of the first That moves, which being hence and vigor takes, And as some cliff, that from the bottom eyes HiS image mirror'd in the crystal Hood, As if to admire his brave appareling