Devil in Desire

Subordinating our will to the will of God to find happiness

12/14/2018

Matthew 11:16-19 Jesus said to the crowds: "To what shall I compare this generation? It is like children who sit in marketplaces and call to one another, 'We played the flute for you, but you did not dance, we sang a dirge but you did not mourn.' For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they said, 'He is possessed by a demon.' The Son of Man came eating and drinking and they said, 'Look, he is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.' But wisdom is vindicated by her works."

Few things in this world make my heart skip a beat more than celebrating the feast of a great Carmelite saint, like today’s feast in honor or St. John of the Cross. You may recall I spent three months living with the Carmelites discerning a religious vocation before coming to Immaculate Conception. But ironically, St. John would warn us about things that make our hearts skip a beat, that is, inordinate desires, or any desire we feel that is not subordinate to God’s will. Surprisingly, even a desire to become a Carmelite could be an inordinate desire, a desire to take a detour from God’s will for us. In other words, for John of the Cross, the decisive part of our lives that must be aligned with God’s will is not only our actions, but also our desires driving those actions: our passions, our wants, our inclinations, what makes us jump out of bed in the morning, what makes our hearts skip a beat.

In his spiritual classic called Ascent of Mount Carmel, the mystical doctor wrote these celebrated lines: “To reach satisfaction in everything, desire satisfaction in nothing. To come to possession of everything, desire the possession of nothing. To arrive at being all, desire to be nothing. To come to the knowledge of everything, desire the knowledge of nothing.” Doesn’t hearing those lines make your heart skip a beat? But notice John in not criticizing satisfaction, possessions, being all, or knowledge but rather the inordinate desire for these things. That is, when these desires have not been subordinated to God’s will they remain inordinate desires. You may have heard the expression, “the devil is in the details.” Well, St. John would paraphrase that to say: “the devil is in the desire.” Only when we desire nothing can we finally feel the freedom to desire what God wants, even the desire to be a Carmelite must first become nothing.

The “nada doctrine” (“nada” means “nothing” in Spanish) can shed some light on today’s perplexing Scripture passage about Jesus and John the Baptist. Jesus declares: “For John came neither eating or drinking, and they said, ‘He is possessed by a demon.’ The Son of Man (Jesus) came eating and drinking and they said, ‘Look, he is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax-collectors and sinners’.” Even though on the surface both John and Jesus’ actions look wildly dissimilar, the deeper common denominator can be found in their desire. For both men, it was neither fasting nor in feasting that was first and foremost but rather their desire to do God’s will. If the devil is in the desire, then there was no room for the devil in the hearts of John or Jesus. In other words, all their inordinate desires had become perfectly subordinate desires purely pursuing the will of God. As St. John of the Cross would say: both Jesus and John desired satisfaction in nothing and thereby they found satisfaction in everything.

My friends, I believe dominating our desires not only helps us to do God’s will, but is the short-cut to human happiness. Dominating our desires not only dismisses the devil, it also opens up new vistas of peace, joy, and above all, love. I am convinced that inordinate desires lurks at the root of all human unhappiness. Why do some marriages fail and end in divorce? Because one spouse or the other could not or would not dominate some unhealthy desire. Why do some priests become alcoholics? Because we do not dominate our desire for another martini – guilty as charged. Why does the race for riches in gambling ruin families and fortunes? Because people do not dominate their desire for wealth. Why is the ambition for power – regardless of whether in church or state – cause people to cut corners and compromise their convictions? Because their desire for power is out of control. Why do people struggle to lose weight and suffer from all kinds of eating disorders? Because their desire for food goes unchecked. But notice again in each of these examples, the devil is not in the divorce, the devil is not in the martini, the devil is not in the casino, the devil is not in the White House or in the Vatican, the devil is not in the hamburger. Rather, the devil is always in the desire for these things. And once you dominate the inordinate desires for these otherwise natural and neutral things, you find peace, joy, and above all, love.

You know, my heart still skips a beat on this great feast of St. John of the Cross. Strange as it sounds, maybe I have become a better Carmelite by not becoming a Carmelite and giving in that desire. Why? Well, because the devil is in the desire.

Praised be Jesus Christ!