45 — UNITIVE LOVE

Presence of God. — My God, who have infused love into me, grant that it may grow until it leads me to union with You.

Meditation

1 — God, through spiritual purgation, “produces in the soul wondrous effects, illuminating it and kindling in it ardent longings of divine love alone, and of nothing else” (St. J.C., Dark Night, II, 13, 11). Precisely thus, in the measure that the soul detaches itself from the earth, setting aside every affection and appetite for creatures, it ascends the “secret ladder” of love which, degree by degree, elevates it to its Creator, “since only love is that which unites the soul with God” (ibid., 18, 5).

This enkindling of love is not felt at the beginning of purification, because then “the divine fire expends all its effort in drying up and preparing the soul rather than in warming it; but, as time progresses, when it has already warmed it sufficiently, the soul very frequently feels the loving ardor” (ibid., 12, 5). The blazing of love may be accompanied by a great spiritual delight; there are then moments of immense joy in which the soul foretastes the union with God to which it is drawing near — a joy that repays it amply for all the pains and anxieties endured in the darkness of the night, and which encourages it to embrace willingly those it must still endure in order to arrive at perfect union. Nevertheless, it is well to remember that the enkindling of love does not consist in the joy the soul may experience, but in the firm decision of the will to give itself entirely to God. “Moreover, all this is the Lord’s doing, who infuses love ‘leaving the will arid’” — that is, He may infuse love “leaving the will arid” (ibid., 12, 7), or by enkindling it with sweet ardor.

In any case, what ought to concern us is not the enjoyment of love, but rapid progress in it — precisely because love alone is the force capable of uniting us to God.

Treating this subject, St. John of the Cross specifies: “The inclination of the soul, the strength and the virtue it has to go to God, is love... and therefore, the more degrees of love it has, the more deeply it enters into God and is concentrated with Him” (Living Flame, 1, 13). As the stone in falling is attracted to the center of the earth by the force of gravity, so the soul is attracted to God by the force of love. The stronger this love, the more powerfully will it be able to draw the whole soul into God and unite it entirely to Him: “the stronger love is, the more it is unitive” (ibid.). Can a soul, then, that sincerely desires to be united with God not apply itself with all its strength to grow in love?

2 — To an imperfect degree of love corresponds an imperfect degree of union, while to perfect love corresponds perfect union. “For the soul to be in its divine center [that is, in God], it is enough that it have one degree of love, since with a single degree it is united to God by grace; and if it has two degrees, it will be united and concentrated with God in another, deeper center, and so on” (St. J.C., Living Flame, 1, 13). Just like the stone which is dragged by its own weight to the center of the earth, so that the heavier it is and the fewer obstacles it encounters on its path, the more quickly it arrives and penetrates to the deepest center. Thus love is the weight that draws us into God. But the inverse is also true — that is, love draws God into our soul, for Jesus said: “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word... We will come to him and make our abode with him” (Jn. 14, 23). A single degree of love suffices — that is, the observance of the divine law that ensures the state of grace — for God to make Himself present in the soul, making His abode with it, and thus the soul can live united to Him; but it is evident that at this first degree of love and grace there corresponds a very imperfect union with God. In this state the soul is already in its center — that is, in God — and already lives united with Him who deigns to dwell within it by grace; yet there still remains for it a long road to travel in order to arrive at its deepest center, that is, to penetrate into the depths of God and live intimately and perfectly united with Him. The stages of this journey 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, fulfilling His promise, renders Himself ever more present to it by grace, inviting it to an ever more intimate and perfect friendship and union. Until there comes a day when, “having reached the last degree [of love], the love of God will wound it even to its deep center, transforming and illuminating it according to its whole being and its powers and virtues... so as to make it seem to be God” (St. J.C., Living Flame, 1, 13).

Love accomplishes the great miracle: it draws God into the soul that loves Him and launches that soul into God; through love a miserable creature encounters its Creator and is united with Him in a way so intimate and perfect as to be transformed and divinized by Him. What greater gift could God have given us than to create us in love, to infuse into us love — the great force capable of uniting us to Him?

Colloquy

“O most beloved peaceful King, desired by all generous hearts in heaven and on earth, who with infinite sweetness ask me to love You with my whole heart, with my whole mind, with all my strength — do not despise my sighs and my desires.

“Most beloved King, who came into the world to reign in the hearts of men with the most gentle dominion of charity, grant that I may love You with my whole heart and with all the powers of my mind. Grant, O most lovable Lord, that I may live not in myself but in You who are my life, and transform me into Yourself by the power of love. Communicate to me that most sweet fire that burns in Your heart, and grant that in all things I may seek You alone — true peace and center of my soul. From You I desire nothing else but that You enkindle me with Your eternal fire, which may beget in me so great a longing for You that day and night I may go ever seeking You; grant that this longing may drive me to make use of all things, to avail myself of every occasion, and to devise ever new means of pleasing You and of moving all creatures to serve You, to love You, and to be united to You in the bond of charity.

“Come into me, O most sweet Spouse of my soul, O most ardent and longing Heart of my heart; enter as absolute Lord into Your house and govern it imperiously with the power of Your omnipotent love. I would today, O magnificent Son of God, be drawn to You, and I would that my soul be transformed into Yours; and thereafter may You be my soul, my life, the sole consolation of my afflicted heart, my relief” (Ven. John of Jesus Mary, O.C.D.).