Are you hungry?

Two weeks ago I was sitting in the back of the church trying to listen to the readings over my daughters quiet chattering in my ear and my tummy suddenly began to grumble. Before I knew it I was so hungry that all I could think about was what I wanted to eat when I left church. While I tried to stop thinking about how hungry I was, I suddenly thought:

"Imagine if I felt this physically hungry for the word of God. Or for a relationship with God. Or for the Eucharist? What would that be like?"

And while I think we are born with this hunger, this desire for a relationship with God it is not quite as physical as an empty tummy growling and gurgling at us, sometimes causing us to almost feel faint. Like those moments when we grow almost desperate to eat something as we wait for the bread to finish baking, the smell issuing from the oven tantalizing us. Imagine if the smell of incense during the Mass had the same affect on our desire to know God.

What would it be like to have such a physical driving need to know, love and serve God?

The only answer I could think of is that it would be so over powering that we could not do anything other than that and while it is our goal to gain Heaven by knowing, loving and serving God we are not all called to such an intense suffering in this manner to get there. This is left to to the Saints. For the rest os us I guess it is more like the cravings for a chocolate bar that we all find ourselves experiencing from time to time. The trick is to recognize them and answer them with prayer time and perhaps a little time studying the bible, rather than an extra hour before the TV.

Still - I can't help but wonder - just what would it be like? It leaves me in awe thinking about it!