And our hearts are restless until they rest in thee. So says St. Augustine in one of the most beautiful lyrics to the Creator. Is it possible that we are "wired" for faith? Made to seek God? Nicholas Kristof asks that question in Sunday's New York Times.
It may be, says Kristof, that faith is an irrepressible part of the human condition. Try as we may to scorn it and keep it down, deeming it useless in modern, commercial society. It keeps popping up. The Chinese even made the world's firmest atheist, Chairman Mao, into a God. Ironic.
However, it all makes sense. It is only fitting that our Creator would create us in a way that would allow us to find home. It is as though there is a homing beacon inside us, providing a faint signal beyond the material to the One Who Is. God seeks out man, but provides in man the ability to seek God. As Aquinas said, the true end of man, what he was made for (his telos), was eternal communion with God. It really is "built" into us. As a great professor of mine once said, "We hit the ground running." And so it is.
Of course, this wouldn't be news if people read their Aquinas.
Comments (1)
Related post here (URL spellout):
http://paragraphfarmer.blogspot.com/2005/02/good-old-saint-ogg.html
Posted by Patrick O'Hannigan | February 17, 2005 7:49 PM
Posted on February 17, 2005 19:49