From Thomas Joseph White’s book, The Trinity: On the Nature and Mystery of the One God, pages 23-24:
“Thomas observes that, on a moral and voluntary level, human beings strive to find happiness and tend naturally to gravitate toward certain goods that they think will procure happiness for them. This raises the natural question of the supreme good, of what is objectively the greatest source of goodness in reality, and of whether there is anything that can really satiate the human desire for happiness. On this point, Aquinas writes in Summa contra Gentiles [SCG] I, c. 11: “Man naturally knows God in the same way as he naturally desires God. Now, man naturally desires God in so far as he naturally desires beatitude [or happiness], which is a certain likeness of the divine goodness. On this basis, it is not necessary that God considered in Himself be naturally known to man, but only a likeness of God.” In other words, human beings may not think or understand that their happiness can be fulfilled perfectly only by the sovereign goodness of God. However, they do inevitably desire happiness and pursue it in all they do. Insofar as they are naturally made for the knowledge and love of God that alone can fully satisfy them, they remain imperfectly oriented toward God just insofar as they seek to be happy. This suggests that where there are human beings, there will be religious striving for the absolute, and, likewise, to eradicate the natural religious desire for God, one would have to eradicate the natural human desire for happiness, which is indeed impossible.”
Reflection questions:
- Have you considered the relationship between your desire for happiness and your desire for God?
- Have you experienced your “happiness can be fulfilled perfectly only by the sovereign goodness of God”?
Prodigal Catholic 