Learning to be Quick to Listen

In his landmark encyclical Fides et Ratio and throughout his " Theology of the Body, " Pope Saint John Paul II frequently addressed the fundamental restlessness of the human heart. He proposed that our feelings of emptiness are not actually "malfunctions," but rather a "divine nostalgia." Because we were created by God and for God, we possess an infinite capacity for love and truth that no finite, earthly thing—be it career success, physical pleasure, or material wealth—can ever truly satisfy. As the Saint often reminded us, we are "the only creature on earth which God willed for itself," and we cannot find ourselves except through a sincere gift of self. When we live only for our own ego, we feel empty because we are starving our soul of its primary purpose: self-sacrificial love. Bridging this spiritual theology with modern social science, Fr. Mike Schmitz and Dr. Arthur Brooks explored the "satisfaction trap" in their recent discussi...