Whatever one thinks of the recent phenomenon of Occupy Wall Street it stands as a witness to the ceaseless desire of the human heart for something more. This event has revealed the deep extent of the sickness of our contemporary culture of egoism, be it expressed in the attitude of entitlement and rights without their corresponding responsibilities–something that is publicly on display in the conduct and lives of many of the protesters–or the self centered drive that makes the generation of money one’s sole goal while forsaking responsibility to truth, justice, and the common good as is beginning to be revealed in the less than virtuous practices of the banking industry which does not foster true growth and development but only plays slight of hand games. What appear to be on the surface opposed factions betray the same problem, they expect reality to conform to the false illusions of their mind, taking utopian shortcuts that seem to promise the good life without the sacrifice and struggle which true love entails.

As we approach the end of the liturgical year our eyes are led to contemplate the Day of the Lord. This day, which was inaugurated when our Lord first assumed flesh from the Blessed Virgin Mary becoming man for our salvation over 2000 years ago, will come to its fulfillment and closure when our Lord returns at the end of time, the end of history.

It has been fashionable in the West to speak of the “End of History” as an event that was ushered in with the fall of the Berlin wall and collapse of government enforced Communism. Now we have reached the fulfillment of all hope and the world will slowly and calmly all become a rich, consumerist, comfortable place in which we can all live enlightened lives without pain or suffering. Or so the argument goes. But even if this was the result, which the last 20 some years has refuted, the desire of the human heart would still be left unfulfilled.

The Lord has called us to a movement that will fulfill that seemingly unrequitable thirst of our hearts. He has called us to occupy Jerusalem. Through his prophet Zechariah our Lord invites us to taste the fruits of the Eternal Day ushered in by His Incarnation:

On that day there shall no longer be cold or frost. There shall be one continuous day, known to the Lord, not day and night, for in the evening time there shall be light.

On that day, living waters shall flow from Jerusalem, half to the eastern sea, and half to the western sea, and it shall be so in summer and in winter. The Lord shall become king over the whole earth; on that day the Lord shall be the only one, and his name the only one.

And from Geba to Rimmon in the Negeb, all the land shall turn into a plain; but Jerusalem shall remain exalted in its place. From the Gate of Benjamin to the place of the First Gate, to the Corner Gate; and from the Tower of Hananel to the king’s wine presses, they shall occupy her. Never again shall she be doomed; Jerusalem shall abide in security.

Ever since God assumed flesh for our salvation in Nazareth we have been given the offer of the only thing that will fulfill the desire of our hearts: union with God, Eternal Life.

As Saint Thomas reminds us: [Eternal Life] also consists in the complete satisfaction of desire, for there the blessed will be given more than they wanted or hoped for. The reason is that in this life no one can fulfill his longing, nor can any creature satisfy man’s desire. Only God satisfies, he infinitely exceeds all other pleasures. That is why man can rest in nothing but God. As Augustine says: You have made us for yourself, Lord, and our heart can find no rest until it rests in you.

We must occupy Jerusalem so that our hearts may find rest and peace in the One who made them for Himself. Ever since Adam and Eve’s sin which resulted in the loss of this gift of a share in God’s Eternal Life, we have been longing for restoration, for return, for something more, for His abundant Eternal Life.

This gift is offered to us in and through Christ’s Church, the new Jerusalem, to which the earthly city is only a type. Every time we go to Holy Mass we are invited to occupy Jerusalem, to allow the grace of our Lord his life and his love to again dwell deeply in us, and to be changed forever. Eternal Life begins when we first occupy Jerusalem at Baptism, or rather when Jerusalem first occupies us when the Triune God first dwells in our souls washing them clean from sin and transforming death into a portal to Life.

Let us again turn towards our Lord and his great love for us with expectant hearts, trusting that he will fulfill the restless desire of our souls as we await the full and definitive coming of his Kingdom in the midst of a passing world. Let us invite all others to partake in the fulfillment of all desire, tasting the delightful Eucharistic flesh of our Lord in the midst of his Church, the New Jerusalem.

Occupy Jerusalem, let the movement begin!

Adam Pasternack