Divine Intimacy: Meditations on the Interior Life for Everyday of the Year

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364. THE END OF THE WORLD

LAST SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

PRESENCE OF GOD - My God, in the evening of life You will judge me according to my love. Help me to grow in love each day.


MEDITATION

1. The Mass for today, the last Sunday of the liturgical year, is a prayer of thanksgiving for the year that is ending, and one of propitiation for that which is about to begin; it is a reminder that the present life is fleeting, and an invitation to keep ourselves in readiness for the final step which will usher us into eternity.

In the Epistle (Col 1,9-14), St. Paul prays and gives thanks in the name of all Christians: “We...cease not to pray for you and to beg that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will. ..that you may walk worthy of God, in all things pleasing; being fruitful in every good work.” This is a beautiful synthesis of the task which the interior soul has endeavored to accomplish during the whole year: to adapt and conform itself to God’s holy will, to unite itself to it completely, and, being moved in all things by that divine will alone, to act in such a manner as to please Our Lord in everything. God be praised if, thanks to His help, we have succeeded in advancing some steps along that road which most surely leads to holiness. Making our own the sentiments of the Apostle, we should give thanks to “the Father who hath made us worthy to be partakers of the lot of the saints in light.” The lot, the inheritance of the saints, of those who tend toward holiness, is union of love with God—here below in faith, hereafter in glory. This heritage is ours because Jesus has merited it for us by His Blood, and because in Jesus “we have redemption, the remission of sins”; thus, cleansed from sin and clothed in grace by His infinite merits, we also can ascend to that very lofty and blessed state of union with God.

If, with God’s help, we have succeeded in making some progress, there still remains more and greater work to be done. The Church, therefore, has us ask in the Collect: “Stir up, we beseech Thee, O Lord, the wills of Thy faithful people, that by more earnestly seeking the fruit of good works, they may receive more abundantly the gifts of Thy loving kindness.” So it is: the more we correspond to grace, the greater the graces Our Lord will grant us; the more we press on toward Him, the more He will draw us to Himself, so that the result of this continuous interplay of the divine assistance and our correspondence will be the sanctification of each one of us.


2. With the description of the end of the world and the coming of Christ to judge the living and the dead, the Gospel (Mt 24,15-35) reminds us that just as the liturgical year passes and comes to an end, so does the life of man on earth. Everything will have an end, and, at the end of all, will come the majestic epilogue : “ Then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven [the Cross]: and then shall all tribes of the earth mourn; and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with much power and majesty.” Jesus who once came upon earth in poverty, hiddenness and pain, to teach us the way to heaven and to redeem our souls, has every right to return glorious at the end of time, to gather the fruit of His labor and His Blood. He will be our judge, and will judge us, as He Himself has said, according to our love: “Come, ye blessed of My Father, possess the kingdom prepared for you.... For I was hungry and you gave Me to eat...thirsty and you gave Me to drink.... As long as you did it to one of these My least brethren, you did it to Me” (Mt 25,34.35.40). His sweet precept of love, love of God and of neighbor, will be the law by which we shall be examined. Blessed shall we be if we have loved, and loved much! “Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much” (Lk 7,47), Jesus said, referring to the sinful woman. The greater and deeper our love, the more effectively will it efface all the sins, miseries, and faults into which, despite our good will, we fall daily.

“For this reason it is a great thing,” says St. John of the Cross, “for the soul to exercise itself constantly in love, so that, being perfected here below, it may not stay long, either in this world or in the next, without seeing God face to face” (LF, 1,34). The Saint is alluding to a soul inflamed with divine love and longing anxiously for heaven in order to see its God face to face and be able to love Him more. Only an intense exercise of love, however, can of itself lead to union with God, both here on earth and in a blessed eternity. Happy the soul who, at the end of life, after having exercised itself much in love, can be immediately admitted to the beatifying union of heaven. Then it will have nothing to fear from the judgment of Jesus, for this judgment will be its eternal joy and happiness.


COLLOQUY

“Deign, O Lord, to grant me the experience of true love before You take me from this life, for it will be a great thing at the hour of my death to realize that I shall be judged by One whom I have loved above all things. I shall be able to meet You with security, certain that I shall not be going into a foreign land, but into my own country, for it belongs to the One whom I have loved so truly and who has loved me in return.

“How sweet will be the death of that soul who has done penance for all its sins and does not have to go to purgatory! It may be that it will begin to enjoy glory even in this world, and will know no fear, but only peace!” (T.J. Way, 40).

“To You, O Lord our God, we must always cling, that with Your continual help we may live in all holiness, godliness and uprightness. The weight of our weakness drags us down: but by Your grace, may we be enkindled and raised on high, may we be inflamed so as to climb from the depths, arranging in our hearts to ascend by steps. Let us, then, sing the song of ‘ ascents,’ burning with Your holy fire and journeying on toward You.

“Where are we going? On high, to the peace of the heavenly Jerusalem, as it is written: ‘I rejoiced at the things that were said to me: we shall go into the house of the Lord.’ There, good will shall be so ordered in us that we shall have no other desire than to remain there eternally. So long as we live in this mortal body we are journeying toward You, O Lord; here below we have no lasting dwelling place, but seek one which is to come, since our home is in heaven. Therefore, with the help of Your grace, I enter into the secrecy of my heart, and lift up songs of love to You, to You, my King and my God!” (St. Augustine).

365. THE “ YES” OF PERFECT CONSENT

PRESENCE OF GOD - Lord, grant that I may give You the free and full consent of my will.


MEDITATION

1. St. John of the Cross very aptly says that the characteristic of union of wills is the yes of the soul’s “free consent” (LF 3,24) by which it gives itself entirely to God, surrendering itself completely to Him by the full and total gift of its will. In other words, the soul is henceforth so determined not to will anything but God and His good pleasure, that in every circumstance it only repeats its yes, by accepting with love all that He wills and does for it. This yes is effective, and not simply a desire; it is a yes by which the soul truly gives itself with all the generosity of which it is capable.

From the beginning of the spiritual life, the fervent soul should desire to give itself to God without reserve, always saying yes to Him. But in practice, being still hampered by the bonds of passions and attachment to creatures, it often happens that the soul’s gift is not a complete one. Frequently, in the concrete instances of life, when faced with the bitterness of renunciation and interior conflict, its ideal yes is changed into a virtual no. In the state of union, however, this is no longer true. Here the soul is so surrendered to the holy will of God that it does not take back anything of its gift; its yes is so definitive and efficacious that it offers and unites the soul to God as a bride to her Bridegroom; that is why the mystics call this state “spiritual espousals.”

It is important to realize, that, on the part of the soul, the intensity of its union with God depends on the perfection of its yes; it should be a consent that is perfect in breadth and in depth: in breadth, because it should extend not only to what God commands, but even to all that He desires, to all that would give Him greater pleasure. Love must keep the soul so vigilant and attentive that it can discern in various circumstances what pleases God most, and this same love should make the soul generous enough to accomplish all without the least hesitation. The yes must be equally perfect in depth, because the soul should adhere to the divine good pleasure, not with negligence, niggardliness, nor even with the slightest bad grace, but with all the ardor of its will, happy to be able to give itself to God, whatever sacrifice this might entail.


2. The soul must apply itself to saying its yes perfectly, especially in the sense that Jesus has indicated to us in His great commandment of charity, which is the foundation, not only of the whole law, but of all sanctity. St. Teresa of Avila says expressly: “Here the Lord asks only two things of us: love for His Majesty and love for our neighbor. It is for these two virtues that we must strive, and if we attain them perfectly, we are doing His will, and so shall be united with Him” (Int C V, 3). But the attention of the Saint is immediately turned to charity toward our neighbor, because she sees in it the surest sign of the love of God, and also because she knows that this is a very vulnerable point. It is not uncommon that, after having said yes to Our Lord in the face of sacrifice, renunciation, or works of greater importance, some no is permitted to escape in connection with fraternal charity. Speaking of certain faults which insinuate themselves very secretly into the soul, and hinder it from attaining union, St. Teresa singles out, besides self-love and self-esteem, “criticism of our neighbors (even if only in small things), lack of charity toward them, and failure to love them as we love ourselves” (ibid.). As long as we find in ourselves failings of this kind, however slight, it is a sign that our gift to God is not complete, that our yes is not perfect. God wants us to love our neighbor, whoever he may be, and to love him perfectly: “This is My commandment,” Jesus said, “that you love one another, as I have loved you” (Jn 15,12). How can we be united to the will of God, if we do not fulfill this commandment with great diligence?

“I tell you, ” warns St. Teresa, “ that doing what I have said [that is, practicing fraternal charity with perfection], you will not fail to obtain this union, but, if you find that you are lacking in this virtue [of fraternal charity], you should be persuaded that you will never reach it, although you may have devotion and consolation so that you think that you have attained it.” And she concludes with this beautiful assertion : “So dearly does His Majesty love us that He will reward our love for our neighbor by increasing the love we bear to Himself, and that in a thousand ways: this I cannot doubt” (Int C V, 3).


COLLOQUY

“O infinite God, I wish to offer and consecrate myself unceasingly to You on the altar of my heart. First of all, I offer You my soul, Your spouse, ransomed with Your precious Blood. I offer it as a place of repose for Your Majesty, that it may be transformed in You, no longer living of itself, but only with Your life.

“O divine Wisdom, I offer You my intellect avid for knowledge, that You may quench its thirst by enabling it to comprehend Your grandeurs! Enlighten my darkness, and let me taste You in that very sweet knowledge which inflames my heart with love.

“Next, O most beautiful Spouse of my soul, I offer You my will which seeks You above all else, to love You with an eternal ardor, and be united to You forever. Deign, O Lord, that my will may detach itself from all creatures and, soaring aloft, elevate itself to You; then, in the slumber of pure love, let it repose in the cavern of Your Heart. O delightful cavern, when shall I hide within You, and hear the pulsations of that Heart which gives me life and salvation?

“But why, O my God, do I offer You my soul with its faculties, when I am already all Yours by creation and, even more, by Redemption? Is there some advantage for You, O most lovable Life, in this gift and offering which I would make to Your majesty and greatness? No, certainly it is not for Your interest, but for mine, O immortal Life, that I offer and give myself to You, since I know with certainty that my happiness consists in uniting myself to You” (Ven. John of Jesus Mary).

366. THE RECIPROCAL GIFT

PRESENCE OF GOD - May I be all Yours, Lord, and You all mine.


MEDITATION

1. “God does not give Himself wholly to us until He sees that we are giving ourselves wholly to Him” (T.J. Way, 28). God respects man’s liberty so much that, although desiring to have him share in His divine Life, He actually communicates Himself only in the measure of our consent; when this consent is total, He does not hesitate to give Himself wholly. God responds to the perfect yes of the soul with the “true and entire yes of His grace” (cf. J.C. LF, 3,24). To the perfect gift of the will on the part of the soul corresponds the full communication of grace on the part of God; grace is granted in all its perfection, accompanied by the wealth of the infused virtues and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Grace and love necessarily go together, and as perfect adherence to the will of God is the sign of perfect love, it follows that God gives the superabundance of grace to the soul which is completely conformed to His divine will.

St. John of the Cross explains this lofty state yet more fully: “When the will of God and the will of the soul are as one in a free consent of their own, then the soul has attained to the possession of God through grace of will, insofar as can be, by means of will and grace; and this signifies that God has corresponded to the yes of the soul with the true and entire yes of His grace” (ibid.). The soul has given itself entirely to God, and now it receives its reward : God gives Himself to it. The soul, says the Saint, possesses God “through grace of will,” that is, by reason of the perfect communication of grace, which is God’s response to the total gift of the will. By this perfect communication, God gives Himself to the soul, allowing it to participate more and more in His supernatural Being and divine Life, and dwelling in it in a manner ever more intimate and profound.

This is the triumph of grace in the soul. That grace, which was communicated to it in germ at Baptism, and which has increased little by little in the course of the various stages of the spiritual life, reaches maturity when the soul has surrendered itself completely into the hands of God, giving Him its whole will. Not in vain has the soul died to itself; it has died in order to live in God and for God, to live by His life, by His love, by His will. “You are dead,” says St. Paul, “and your life is hid with Christ in God” (Col 3,3.).


2. With the authority of a Doctor of the Church, St. John of the Cross declares: “When in this way the soul voids itself of all things and achieves emptiness and surrender of them (which, as we have said, is the part that the soul can play), it is impossible, if the soul does as much as in it lies, that God should fail to perform His part by communicating Himself to the soul, at least secretly and in silence. It is more
impossible than that the sun should fail to shine in a serene and unclouded sky; for as the sun, when it rises in the morning, will enter your house if you open the shutter, even so will God...enter the soul that is empty and fill it with divine blessings ” (LF 3,46).

How long has Our Lord, the divine Sun, let the luminous ray of His grace shine upon your soul; how long has He knocked at your door: “ Behold, I stand at the gate and knock ” (Ap 3,20). Each confession, each Holy Communion, each Mass, each occasion for the exercise of virtue, each inspiration, each command or request of obedience: are not these God, knocking repeatedly at the door of your heart? And what are you doing? Why do you still keep Him waiting? Wake from your torpor, open your soul! “Lift up your gates. ..and be ye lifted up, O eternal gates, and the King of glory shall enter in!” (Ps 23,7). Do not be satisfied with opening the door half-way, or even three-quarters; open it completely. It is necessary to lift up the gates, to remove every obstacle : your God must enter in.

If you find it costly to deny your will in everything, consider how great a good it is to be guided in all things by the will of God. If you find it a burden to renounce self-love and earthly affections, think how joyous it is to possess the love of God. If you are reluctant to die to self, ponder how glorious it is to live to God. St. Teresa of Jesus cried out in a burst of enthusiasm: “What nothingness is all that we have given up, and all that we are doing, or can ever do, for a God who is pleased to communicate Himself in this way to a worm! If we have the hope of enjoying this blessing while we are still in this life, what are we doing about it, and why are we waiting? What sufficient reason is there for delaying even a short time instead of seeking this Lord, as the Bride did, through streets and squares?” (Int C VI, 4).

Our Lord wills to communicate Himself to your soul, to give Himself entirely; He wills to come and live with you: “If any man shall hear My voice and open to Me the door, I will come into him and will sup with him and he with Me” (Ap 3,20). Oh! may you not lose this immense gift through your own fault, your own negligence!


COLLOQUY

“O Lord of heaven and earth! Is it possible, while we are still in this mortal life, for us to enjoy You with such special friendship?... Oh! the joys which You bestow on souls who give themselves entirely to You! What endearments, what sweet words are these, one word of which would suffice to unite us to You. May You be blessed, O Lord, for so far as You are concerned we shall lose nothing. By how many paths, in how many manners, through how many means do You reveal Your love to us! By trials, by bitter death, by tortures, by affronts suffered daily, by Your forgiveness. And not by these alone, but by words that pierce the soul that loves You.

“So, my Lord, I ask You for nothing else in this life but that You should ‘ kiss me with the kiss of Your mouth’; and let this be in such a way, Lord of my life, that, even if I should desire to withdraw from this friendship and union, my will may be so completely subject to Yours that I shall be unable to leave You. May nothing ever hinder me, O my God and my glory, from being able to say: ‘Better and more delectable than any other good is Your friendship and Your love."

“For the love of the Lord, my soul, wake out of this sleep and remember that God does not keep you waiting until the next life before rewarding you for your love of Him. Your recompense begins in this life.

“O my Lord, my Mercy and my Good! What more do I want in this life than to be so near You that there is no division between You and me? And since Your love allows it, I will repeat without ceasing: ‘My Beloved to me and I to my Beloved’ ” (cf. T.J. Con, 3 - 4).

367. PERFECT UNION

PRESENCE OF GOD - I implore You, my God, to let nothing trouble my union with You.


MEDITATION

1. The yes of perfect consent has surrendered the whole human will to God, placing it completely under the vivifying influence of the divine will. Yet there are still found in the sensitive part of the soul disturbances which tend to withdraw it from the governance of God’s will: this sensitive part is subjected to the spirit only with difficulty, in consequence of the disorder produced by original sin. Even while the soul is by its will entirely conformed and united to the divine will, the sensitive part is always pulling in its own direction, carrying the affections along with it, sometimes stirring up repugnances and difficulties which can render continual adherence to God’s will painful and trouble the peace of the soul. Sensitiveness can still subject the soul to impressions and emotions which are a little too lively and expose it, when it does not succeed in wholly dominating them, to commit faults through inadvertence or frailty. Nor is the devil excluded from making use of the movements of the sensitive part to assail the soul, to hinder its progress, or, quite simply, to make it turn back, which, unfortunately, is always possible as long as we are in this life. The soul suffers from these trials, and ardently sighs to be freed from them, for it sees how they can disturb its union with God, and it desires this union to be more intense and perfect than ever.

Only God can re-establish in man the harmony destroyed by original sin, and He does not refuse this sublime grace to a soul which is truly faithful to Him. He grants it by means of a more intimate and complete union with Himself, wholly dominating the soul by His powerful influence, as if taking it into His possession. ‘This is total union, called by the mystics “spiritual marriage,” the highest degree of union with God possible in this life. Oh! with what fervor the loving soul longs for this sublime state in which it can give itself entirely to God, and can be wholly possessed and directed by Him, without being troubled by the turbulence of sensibility.


2. “Spiritual marriage,” writes St. John of the Cross, “is a total transformation in the Beloved, wherein on either side there is made surrender by total possession of the one to the other with a certain consummation of union of love” (SC, 22,3). It is a total transformation in God; that is, the transformation which at first—in the spiritual espousals—was realized only in the will, is now extended to the other faculties as a result of that mutual, perfect giving of God to the soul and of the soul to God. God gives Himself to the soul as if He were its possession; He establishes Himself in it as the active principle, not only of its will, but of its whole being, directing its entire life, and inspiring it in all that it does. This is the result of an ever more intense influence of the gifts of the Holy Spirit that pervades all the faculties of the soul, entering even into its sensitive part, which remains henceforth completely subject to the spirit. The soul possesses its God as One who vivifies, moves and governs it; it possesses Him as its principle of life, as its support, its strength, its all; it exclaims spontaneously with St. Paul: “I live, now not I; but Christ liveth in me” (Gal 2,20). It feels that its life is much more the life of God than its own life; in fact, since God has given Himself wholly to the soul, it is precisely in virtue of the singular plenitude of the divine gift that the soul has given itself wholly to Him. It is no longer only the perfect gift of the will; it is the gift of the entire being, magnificently harmonized by the full actuation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. This gift, this total surrender of the soul to the Beloved, effects, as it were, the transfer of the life of the soul into God, so that it lives more in Him than in itself, “more in Him whom it loves than in the body which it animates” (cf. J.C. SC, 8,3). Like the mystical spouse of the Canticle, the soul which has arrived at this state can repeat in all truth: “My Beloved to me, and I to Him” (2,16). The union of the soul with God is henceforth so perfect, so full, that only the beatific union of heaven can surpass it. Total union is heaven anticipated, heaven offered to generous souls who spare neither pain nor sacrifice in order to give themselves wholly to God.


COLLOQUY

“Great is this favor, my Spouse, and this delectable feast, this precious wine that You give me, one drop of which makes me forget all created things, and withdraw from creatures and from myself, and no longer desire the satisfactions and joys which until now my senses have longed for. Great is all this and unmerited by me.

“Let worldlings come with all their possessions, their riches, their delights, their honors, and their feasts: even if all these could be enjoyed without the trials that they bring in their train, which is impossible, they could not in a thousand years cause the happiness enjoyed in a single moment by a soul whom You have elevated to this state.

“No, I do not see how it is possible to compare the base things of the world with these delights so sweet that no one could merit them, with this union so complete with You, my God, with this love so ineffably shown and so blissfully experienced ” (T.J. Con, 4).

“O Lord my God, who is there that seeks Thee in pure and true love who does not find Thee to be the joy of his will? It is Thou who art the first to show Thyself, going forth to meet those who desire Thee.

“O my God, how sweet to me Thy presence, who art the sovereign Good. I will draw near to Thee in silence...I will rejoice in nothing till I am in Thine arms. O Lord, I beseech Thee, leave me not for a moment because I know not the value of my soul” (J.C. SM J).

368. THE TRIUMPH OF LOVE

PRESENCE OF GOD - Grant that there may be only love in me, my God; that all may proceed from love, and all revert to love.


MEDITATION

1. The life of the soul which has reached total union may be defined as one simple, continual, most intense exercise of love, by means of which it gives itself to God unceasingly. All its faculties, not only purified, but pefectly harmonized, are wholly employed in the divine service: “Its understanding [the soul] employs in the understanding of those things that pertain most nearly to His service in order to do them; its will, in loving all that pleases God and in having affection of the will for God in all things; and its memory and care in that which pertains to His service and will be most pleasing to Him ” (J.C. SC, 28,3). Furthermore, even the sensual part, the body with all its senses, takes part in this magnificent concert of love, so that the soul can truly say that all its “possessions,” that is, all its spiritual and sensitive powers, are completely employed in the service of holy love. “For the body now works according to God; the inward and outward senses are directed toward Him in all their operations and all the four passions of the soul [that is, joy, hope, fear, and sorrow], it likewise keeps bound to God, because it neither has enjoyment save from God, nor has hope save in God, nor fears any save only God, neither does it grieve save according to God; and likewise all its desires and cares are wholly directed to God alone” (ibid., 4).

The loving flame of divine Wisdom has taken possession of this soul to such an extent, has so purified it and made it love God alone, that its whole being and all its faculties vibrate solely for Him, being engaged in nothing except in His service and in giving Him pleasure. It has no craving but for Him, no other desire than to give itself and unite itself to Him in perfect love; hence even the very first movements of this soul are movements of love : “ The understanding, the will, and the memory go straightway to God; and the affections, the senses, the desires and appetites, hope, joy, and all the rest of the soul’s possessions are inclined to God from the first moment” (ibid., 5). Love has become the atmosphere in which the soul moves; it has become its breath, its life. The difficult sacrifices, the bitter struggles and renunciations of the past, when its exercise of love consisted “in stripping itself for God’s sake of all that was not God” (J.C. AS II, 5,7), seem to it as nothing now, compared with the great good it has obtained; thus it repeats enraptured: “everything is little when it is a question of acquiring pure and true love of God ” (T.M. Sp).


2. The love of a soul completely surrendered to God is truly pure love, because it has been purged of the least affection for creatures and of all return on self; it is pure love because it goes straight and swiftly to God through all the circumstances of life, without stopping at anything created. The soul makes use of every happening, all its duties, all its actions to love God, which simply means that it gives itself to Him by serving Him in the way most pleasing to Him. It no longer needs to apply itself, as formerly, to the practice of this or that virtue, since it has acquired all of them in a perfect manner, and “whether its commerce be with temporal things or whether its exercise be concerning spiritual things, a soul in this case can ever say that its exercise is now in loving alone” (J.C. SC, 28,9). The soul no longer has need of the spur and stimulus of an exterior law to guide it, because its law is now the great love it bears within itself, which impels it in all things to seek and to will the divine good pleasure. “Love and do what you will,” said St. Augustine; “For the just man there is no law,” wrote St. John of the Cross at the summit of the Mount of Perfection. Far from implying that love dispenses from the observance of the law, from duties and obedience, these words signify rather, that love, when it is truly perfect, replaces and completes all law, having in itself the power to draw the soul to the highest perfection.

Of this perfect and most pure love, which concentrates upon God all the powers of the soul without anything being able to draw them away; of this love which wounds the heart of God directly, passing beyond all that is of earth, St. John of the Cross writes: “A very little of this pure love is more precious, in the sight of God and the soul, and of greater profit to the Church...than are all these [other] works together ” (SC, 29,2). There cannot be, in fact, an activity more intense and more sublime than that which concentrates and employs in God all the energies and capacities of the creature. It is the eternal activity of the angels and saints in heaven; it is the activity which, even here below, souls who have attained to perfect union with God can enter upon in emulation of the Blessed. “Happy life and happy estate and happy the soul that arrives thereat, where all is now substance of love to it, and joy and delight of betrothal" (ibid, 28,10).


COLLOQUY

“Even as a maiden that is betrothed sets not her love upon another than her spouse, nor directs her thoughts or her actions to any other, grant, O Lord, that my soul may no longer have any affections of the will or acts of knowledge of the understanding, nor any thought or action which is not wholly turned to Thee. Grant that I may know naught save how to love Thee, O my divine Spouse, and seeing that Thou prizest nothing and art pleased with nothing besides love, help me to employ everything purely for love of Thee and to serve Thee perfectly.

“Permit not that I should seek my own gain nor pursue my own tastes nor busy myself in other things and in intercourse that has naught to do with Thee. May I have no other style or manner of intercourse save the exercise of love. May all in me be moved by and in love. In laboring, I wish to do all with love; in suffering I wish to endure all for love.

“Grant that I may repeat to Thee with the Spouse of the Canticle: ‘All the fruits, the new and the old, my Beloved, I have kept for Thee, ’ which is as if she said: My Beloved, I desire for Thy sake to have all that is hard and wearisome, and all that is sweet and delectable I desire for Thee” (J.C. SC, 27,7.8 — 28,2-10).

“O Jesus, I do not ask for riches or glory, not even for the glory of heaven.... I ask only for love. One thought is mine, henceforth, dear Jesus, it is to love Thee!... I love Thee, I love my Mother the Church, and I bear in mind that ‘the least act of pure love is of more value to her than all other works together.’ But does this pure love really exist in my heart?..

“O Jesus, grant that love may surround and penetrate me; that at each moment Thy merciful love may renew and purify me, cleansing my soul from all trace of sin” (T.C.J. St, 13 - 8).

369. TRANSFORMING LOVE

PRESENCE OF GOD - My God, may Your love inundate and penetrate my soul until I am completely transformed in You.


MEDITATION

1. As the flame of a candle, united to the flame of an immense fire, becomes one with it, burning and shining with a single brightness, so that it is impossible to distinguish it from the great fire in which it is immersed, similarly the soul united to God by love loses itself in Him, remaining so enveloped and transformed in Him as to appear to be God Himself, and to be made “divine and become God by participation, insofar as may be in this life” (J.C. SC, 22,3). God is always God, essentially distinct from the soul. Love, however,
has so united and, as it were, merged the creature with the Creator, that “there are two natures in one spirit and love” (ibid.). By the perfection of charity and of grace the Holy Spirit dwells with singular plenitude in such a soul, and in this divine Spirit—the Spirit and bond of Love—the soul lives completely united to the Blessed Trinity. Here is realized in the most perfect manner the burning desire and ardent prayer of Jesus: “As Thou, Father, in Me and I in Thee; that they also may be one in Us” (Jn 17,21).

United to God in this way, the soul remains transformed in Him by love, or rather, it is love which, uniting it completely to God, makes the soul so similar as to transform it wholly in Him. This transformation extends to all its powers: “The human understanding. . . becomes divine, through union with the divine,” and wholly enlightened with supernatural light; “ the will is informed with divine love so that it is a will that is now no less than divine, nor does it love otherwise than divinely.... So, too, is it with the memory; and likewise the affections and desires are all changed and converted divinely, according to God” (J.C. DN IJ, 13,11).

Further, the soul remains divinized not only in its being and its faculties, but also in its actions, for “it is God Himself who moves the faculties and commands them divinely, according to His divine Spirit and will; and the result of this is that the operations of the soul are divine” (J.C. AS III, 2,8). The plenitude of supernatural life communicated to the soul in the state of spiritual marriage realizes in it, in the highest degree, the prerogative of grace, which is precisely that of making man a “partaker of the divine nature” (2 Pt 1,4). We see here the marvelous continuity which exists between the development of grace in our soul and these elevated states which are its ultimate consequence and its refulgent crown. Why do we tarry amid the paltry things of earth, when God has created us for these divine grandeurs?


2. St. John of the Cross says:  The lover cannot be satisfied if he feels not that he loves as much as he is loved” (SC*, 37,2). One who truly loves cannot endure being outdone in love, and the more he feels himself loved, the more he desires to love in return. But how can a creature, so weak and limited, equal God in love, that is, love Him as much as it is loved by Him? This holy and audacious ambition is realized precisely in the state of total transformation. As the will is completely transformed in that of God, “there is equality of love,” affirms the Saint, “for the will of the soul that is converted into the will of God...becomes the will of God. And thus the soul loves God with the will of God, which is also its own will; and thus it will love Him even as much as it is loved by God, since it loves Him with the will of God Himself, in the same love wherewith He loves it, which is the Holy Spirit” (ibid.). The Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity, terminus and subsistent bond of uncreated Love, who unites indissolubly the Father and the Son, has been given to us, so that, enkindling in our souls the fire of divine love, He may make us capable of loving God, not alone with our poor and very limited powers, but conjointly with Him, infinite Power and Love. The flame of charity was enkindled in our soul by the divine Paraclete on the day of our Baptism; it has grown since then, in proportion to our correspondence with grace. In the soul that has reached full transformation in God and has become one spirit with Him, this flame of charity is totally absorbed and loses itself in the infinite flame of the Holy Spirit. Then it truly loves God as it is loved by Him, because it loves Him together with the Holy Spirit.

The capacity of the soul becomes in a certain sense and by participation, quasi infinite, and only in this way is its love assuaged because it can love God in return with parity of love. The Mystical Doctor again explains: “And thus the soul loves God in the Holy Spirit together with the Holy Spirit. ..by reason of the transformation. ..and He supplies that which it lacks by its having been transformed in love with Him” (ibid.).

What joy and consolation for the soul, who suffers because of the extreme poverty of its love, compared with the infinite love of God and His infinite lovableness, to know that the Holy Spirit can and will supply for its insufficiency, provided that it let itself be completely seized and absorbed in the immense flame of His love.


COLLOQUY

“O my soul, created for these grandeurs and called thereto! What are you doing? Wherein do you occupy yourself? Your desires are base and your possessions misery. O wretched blindness of your eyes, which obscures so great a light! And why are you deaf to so clear a voice, seeing not that for as long as you seek grandeurs and glories you remain miserable and mean, and have become ignorant and unworthy of so many blessings? ” (cf. J.C. SC, 39,7).

“O Holy Spirit, You serve as intermediary between the soul and God, moving it with such ardent desires that it becomes enkindled by that sovereign Fire, who is so near it.

“O Lord, what mercies are these that You bestow upon the soul! May You be blessed and praised forever, You who are so good a Lover! O my God and my Creator! Is it possible that there is any soul who does not love You?
Unhappy that I am since for so long a time I myself loved You not!

“O my Lord, how good You are! May You be blessed forever! Let all things praise You, my God; You have so loved us that we can truly say that You have communication with souls even in this exile. O infinite Bounty, how magnificent are Your works!

“One whose understanding is not occupied with things of earth is amazed at being unable to understand such truths. Do You, then, grant these sovereign favors to souls who have so greatly offended You? Truly, my own understanding is overwhelmed by this, and when I begin to think about it I can go no farther. Where, indeed, would I go that would not be turning back? As for giving You thanks for these favors, there is no way of doing it...” (T.J. Con, 5 - Life, 18).

370. DIVINE INTIMACY

PRESENCE OF GOD - Grant, O Lord, that I may have perfect and lasting intimacy with You, that I may ever love You more and more.


MEDITATION

1. A soul enters upon the way of divine intimacy the moment that it resolutely determines to go forth from itself and from all created things, in order to set out with fervor in quest of God, living and present within it. The road between this first step and profound intimacy, which will bind to God the soul that has reached complete union, is long and difficult. Progressively, the soul begins to walk toward that “sweet and delectable union” (J.C. DN I, 16,14) in the measure that, sustained by grace, it becomes detached from
itself and creatures, delivered from its imperfections, despoiled of its own will so as to be clothed with the divine will alone, and permits the fire of love to be enkindled within it. Intimacy with God becomes more intense and loving, until, attaining the heights of transforming love, it becomes continual and perfect, a divine embrace which binds the creature to the Creator. Then the great promise of Jesus: “If anyone love
Me...My Father will love him : and We will come to him and will make Our abode with him” (Jn 14,23), is realized as perfectly as is possible here below. St. John of the Cross affirms: “It must not be held incredible that in a faithful soul which has already been tried and proved and purged in the fire of tribulations and trials, and found faithful in love, there should be fulfilled that which was promised by the Son of God : namely, that, if any man loved Him, the Blessed Trinity would come to dwell within him and would abide in him. And this comes to pass when the understanding is divinely illumined in the Wisdom of the Son, and the will is made glad in the Holy Spirit, and the Father, with His power and strength, absorbs the soul in the embrace and abyss of His sweetness” (LF, 1,15).

In the most sublime moments of transforming union, the soul is rendered conscious of God living, present, and working in it; it is conscious of His sweet paternal embrace which sustains it, of the splendor of His Wisdom which enlightens it, of the divine enkindling of His Love which penetrates it through and through. Even when the realization of the divine presence and action is less strong, and does not make the soul so blissful, it is still conscious of being profoundly united to God, of being moved and governed by Him. St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus attests : “I know that Jesus is within me, always guiding and inspiring me” (St, 8). The humble Saint, although not having experienced the extraordinary mystical graces, attained no less than her glorious Mother, St. Teresa of Jesus, to the profound intimacy with God which the soul enjoys in the state of perfect union.

2. Divine intimacy, especially in its highest degrees, is in itself a very joyous and blessed state; yet the enamored soul does not desire this intimacy in order to enjoy it, but to love God more, to be totally united to Him, entirely possessed, moved, and governed by Him, that it may serve Him better and give Him glory in all its actions. St. Teresa of Avila says expressly that the end for which Our Lord communicates Himself to souls and gives them so many graces—even the highest mystical favors—is not merely to “give them pleasure,” or to console them, but “to strengthen their weakness that they may be able to imitate Him in His great sufferings,” and she adds, with her usual enthusiasm: “This is the aim of prayer, this is the purpose of the spiritual marriage, to give birth to good works and good works alone” (Int C VII).

The end of the sweetness and the joy of intimacy with God is to make the soul more courageous in the divine service, more generous in the gift of self, stronger in bearing the cross. As long as we are on earth, suffering will never be wanting, and it will be found even amid the delights of divine union, for we must be conformed to Jesus Crucified; we must follow Him on the way to Calvary, that we may be completely immolated with Him for the glory of the Father and the salvation of our brethren. The works which union with God
should produce are precisely works of love; it is through the intense activity of pure love that the soul gives itself unceasingly to God, eager to draw with it an immense multitude of other souls. Therefore, the most fruitful apostolate springs spontaneously from divine intimacy, from perfect union with Our Lord, from pure love. “Their conception of glory” (that of souls who have arrived at spiritual marriage), says the ardent Teresa of Jesus, “is that of being able in some way to help the Crucified, especially when they see how often people offend Him, and how few there are who really care about His honor and are detached from everything else” (ibid., 3).

The loving soul, truly forgetful of itself, thinks neither of enjoying nor of suffering, but only of loving and serving God, of contributing as much as it can to His glory by associating itself to the redemptive work of Jesus. And if it aspires to an ever more perfect and intimate union with God, as well today, on earth, as tomorrow in heaven, it is in order to love with the greatest intensity, and make Love loved by the greatest possible number of souls.


COLLOQUY

“O Lord God, my Love, if Thou art still mindful of my sins, and wilt not grant my petitions, Thy will be done, for that is my chief desire. Show Thou Thy goodness and mercy, and Thou shalt be known by them. If it be that Thou art waiting for me to do good works, that in them Thou mayest grant my petition, do Thou give them and work them in me; send also the penalties which Thou wilt accept, and do Thou inflict them. But if Thou art not waiting for my good works, what art Thou waiting for, O most merciful Lord? Why tarriest Thou? For if, at last, it must be grace and mercy, and I pray for it in Thy Son, do Thou accept my worthless offering, according to Thy will, and give me this good also according to Thy will.

“Who can free himself from base and mean ways, if Thou, O my God, will not lift him up to Thee in pure love?

“How shall a man raise himself up to Thee, for he is born and bred in misery, if Thou wilt not lift him up with the hand that made him?

“Thou wilt not take away from me, O my God, what Thou hast once given me in Thy only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, in whom Thou dost give me all I desire. I will therefore rejoice; Thou wilt not tarry if I wait for Thee. Wait in hope, then, O my soul, for from henceforth thou mayest love God in thy heart.

“Mine are the heavens and mine is the earth; mine are the people, the righteous are mine, and mine are the sinners; the angels are mine, and the Mother of God, and all things are mine; God Himself is mine and for me, because Christ is mine, and all for me. What dost thou, then, ask for, what dost thou seek, O my soul? All is thine, all is for thee, do not take less, nor rest with the crumbs which fall from the table of thy Father. Go forth and exult in thy glory, hide thyself in it, and rejoice, and thou shalt obtain all the desires of thy heart” (J.C. SM J, Prayer of the Enamored Soul).