What the Moment Gives and Takes Away
Simone Riva - We experience many different things hour by hour: pain, suffering, hardship, intertwined with joy, wonder, and serenity. But through every situation, the human heart longs for fulfillment, for deep happiness. A great philosopher of the twentieth century, Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (born Edith Stein), who delved deeply into the mystery of the human person, reminds us of this dynamism of a constant search for fulfillment.
“The human being,” she writes, “always longs to have being given again, in order to be able to draw on what the moment gives and at the same time takes away” (Finite Being and Eternal Being: Per una elevazione al senso dell'essere, Rome 1998, 387). We are immersed in limitation, but we also strive to overcome it.
In his general audience on November 5, Pope Leo very effectively framed the challenge we all face on a daily basis: the desire for fulfillment. This very issue sparked a very interesting discussion in one of my classes last week.
At one point, I asked my students point-blank, “What do you think happiness is?” The term kept coming up, but without anyone addressing it directly. Some ventured an answer until one said, “Happiness consists of a peaceful life.” So I pressed, “What does peaceful mean?”
A profound dialogue ensued, leading us to recognize that we need to be attached to something secure, something that does not depend on how things are going, something that allows us true peace. The month of November began with the feast of All Saints, which each year represents the possibility of this happy life, even if it is not at all peaceful.
Reading their stories, we immediately notice that God wanted to greatly accelerate the spiritual lives of these men and women who gave him everything, sparing them nothing. The special gift they received often made itself felt with all its weight, which stemmed from the fact that it could not be managed. Man, in fact, always tends to desperately grab hold of what escapes him.
Rules, procedures, accusations, insinuations, assignments to henchmen... everything needed to delude oneself into managing the unmanageable, often by leveraging the ranks of those who never understood what they had in their hands. The gift of holiness, however—that is, a full and happy life—is so exuberant that it cannot be diminished in any way, often despite the fragility of those who have received it.
Overcoming the limitations in which we are immersed thus becomes the most fascinating work that the Holy Spirit accomplishes in us. Every situation becomes an opportunity for our desire for fullness to exalt the present moment, the only possibility to give ourselves totally to the One who cannot wait to be amazed by the fruit of his gift in us.
Should we perhaps be content with something less, for example, seeking a tranquility that would leave us indifferent to life? The passing of time suggests otherwise, but it needs us.
