"As the deer longs for the streams of water, so does my soul long for Thee, O God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God: When shall I come and see the face of God?" (Ps. 41)

    God is the sovereign and only good which it is lawful for us to desire, and to the possession of which we should unceasingly aspire.  

    Do not desire a thing which is bad or forbidden, do not desire too eagerly a thing which is even good in itself.   The Israelites in the desert, not satisfied with the heavenly nourishment which God provided for them, sighed inordinately for the flesh-pots of Egypt (Exod. XVI, 3).  Very far from imitating them, we ought to be contented with the portion which God has given us of earthly goods.

    We ought not to attach ourselves to any creature with the inordinate attachment of him who loves a thing as his own.  
Let us not abase ourselves so far as to love anything that is less than God, since we are permitted to say with David: "The Lord is my portion and my inheritance" (Ps. XV, 5); and with the Spouse: "My Beloved is mine, and I am His" (Cant. II, 16).
He who desires anything besides God, and not for God, does not love God as he ought (St. Francis de Sales).

    Let us not fall into idolatry (1 Cor. X, 7).  Let us beware of deceiving ourselves and believing that to be idolaters, we must adore a golden calf or some other visible idol: all irregular love of creatures is a kind of idolatry, and St. Paul declares that avarice is a worship of idols.  We say in ordinary conversation: these people idolize their children, that man idolizes his body, another his mind and his intellect; and these expressions are correct; for what is it to idolize?  It is to render to the creature what is due only to God.  If we offend Him to satisfy a passion, an interest, a friend; we love ourselves, or this friend, with a love of preference which is  due only to  God;  by an  abominable injustice we transfer to the creature the honor, the love which we owe to the Creator.

     0 Lord, who art called "a jealous God" (Exod. XX, 5), I beseech Thee to be jealous of my heart; do not permit in it a division injurious toThy glory, and, since it is Thine, possess it entirely. May it love and serve Thee alone forever.

                                           A Monk of Sept-Fonts
                                                                          (Revised by Rev. Ferreol Girardey)

"Let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice."
                                                                               (Ps.104 [105],3)
    Although man can forget God or reject him, He never ceases to call every man to seek him, so as to find life and happiness. But this search for God demands of man every effort of intellect, a sound will, "an upright heart", as well as the witness of others who teach him to seek God.
    You are great, O Lord, and greatly to be praised: great is your power and your wisdom is without measure. And man, so small a part of your creation, wants to praise you: this man, though clothed with mortality and bearing the evidence of sin and the proof that you withstand the proud. Despite everything, man, though but a small a part of your creation, wants to praise you. You yourself encourage him to delight in your praise, for you have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you."   
                                    (Catechism of the Catholic Church)

We ought,  first of all,  to seek the kingdom of God  (Next page)