10 — INVITATION TO DIVINE INTIMACY

Presence of God. — I recollect myself in the presence of my God, living in me through grace, with a lively desire to come into contact with Him.

Meditation

1 — “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him” (Jn. 14, 23).

This is the great mystery of divine indwelling which assures us, in the very words of Jesus, that God, one and triune, is not far from the soul that loves Him, but rather lives in it, places in it His dwelling.

Catholic doctrine teaches us that God is necessarily present in all His creatures. In fact, in order to exist, creatures need not only to be created by God, but also to be preserved by Him in existence; and in fact God preserves them by operating in them, that is, by continuously communicating being to them; and since He operates by means of His substance, He is present wherever He operates and therefore in all His creatures. In this way God is everywhere, even in the souls of pagans and sinners.

But for the soul clothed with sanctifying grace and charity there is an altogether particular presence of God, precisely the one promised by Jesus, which is called indwelling. “The divine Persons are said to dwell, because they are present, in an inscrutable way, in creatures endowed with intellect and can be reached by these through knowledge and love, but in a way that transcends every created nature and is wholly intimate and singular” (Enc. Mystici Corporis). That is, in the soul in grace the three divine Persons make themselves present to be known by it through faith, loved by it through charity, and also to manifest themselves to it through the intimate illumination of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

2 — In the soul in grace the Most Holy Trinity is present to invite it to live in fellowship, in intimate friendship with the three divine Persons. It is always Jesus who tells us this in the clearest and most authoritative way: “Abide in me, and I in you” (Jn. 15, 4); “I in them and You in me, that they may be made perfect in unity” (cf. ibid., 17, 23); “as You, Father, are in me and I in You, may they also be one in us” (ibid., 17, 21); but where the Father and the Son are, the Holy Spirit cannot be absent, and Jesus expressly said: “The Spirit of truth... will dwell with you and will be in you” (ibid., 14, 17).

To every soul in grace, then, that great word that so deeply struck Sister Elizabeth of the Trinity can be repeated with complete truth: “The Father is in you, the Son is in you, the Holy Spirit is in you”...

God is in you as Father and as a sweet guest, to invite you to live not only for Him, but with Him, in Him; He is in you to manifest Himself to your soul, as a friend manifests himself to a friend, according to the word of Jesus: “he who loves me... I will love him and manifest myself to him. I no longer call you servants... I have called you friends” (Jn. 14, 21; 15, 15). God Himself, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, therefore addresses to you the invitation to live with Him, He offers you His friendship.

What an immense gift! “If you knew the gift of God!” (Jn. 4, 10).

Colloquy

O my God, adored Trinity, let me know Your gift, the immense gift by which You dwell in my poor soul, You the One and Triune, the immense, the almighty!

“O eternal Deity, O high eternal Deity, O supreme and eternal Father, O Fire always burning!... Who manifests Your goodness and greatness? The gift You have given to man. And what gift have You given him? Your whole very self, God eternal Trinity. And in what have You given Yourself to him? In the stable of our humanity, which had become a stable, a receptacle of animals, that is, of mortal sins...” (St. Catherine of Siena). “O my Lord and my Good; not without tears and great joy of my soul do I recall this thing! Is it possible, Lord, that You love to be with us so much?... If it is not through our fault, we can have our joy in You, as You have Yours in being with us, since You Yourself have said that Your delight is to dwell with the children of men! And what is this, my Lord? I always find consolation in hearing this phrase. Is it ever possible, Lord, that a soul, after understanding that You delight in her, should return to offend You and forget so many graces and such great proofs of love, of which she cannot doubt, by seeing their works clearly in herself? Alas, yes, Lord! I am this soul, I who have offended You not only once, but many times. “I knew very well that I had a soul, but I did not understand its value, nor that You, my Lord, dwelt in it. If I had understood, as I do now, that in the little lodging of my soul You dwell, You who are so great a King, it seems to me that I would not have left You so much alone, but that from time to time I would have kept You company and would have been more diligent to keep myself without stain. Nothing is more wonderful than to see You, my God, You who can fill with Your greatness a thousand and more worlds, shut Yourself in so small a thing! You are Lord of the world, free to do what You will, and therefore in the love You bear us You adapt Yourself in everything to our measure” (T.G. Vi. 14, 10; Cam. 28, 11).

My God, Most Holy Trinity, I no longer want to close my ear to Your loving invitation; I no longer want You to be in me the “great forsaken one”; help me to fix all my faculties in You: my intellect and still more my will, so that I may live in continual, intimate union with You. May I seek You alone, may my gaze always be turned to You, may with You and in You I suffer, pray, work.

O eternal Trinity, my sweet love! O Father, draw me by the force of Your omnipotence; O Son, enlighten me by the splendor of Your wisdom; O Holy Spirit, inflame me with the ardor of Your charity!