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

[Stone]

357. THE GRAIN OF MUSTARD SEED
TWENTY-FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
SIXTH AFTER EPIPHANY

PRESENCE OF GOD - May Your kingdom come, O Lord, in the whole world and in my heart.


MEDITATION

1. The parable of the mustard seed emerges from the text of today’s Mass; it is brief, but rich in meaning: “The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field; which is the least indeed of all seeds, but when it is grown up, it is greater than all herbs and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and dwell in the branches thereof” (Gosp: Mt 13,31-35). Nothing was smaller or more humble in its beginnings than “the kingdom of heaven,” the Church: Jesus, its Head and Founder, was born in a stable; He worked for the greater part of thirty years in a carpenter’s shop, and for only three years unfolded His mission to a poor people, preaching a doctrine so simple that all, even the unlettered, could understand. When Jesus left the earth, the Church was established by an insignificant group of twelve men, gathered about a humble woman, Mary; but this first nucleus possessed so powerful a vitality that in a few years it spread into all the countries of the vast Roman Empire. The Church, from a very tiny seed, sown in the hearts of a Virgin Mother and of poor fishermen, became little by little through the centuries a gigantic tree, extending its branches into all regions of the globe, with peoples of every tongue and nation taking shelter in its shade.

The Church is not merely a society of men, but of men who have for their Head, Jesus, the Son of God; the Church is the whole Christ, that is, Jesus and the faithful incorporated in Him and forming one Body with Him. The Church is the Mystical Body of Christ of which each of the baptized is a member. To love the Church is to love Jesus; to work for the extension of the Church is to work for the increase of the Mystical Body of Christ, so that the number of His members may be filled up and each may contribute to the splendor of the whole. All this is summarized and asked of the Father in the brief invocation: “Adveniat regnum tuum.” Perhaps there is but little that we can do for the extension of the Church. Let us, at least, do that little; let us contribute our insignificant labor, as a veritable mustard seed, toward the growth of this wonderful tree, beneath whose shadow all men are called to find salvation and repose.


2. The parable of the mustard seed makes us consider not only the expansion of the kingdom of God in the world, but also its development in our hearts. Has not Jesus said: “The kingdom of God is within you” (Lk 17,21)? Yes, in us too this wonderful kingdom began as a tiny seed, a seed of grace: the sanctifying grace which, in a hidden and mysterious way, was sown in us by God at Baptism, and the actual grace of good inspirations and of the divine word—“semen est verbum Dei”—which Jesus the heavenly Sower, has scattered plentifully in our souls. This little seed has germinated slowly, it has sent down ever deeper roots, it has grown progressively, penetrating our whole spirit, until it has entirely conquered us for God, until we have felt the need of saying: Lord, all that I have, all that I am, is Yours; I give myself wholly to You. I want to be Your kingdom.

To be entirely the kingdom of God, so that He is the only Sovereign and Ruler of the heart, so that nothing exists in it which does not belong to Him or is not subject to His rule, is the ideal of a soul that loves God with perfect love. But how can we attain to the full development of this kingdom of God within us? The second parable which we read in today’s Gospel tells us: “The kingdom of heaven is like to leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, until the whole was leavened.” Here is another very beautiful image of the work grace must accomplish in our souls: grace has been placed in us like leaven which little by little must increase until it permeates our whole being and divinizes it entirely. Grace, the divine leaven, has been given to purify, elevate, and sanctify our entire being, with all its powers and faculties; only when this work will have been brought to completion, shall we be entirely the kingdom of God.

Let us reflect further on the great problem of our correspondence with grace. This divine seed, this supernatural leaven, is within us; what can prevent it from becoming a gigantic tree, capable of giving shelter to other souls; what can impede the leaven from fermenting the whole mass, if we remove all the obstacles opposed to its development, if we respond to all its motions and requirements? “Adveniat regnum tuum!” Yes, let us pray for the absolute coming of the kingdom of God in our hearts.


COLLOQUY

“O Lord, my God, who created me to Your own image and likeness, grant me this grace which You have shown to be so great and necessary for salvation, that I may overcome my very evil nature that is drawing me to sin and perdition. For I feel in my flesh the law of sin contradicting the law of my mind and leading me captive to serve sensuality in many things. I cannot resist the passions if Your most holy grace warmly infused into my heart does not assist me....

“O Lord, without grace I can do nothing, but with its strength I can do all things in You.

“O grace, truly heavenly, without which our merits are nothing and no gifts of nature are to be esteemed! O most blessed grace, which makes the poor in spirit rich in virtues, which renders him who is rich in many good things humble of heart, come descend upon me, fill me quickly with your consolation lest my soul faint with weariness and dryness of mind.

“Let me find grace in Your sight, I beg, Lord, for Your grace is enough for me, even though I obtain none of the things which nature desires. If I am tempted and afflicted with many tribulations, I will fear no evils while Your grace is with me. It is my strength. It gives me counsel and help. It is more powerful than all my enemies and wiser than all the wise.

“Let Your grace, therefore, go before me and follow me, O Lord, and make me always intent upon good works, through Jesus Christ, Your Son” (Imit. IHI, 55).

358. COURAGEOUS AND IMPATIENT LOVE

PRESENCE OF GOD - May Your love, my God, make me intrepid in seeking You, and impatient to possess You.


MEDITATION

1. Although the soul subjected to interior purifications by the Holy Spirit is profoundly conscious of its own misery and unworthiness, it is nevertheless “sufficiently bold and daring to journey toward union with God” (J.C. DN II, 13,9). Whence comes such audacity? From the love which is ever growing within it; indeed, “ the property of love is to desire to be united, joined, and made equal and like to the object of its love” (ibid.). Therefore, the more love increases in the soul, the greater is the longing for union with God. Even if its love is still imperfect—since it has not yet brought the soul to union—nevertheless, it is sincere and thanks to “the strength set by love in the will,” the soul experiences “hunger and thirst for that which it lacks, which is the union” to which love tends (ibid.). Besides, how could the soul which has grasped something of the infinite beauty and immense love of God not aspire to unite itself to Him? That same divine light which reveals to it the abyss of its own nothingness and that of creatures, enlightens it, by contrast, as to the infinite transcendence of God, so that the soul remains seized and captivated, while God Himself, in the measure that He purifies it, draws it to Himself by infusing new love in it.

Humbled by the knowledge of its own unworthiness, but emboldened by the love which is growing within, and by the invitation which God Himself addresses to it, drawing it secretly to Himself, the soul dares to aspire to this supreme good which is divine union. It is humble in its audacious desire, because it knows that it does not merit such a gift; but it is also daring, because it feels that God Himself wills to give this union, and because its hunger and thirst for God are so great that it cannot live apart from Him. “Why should not the confiding soul venture toward the One whose noble image and glorious likeness it is conscious of bearing within itself? ” exclaims St. Bernard. God’s love has gone before it, willing to render it like unto Himself by creation and by grace. This divine resemblance, natural and supernatural, best expresses the desire of God to unite the soul to Himself and, at the same time, constitutes the basis of such union. God, who has established this basis, certainly wills to bring His work to completion; and to do it He only waits for the soul to concur with His action, letting itself be purified, despoiled of self, and clothed completely with divine Life.


2. The soul, famished and athirst for God, seeks Him without respite, “for, being in darkness, it feels itself to be without Him and to be dying of love for Him” (J.C. DN II, 13,8). Love makes the soul impatient to find the Lord, and it seeks Him with great solicitude, like Magdalen, who, after the death of Jesus, gave herself no peace, but, rising early, ran to the sepulcher, and finding the sacred Body no longer there, went in search of it, questioning all whom she met. “I will rise and go about the city,” says the spouse in the Canticle, “in the streets and in the broad ways I will seek Him whom my soul loveth” (3,2). This is the attitude of the soul who does not turn back or resign itself to being vanquished; indeed, it desires at any cost to find this God whom it loves more than its very self. In this state, says St. John of the Cross, “the soul now walks so anxiously that it seeks the Beloved in all things. In whatsoever it thinks, it thinks at once of the Beloved. Of whatsoever it speaks, in whatsoever matters present themselves, it is speaking and communing at once with the Beloved. When it eats, when it sleeps, when it watches, when it does aught soever, all its care is about the Beloved” (DN I, 19,2).

Oh! if you, too, were so solicitous in seeking your God! From all eternity His love has gone before you; created to His image and likeness, you, also, have been clothed with divine life, and God has invited you to divine union. Why then, do you go about the world, not in quest of God, but of yourself; anxious, not for His love, but for the love of creatures? Is there not, perhaps, more anxiety and solicitude in you for the wretched things of earth than for the things of heaven, than for God?

Oh! how much need you still have of detachment, of renunciation and purification! Do not resist the divine invitations; open your heart wide to the purifying action of the Holy Spirit; He alone can finally disengage you from all earthly cares and solicitude. If you are attentive and faithful to the inspirations of the divine Paraclete, He will send you new, more subtle and delicate ones which will incline you ever more and more to leave the vanities of earth, to seek and love God alone.


COLLOQUY

“O Lord, my life and my strength, one of the greatest of the divine mercies which You have bestowed upon me is that of deigning to invite a creature so sinful and ungrateful as I am to love Your Majesty. In Your presence the heavenly seraphim veil their faces, dazzled by the splendor of the divinity and the fire of Your love. I am honored by such liberality and at the same time impelled to love You in return for Your love and for the desire which You have to unite me to Your heart, that sweet refuge, to which I long to fly that I may find repose therein.

“Let others look after their affairs and worldly pretensions; as for me, I shall occupy myself with You alone and shall importune You to grant me Your love. I know not, nor can I ask anything but You alone : I love You and seek You; I shall love You and always seek Your Face, that I may be drawn and captivated by its divine beauty.

“Cast me not away from You, most amiable Lord! You, who have ever been most liberal and divinely merciful, even toward those who have not asked it of You, be not severe with me, who implore from the bottom of my heart the kindness and sweetness of Your love.

“May it please Your most tender Heart, O Son of the Most High, to accept me for Your service, to number me among the servants of Your house, who suffer, labor, bear the burden of the day, and desire no other recompense than You Yourself.

“But my desire goes further still, for I aspire to unite myself to You by an indissoluble bond. O Beauty full of majesty which ravishes hearts with an infinite power, and makes them like unto Yourself, realize this transformation in me, I implore, so that I may no longer live in myself but in You. May the most sweet law of Your grace and the power of Your love direct all my thoughts, words, and works” (Ven. John of Jesus Mary).

359. HUMBLE AND REVERENT LOVE

PRESENCE OF GOD - O God, who art so great, deign to lift up my soul, so small and miserable, to Yourself.


MEDITATION

1. The love which audaciously urges the soul on to the conquest of divine union is, at the same time, full of reverence and respect, for the soul understands, much better than before, how sublime and lofty is the majesty of God. If, on the one hand, love makes it impatient to be united to Him, on the other, the clear and continual consciousness of its misery renders it more eager than ever to keep strict watch over its conduct, so that nothing may be found in it which could displease such great majesty.

“The soul,” says the Mystical Doctor, “immediately perceives in itself a genuine determination and an effective desire to do naught which it understands to be an offense to God, and to omit to do naught that seems to be for His service. For that dark love cleaves to the soul, causing it a most watchful care and inward solicitude concerning that which it must do, or must not do, for His sake, in order to please Him. It will consider and ask itself a thousand times if it has given Him cause to be offended” (DN IJ, 16,14).

Evidently there is question here of something far exceeding mere flight from sin: it is the firm resolution to shun every imperfection, omission, or voluntary negligence; and since the soul knows from experience that, in spite of all its good will, many of these faults may escape it, either through inadvertence or through frailty, it desires to intensify its vigilance in order to avoid even these as far as is possible.

This solicitude proceeds from love and not from scruples, a truly loving anxiety, like that which made St. Teresa Margaret continually repeat: “What am I doing now, in this action? Am I loving my God?” (Sp), or that which St. Angela of Foligno expressed in these burning words: “ See, O Lord, if there is anything in me which is not love!”

If you would have a sure sign of your love of God, test the firmness of your resolution to fly from every least thing which might displease Him. This resolution must be so deeply rooted in your will that not only is it continually present to you—as are the things you really care for—but is also strong enough to withdraw you from every imperfection as soon as you become aware of it. This is absolutely indispensable, because, as St. John of the Cross teaches, “for the soul to come to unite itself perfectly with God through love and will...it must not intentionally and knowingly consent with the will to imperfections, and it must have power and liberty to be able not to consent intentionally ” (AS J, 11,3).


2. Knowledge of its lowliness helps keep the soul humble in its love, driving away all presumption. Far from relying on its own merits and good works, it sees clearly that however much it might accomplish, it is as nothing in comparison with the exalted majesty of God. “Wherefore it considers itself useless in all that it does and thinks itself to be living in vain” (J.C. DN IJ, 19,3). The words of the Gospel: “We are unprofitable servants, ” are for it a living actuality, and they express very well its habitual state. The light poured forth in the soul by the Holy Spirit is too great to let it fall into any illusion concerning its own worth, or to allow it to take complacency in its works. Even more, the soul “considers itself as being, most certainly, worse than all other souls: first, because love is continually teaching it how much is due to God; and secondly, because, as the works which it here does for God are many and it knows them all to be faulty and imperfect, they all bring it confusion and affliction, for it realizes in how lowly a manner it is working for God, who is so high” (ibid.). It is wonderful to see how this profound humility is not only the fruit of light but also of love: love makes the soul esteem God so highly that, while ardently desiring to possess Him, it is profoundly convinced of being absolutely incapable of reaching Him.

On the other hand, although humble and reverent, love maintains its characteristic audacity and the soul does not cease to aspire to divine union. Precisely in this spirit St. Thérése of the Child Jesus wrote: “notwithstanding my littleness, I dare to gaze upon the divine Sun of love” (St, 13). The Saint, who in all simplicity compared herself to a downy little bird, incapable of taking its flight, well understood that of herself she could never soar so high; nevertheless, she did not lose her confidence. If she could not count on her own strength, she knew that she could rely upon the love of Jesus, the divine Word, who became incarnate precisely to come and seek us, poor sinners that we are, who willed “to suffer and to die, in order to bear away each single soul and plunge it into the very heart of the Blessed Trinity, Love’s eternal home” (ibid.). St. Thérése had the certitude that one day Jesus would be touched by her weakness, and would swoop down to make her the “prey” of His love: “I am filled with the hope that one day Thou wilt swoop down upon me, and bearing me away to the source of all Love, wilt plunge me at last into its glowing abyss” (ibid.). Yes, Jesus is ready to meet all souls of good will, to come to your soul and raise it to the much desired union, but He would have you know how to await Him with fidelity, fully and generously devoted to His service.


COLLOQUY

“O eternal Word! O my Savior! Thou art the divine Eagle whom I love and who allurest me. Thou who, descending to this land of exile, didst will to suffer and to die, in order to bear away each single soul and plunge it into the very heart of the Blessed Trinity—Love’s eternal home! Thou who, returning to Thy realm of light, dost still remain hidden here in our vale of tears under the semblance of the white Host.... O eternal Eagle, it is Thy wish to nourish me with Thy divine substance, a poor little being who would fall into nothingness if Thy divine glance did not give me life at every moment....

“Forgive me, O Jesus, if I tell Thee that Thy love reacheth even unto folly, and at the sight of such folly, what wilt Thou but that my heart should leap up to Thee? How could my trust know any bounds?

“I know well that for Thy sake the saints have made themselves foolish—being “eagles” they have done great things. Too little for such mighty deeds, my folly lies in the hope that Thy love wilt accept me as a victim....

“O my divine Eagle! As long as Thou willest, I shall remain with my gaze fixed upon Thee, for I long to be fascinated by Thy divine eyes, I long to become Love's prey. I am filled with the hope that one day Thou wilt swoop down upon me, and bearing me away to the source of Love, wilt plunge me at last into its glowing abyss, that I may become forever its happy victim ” (T.C.J. St, 13).



360. STRONG AND ACTIVE LOVE


PRESENCE OF GOD - Lord, grant that my love for You may not be content with words, but prove itself in generous deeds.


MEDITATION

1. “Love is never idle” (T.J. Int C V, 4). When true love of God enters the soul it gradually begets in it an interior dynamism so strong and forceful that it spurs it on to seek ever new ways of pleasing the Beloved, and makes it diligent in devising fresh means of proving its fidelity to Him. Love, in fact, is not nourished by sweet sentiments or fantasies, but by works. “This love,” says St. Teresa, “is also like a great fire which has always to be fed lest it should go out. Just so with these souls [in which God Himself kindles the flame of charity]; cost them what it might, they would always want to be bringing wood, so that this fire should not die” (Life, 30). The soul that truly loves does not stop to examine whether a task is easy or difficult, agreeable or repugnant, but undertakes everything in order to maintain its love. It even chooses by preference tasks which demand more sacrifice, for it knows that love is never truer than when it urges the sacrifice of self for the One loved. Hence, through love, “there is caused in the soul a habitual suffering because of the Beloved, yet without weariness. For, as St. Augustine says, ‘Love makes all things that are great, grievous, and burdensome to be almost naught.” The spirit here has so much strength that it has subjected the flesh and takes as little account of it as does the tree of one of its leaves. In no way does the soul here seek its own consolation or pleasure, either in God, or in aught else” (J.C. DN IT, 19,4).

This explains the attitude of the saints, who not only embraced wholeheartedly the sufferings with which God strewed their paths, but sought them with jealous care, as the miser seeks gold. St. John of the Cross replied to Our Lord, who had asked him what recompense he desired for the great services he had rendered Him: “To suffer and to be despised for Your love.” And St. Teresa of Jesus, seeing her earthly exile prolonged, found in suffering embraced for God the only means of appeasing her heart, a thirst for eternal love; and she entreated: “To die, Lord, or to suffer! I ask nothing else of Thee for myself but this” (Life, 40). In heaven we shall have no further need of suffering to prove our love, because then we shall love in the unfailing clarity of the beatific vision. But here below, where we love in the obscurity of faith, we need to prove to God the reality of our love.

2. “If our love is perfect, it has this quality of leading us to forget our own pleasure in order to please Him whom we love”; it has the power to make us accept our trials with love “and take the bitter with the sweet, knowing that to be His Majesty’s will” (T.J. F, 5). Evidently, a love like this cannot be the fruit of our own human nature, which has such repugnance for suffering; it cannot be acquired, for it greatly surpasses the capacity of our nature, so poor and weak. God alone can infuse it little by little into souls who allow Him to guide them by the narrow way of interior purification. Yes, in aridity, in solitude of heart, in the privation of all light and consolation, the Holy Spirit enkindles in them this flame of charity, a flame which invades them increasingly as it finds them well disposed, that is, purified of everything contrary to love. When all resistances have been overcome, all dross eliminated, the flame of love will blaze up irresistibly and. give to the soul the strength of a giant. The flame of love, St. John of the Cross explains, “causes [the soul] to go forth from itself, and be wholly renewed and enter upon another mode of being” (SC, 1,7). While formerly the soul feared and fled suffering, now it embraces it courageously.

The soul strongest in suffering is also the strongest in love. No creature in the world loved, nor will love God more than the most Blessed Virgin Mary, and none was, nor ever will be, stronger than she in suffering. See her at the foot of the Cross: she is a Mother, and she voluntarily assists at the terrible agony of her Son; she sees the nails being driven into His Flesh; she hears the heavy blows of the hammer; she beholds His Head crowned with thorns, vainly seeking a little repose on the hard wood of the Cross; she sees the Cross raised and her Son hanging on it, suspended between heaven and earth, disfigured by suffering, without the least consolation. Mary’s heart was pierced; nevertheless, she repeated her fiat with the same fullness of consent with which she had pronounced it at the joyous annunciation of her maternity. In her love, she found courage to offer her well-beloved Son for the salvation of His executioners. What mother could rival Our Lady in strength? Yet her sacrifice immeasurably surpassed that of any other mother because only she could say: The Son whom I immolate is my God. Let us learn the secret of strong love at the foot of the Cross beside Mary, Queen of Martyrs, through love and suffering.


COLLOQUY

“He who truly loves You, Lord, has only one ambition, that of pleasing You. He dies with desire to be loved by You, and so will give his life to learn how he may please You better. Can such love remain hidden? No, my God, that is impossible! There are degrees of love, for love shows itself in proportion to its strength. If it is weak, it shows itself but little. If it is strong, it shows itself a great deal. But love always makes itself known, whether weak or strong, provided it is real love.

“O Lord, grant that my love be not the fruit of my imagination but be proved by works. What can I do for You, who died for us and created us and gave us being, without counting myself fortunate in being able to repay You something of what I owe You?

“May it be Your pleasure, O Lord, that the day may finally come in which I shall be able to pay. You at least something of all I owe You. Cost what it may, Lord, permit me not to come into Your presence with empty hands, since the reward must be in accordance with my works. Well do I know, my Lord, of how little I am capable. But I shall be able to do all things provided You do not withdraw from me.

“It is not You that are to blame, my Lord, if those who love You do no great deeds; it is our weak-mindedness and cowardice. It is because we never make firm resolutions but are filled with a thousand fears and scruples arising from human prudence, that You, my God, do not work Your marvels and wonders. Who loves more than You to give, if You have anyone that will receive; or to accept services performed at our own cost? May Your Majesty grant me to have rendered You some service and to care about nothing save returning to You some part of all I have received ” (T.J. Way, 40 — Int C II, 1 — Life, 21 - F, 2).

361. UNITIVE LOVE

PRESENCE OF GOD - My God, You have infused love into my soul. Grant that it may increase until it brings me to union with You.


MEDITATION

1. “God continues to do and to work in the soul by means of this night, illumining and enkindling it divinely with yearnings for God alone and for naught else whatever” (J.C. DN I, 13,11). In proportion as it detaches itself from earth, leaving aside all affection and desire for creatures, the soul climbs “the secret ladder” of love which raises it step by step even unto its Creator, “for it is love alone that unites and joins the soul to God” (ibid., 18,5).

This enkindling of love is not perceived in the beginning of the purification, because then “this divine fire is used in drying up and making ready the wood (which is the soul), rather than in giving it heat. But, as time goes on, the fire begins to give heat to the soul, and the soul then very commonly feels this enkindling and heat of love ” (ibid., 12,5). The flames of love can produce great spiritual delight; there are moments of unspeakable joy in which the soul receives a foretaste of its approaching union with God, a joy which compensates fully for all the pain and anguish suffered in the obscurity of the night, and one which encourages it to accept wholeheartedly whatever it must still undergo to attain perfect union with God. Nevertheless, it is well to remember that the enkindling of love does not consist in the joy the soul may experience, but rather in the firm determination of the will to give itself entirely to God. Moreover, “this is wrought by the Lord, who infuses as He wills,” that is, who can infuse love, either “leaving the will in aridity” (ibid., 12,7) or inflaming it with sweet ardor.

Be that as it may, what matters is not the enjoyment of love, but our rapid advancement in it, for love is the only power that can unite us to God. St. John of the Cross, developing this topic, states precisely: “It is to be observed, then, that love is the inclination of the soul and the strength and power which it has to go to God...and thus, the more degrees of love the soul has, the more profoundly does it enter into God and the more is it centered in Him” (LF, 1,13). As a stone in its fall is drawn toward the center of the earth by gravity, so the soul is drawn to God by the power of love. The stronger the love, the more powerfully will the soul be drawn to God and entirely united to Him: “the strongest love is the most unitive love” (ibid.). How, then, could a soul that sincerely desires union with God fail to exert all its efforts to grow in love?


2. A degree of imperfect love bears a corresponding degree of imperfect union, whereas perfect union corresponds to perfect love. “For the soul to be in its center, which is God, it suffices for it to have one degree of love, since with one degree alone it may be united with Him through grace. If it have two degrees of love, it will be united and have entered into another and a more interior center with God, and so forth” (ibid.). We may compare these degrees of union to a stone which by its weight is drawn to the center of the earth; the heavier it is and the less impeded by obstacles, the more rapidly will it reach the center, and even the deepest part of it. Love is the weight which draws us into God, and, conversely, love draws God into our souls, for Jesus has said: “If anyone love Me, he will keep My word. . .and We will come to him and will make Our abode with him” (Jn 14,23). A single degree of love, shown by the observance of the divine law, guarantees that we are in the state of grace and that God is present in the soul, making His abode there; consequently, we can live united to Him. But it is evident that a very imperfect union with God corresponds to this first degree of love and grace. In this state the soul is already in its center, that is, in God, and it already lives united to Him who deigns to dwell in it by grace; however, it still has a long way to go before reaching its deepest center, before penetrating into the depths of God and living intimately with Him, perfectly united to Him. The stages of this road are marked by progress in love; the more the soul loves, the more it immerses itself in God; and, on the other hand, God Himself, making good His promise, becomes ever more present to it by grace, inviting it to an increasingly more intimate friendship and union.

Finally, the day comes when “ if it attain to the last degree [of love], the love of God will succeed in wounding the soul even in its remotest and deepest center—that is, in transforming and enlightening it as regards all its being and power and virtue such as it is capable of receiving, until it be brought into such a state that it appears to be God” (J.C. LF, 1,13). Love accomplishes the great miracle; it draws God into the soul that loves Him and immerses the soul in Him; by means of love, a miserable creature comes to the embrace of its Creator and is united to Him so intimately and perfectly that it abides there entirely transformed and _ divinized. Could God have granted us a greater gift than that of creating us in love and filling us with love, the great power capable of uniting us to Himself?


COLLOQUY

“O most loved King of peace, desired by all generous hearts in heaven and upon earth, who ask me with infinite sweetness to love You with all my heart, my mind, and my strength; despise not my sighs and yearnings.

“Beloved King, You came into the world to reign in the hearts of men by Your sweet law of charity, grant that I may love You with all my heart, and all the strength of my mind. Grant, most amiable Lord, that I may live no longer in myself but in You, who are my life; transform me into Yourself by love’s activity. Communicate to me that sweet fire which burns in Your Heart and grant that in all things I may seek You alone, You who are the true peace and center of my soul. I await but one thing from You: kindle Your eternal fire within me and let it beget in my heart such great desire for You that I may seek You always, night and day; let this longing constrain me to use everything, to seize every occasion, to find ever new ways of pleasing You and of inducing all creatures to serve You, to love You, and to unite themselves to You by the bond of charity.

“Come within me, O sweet Spouse of my soul, O ardent Heart, desirous of my own. Enter Your dwelling as absolute Lord, and govern there irresistibly by the power of Your omnipotent love. This very day I wish to be drawn to You, O generous Son of God; let my soul be transformed in Yours, and, after that, You will be my soul, my life, the one comfort of my afflicted heart, and my only consolation”? (Ven. John of Jesus Mary).

362. UNION OF WILL

PRESENCE OF GOD - O Lord, take my entire will and transform it into Your own.


MEDITATION

1. The first and most important result of the unitive power of love is the perfect union of man’s will with the will of God. As love develops, it so empties the soul of everything opposed to the divine will, so impels it to love and desire only that which God Himself loves and desires, that little by little, the weak human will becomes fully conformed and united to the divine will of God; the two wills are made into one, “namely, into the will of God, which. . .is likewise the will of the soul” (J.C. AS J, 11,3). In all its deliberate
actions, the soul is no longer guided by its personal will, so frail and inconstant; it is directed and moved solely by the will of God, wherein its own has been lost, lost through love. “ He that shall lose his life for My sake shall find it,” Jesus declared (Mt 16,25). Captivated by love for God, the soul has, for His sake, entirely renounced its own will; it has voluntarily lost in Him all desire, all inclination; and now, the loss has become the greatest of all gains, because the soul finds its will, now entirely transformed in the divine
will of God. Could one hope for a more advantageous exchange? St. John of the Cross writes: “The state of this divine union consists in the soul’s total transformation, according to the will, in the will of God” (AS J, 11,2). This transformation is total, and not merely in part, nor is it merely in things of greater importance, but even in very small, minute things, so that the divine will truly becomes the unique motive force of the soul : whatever it does, says and thinks is “in all and through all. . . the will of God alone” (ibid.). A sublime state, which lifts a creature to the heights of the Creator, which takes it from the level of human life to that of the divine! To achieve this it was worthwhile for the soul to have undergone the bitter purification by which it was “stripped and denuded of its former skin ” (J.C. DN H, 13,11), that is, of its own imperfect will; it was worthwhile to have renounced itself and everything created!


2. Speaking of perfect union with the will of God, St. Teresa of Jesus writes: “This is the union which I have desired all my life; it is for this that I continually beg Our Lord; it is this which is the most genuine and the safest” (Int C V, 3). The Saint, who had experienced the efficacy and sweetness of the mystical graces of union, wherein the soul “cannot possibly doubt that God has been in it and it has been in God  (ibid., 1), does not hesitate to prefer to such delights perfect union with the will of God. Actually, the essence of sanctity consists solely in this union, whereas mystical graces are only a means toward its attainment, a very precious means, because a more rapid one, but always a means and not an end. The end consists solely in perfect conformity of one’s own will with the will of God. Besides, it does not depend upon us to choose the “shortcut” of mystical graces, rather than to follow the ordinary way of generous and persevering effort. The choice depends upon God alone, who is Master of His gift and “gives when He wills, and as He wills, and to whom He wills...and this is doing no injury to anyone” (ibid. IV, 1).

What is of the greatest importance is to know that union with God is not reserved for a small number of privileged souls; God calls every soul of good will to union with Himself, regardless of the way by which He chooses to lead it. Hence, the ordinary way, “the little way,” as St. Thérése of the Child Jesus called it, or the “carriage road,” according to St. Maria Bertilla, leads just as surely to divine union. Instead of preoccupying ourselves about the way, let us rather concern ourselves with striving to be completely generous, for only souls who give themselves wholly to God reach union with Him. “But observe, my daughters,” writes St. Teresa of Avila, “that if you are to gain this [union with God], He would have you keep back nothing; whether it be little or much, He will have it all for Himself, and according to what you yourself have given to Him, the favors He will grant you will be small or great” (ibid. V, 1). The more generous our gift, the more God will anticipate us with His grace and sustain us by His omnipotent action. The ordinary way, though more hidden and less consoling than the way of mystical favors, is no less genuine or efficacious. Whether God chooses to lead us by one way or by the other, we shall never lack the necessary divine help to attain to union with Him.


COLLOQUY

“Lord, what power this gift has! If it be made with due resolution, it cannot fail to draw You, the Almighty, to become one with our lowliness and to transform us into Yourself and to effect a union between the Creator and the creature.

“The more resolute we are in soul and the more we show You by our actions that the words we use to You are not words of mere politeness, the more and more do You draw us to Yourself and raise us above all petty earthly things, and above ourselves, in order to prepare us to receive great favors from You, for Your rewards for our service will not end with this life. So much do You value this service of ours that we do not know for what more we can ask, while You never weary of giving.

“Not content with having made this soul one with Yourself, through uniting it to Yourself, You begin to cherish it, to reveal secrets to it, to rejoice in its understanding of what it has gained and in the knowledge which it has of all You have yet to give it. You begin to make such a friend of the soul that not only do You restore its will to it, but You give it Your own also. For now that You are making a friend of it, You are glad to allow it to rule with You. So You do what the soul asks of You, just as the soul does what You command, only in a much better way, since You are all-powerful and can do whatever You desire, and Your desire never comes to an end.

“O my God, how precious is the union which the soul attains with You, after having established itself in submission to Your will. Oh, how much to be desired is this union, in which we resign our wills to the will of God! Happy the soul that has attained to it, for it will live peacefully both in this life, and in the next, for, apart from the peril of losing You, O Lord, or of seeing You offended, there is nothing that could afflict it, neither sickness nor poverty nor even death, for this soul sees clearly that You know what You are doing better than it knows itself what it desires!” (T.J. Way, 32 — Int C V, 3).

363. DIVINE ASSISTANCE

PRESENCE OF GOD - O Lord, You anticipate, accompany, and sustain me with Your grace. Grant that it may not remain sterile.


1. “If a soul is seeking God, its Beloved is seeking it much more; and, if it sends after Him its loving desires... He likewise sends after it the fragrance of His ointments, wherewith He attracts the soul and causes it to run after Him ” (J.C. LF, 3,28). The soul is never alone in its efforts to attain union: God goes to meet it, giving it His helping hand and drawing it to Himself by means of the holy inspirations which enlighten its mind, and the interior touches which inflame its will. These inspirations and divine touches are none other than the actuation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, by which God directs the soul and works within it, first to purify and dispose it for union, and then to unite it effectively to Himself by love. It is most consoling to consider that this wealth of divine help enters into the normal course of the development of the life of grace, and hence is encountered even in the ordinary way of holiness. This is the heritage which God has prepared for every soul, provided it is generous in giving itself to Him.

With St. John of the Cross we must conclude that if souls which actually reach perfect union are so few, “it is not because God is pleased that there should be few raised to this high spiritual state,” or that He is sparing of His help; “it is rather that He finds few vessels which can bear so high and lofty a work” (LF 2,27).

If after many years of the spiritual life we find ourselves still far from union with God, we cannot attribute this to the insufficiency of divine help; rather, we should blame our own lack of generosity and fidelity to grace. St. Teresa emphatically declares: “True union can quite well be achieved with the favor of Our Lord, if we endeavor to attain to it by not following our own will but by. submitting our will to whatever is the will of God.” And, while recognizing that one does not attain this except by painful labor, she assures us, “ You must not doubt the possibility of this true union with the will of God ” (Int C V, 3).


2. “We do not require extraordinary favors from the Lord before we can achieve this [union]. He has given u all we need in giving us His Son to show us the way” (ibid.). Jesus suffices for us! He has not only shown us the way to divine union, but has likewise procured for us the means of obtaining it.

Jesus washes and purifies our souls in His Blood; He nourishes them with His Flesh, instructs them by His doctrine; every day, and many times a day, He renews His sacrifice upon the altar on our behalf; Jesus, glorious at the right hand of the Father, is always interceding for us, obtaining grace and dispensing it to us according to our need. Jesus sends us the Holy Spirit, His Spirit, that He may guide us on the road to sanctity. Jesus gives us His Mother, the most Holy Virgin Mary, that she may be our Mother, our refuge, our support in time of trial. What more could we desire? Should we consider these graces less precious because they form part of the “ ordinary” graces accorded to all souls? Oh! if we were truly convinced of the great efficacy of these means of sanctification, we would not seek others; instead of waiting for some extraordinary favors in order to give ourselves wholly to God, we would work at corresponding with great fidelity to the grace which He offers each day with wonderful largesse, and thus we would surely achieve our end.

“Let us beg the Lord,” St. Teresa exhorts us, “that, since to some extent it is possible tor us to enjoy heaven upon earth, He will grant us His help so that it will not be our own fault if we miss anything” (ibid. V, 1). The heaven which we can enjoy here below is precisely the state of union with God in which the soul, perfectly conformed to the divine will, enjoys great peace, even amid the inevitable sorrows of life, because it abandons itself always into the hands of divine Providence. We can all reach this happy state, provided we are determined to follow the way which Jesus Himself has marked out for us: “If anyone love Me he will keep My word.... You are My friends if you do the things that I command you” (Jn 14,23 — 15,14). It is the way that Jesus Himself travelled, desiring no other food than the Father’s will and doing always the things that pleased Him. Let us follow Jesus, entrusting ourselves to His guidance, and He, who is the way, the truth and the life, will lead us to the union we so desire.


COLLOQUY

“O Jesus, in those words by which You told us that Your food was to do the Father’s will, You have shown us that Your will was His, and His will was Yours, and, having but one will with Him, You have declared to us that You are equal to the Father, and one with Him. Further, You have taught us how we, too, can become by grace, in a certain manner, equal to God and one with Him. We can do this by accomplishing His will, which should be the rule and pole toward which our will, like a magnetized needle, ceaselessly tends; and when we deviate, be it ever so slightly, from the divine will, we will lose this equality and union.

“O Lord, deign to unite me entirely to Yourself as a bride. Take from me my will and all my desires, so that I may neither will nor desire anything except what You will. Make my will so conformed and united to Yours that I may no longer will anything of myself, being preoccupied neither with living nor dying, but only willing what You will.

“My God, when I shall have offered You my will in all and for all, You will return it to me, for, when it is no longer mine, but I shall have given it entirely to You, then You will be content that I follow it in all things, since it will not be mine but Yours” (cf. St. Mary Magdalen dei Pazzi).

“Receive, O Lord, all my liberty; take my memory, my understanding and my will. All that I am and have, You have given to me. I give it all back to You to dispose of according to Your will. Give me Your love and Your grace. With these I am rich enough and have nothing more to desire” (St. Ignatius Loyola).