49 — THE PERFECT YES

Presence of God. — Lord, grant that I may give You the free and perfect consent of my will.

Meditation

1 — St. John of the Cross says very well that the characteristic of the union of wills is “the yes of its consent” that the soul gives entirely to God (F. 3, 24), delivering to Him all itself in the full and total gift of the will. In other words the soul is now so decided to wish nothing else but God and His divine good pleasure, that in every circumstance it does nothing but repeat its yes lovingly accepting all that He wills and does for it. It is an effective yes and not only of desire, a yes by which the soul truly gives itself and with all the generosity of which it is capable.

From the beginning of the spiritual life the fervent soul must desire to give itself to God without reserve and to say yes to Him always, but in practice, being still encumbered by the bonds of the passions and attachments to creatures, very often its gift is incomplete, halved; very often, in the concrete cases of life, faced with the harshness of renunciation and of struggle, its ideal yes changes into a practical no. But it is not so in the state of union in which the soul is so surrendered to the holy will of God, as not to fail in its gift; its yes is so definitive and effective as to offer and unite it to God as spouse to spouse; precisely for this reason the mystics call this state “spiritual espousal.”

It matters much to know that on the part of the soul, the intensity of its union with God depends on the perfection of its yes. It must be a perfect yes in breadth and in depth; in breadth, because it must extend not only to what God commands, but also to all that He desires, to all that gives Him greater pleasure: love must render the soul so watchful and attentive as to know how to discern in the various circumstances what pleases God more and must render it so generous as to execute it without hesitating. It must be a perfect yes in depth, because the soul must adhere to the divine good pleasure not with negligence, with pettiness or a little unwillingly, but with all the impetus of the will, happy to be able to give itself to God notwithstanding the sacrifices it may encounter.

2 — The soul must apply itself to say its perfect yes especially in the direction indicated to us by Jesus by means of the great precept of charity, which is the foundation not only of all the law, but also of all holiness. St. Teresa of Avila says expressly: “For us the will of God consists only in two things: in the love of God and in the love of neighbor. Here must all our efforts converge; and if we do this with perfection, we shall fulfill the will of God and be united to it” (M. V. 3, 7). But the attention of the Saint turns in a direct way to charity toward 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 rare, in fact, that after having said yes to the Lord faced with sacrifices, with renunciations, with no little toils, we let escape some no in regard to fraternal charity. Speaking of certain defects that insinuate themselves into the soul very hiddenly and prevent it from arriving at union, St. Teresa of Jesus, besides self-love and self-esteem, signals “the very small rash judgments and certain failures in charity toward neighbor whom one does not love as oneself” (ibid., 6). As long as we find in ourselves failures of this kind, though slight, it means that our gift to God is not complete. God wishes that we love our neighbor, any neighbor, and that we love him with perfection: “This is My commandment — said Jesus — that you love one another as I have loved you” (Jn. 15, 32). How, then, can we be united to the will of God if we do not fulfill with great diligence this commandment?

“I assure you — takes up Teresa of Jesus — that doing as I have said [that is, practicing fraternal charity perfectly], you will not fail to obtain this union, while in the contrary case you must persuade yourselves never to arrive at it, notwithstanding that you may have devotion and spiritual delights even to believing you have arrived at it”. And she concludes with this beautiful assurance: “So great is the love of the Lord for us that in recompense for that which we shall have for neighbor, He will make grow in us, by a thousand expedients, also that which we nurture for Him. And of this there is no doubt” (M. V. 3, 12 and 8).

Colloquy

“O infinite Good, I wish to offer and consecrate to You all myself without ceasing on the altar of my heart. And beginning with my soul, Your spouse, redeemed with Your most precious Blood, I offer it to You that it may be the place of rest of Your Majesty and be transformed in You, no longer remaining alive for itself, but living only with Your life.

“I offer then to You my intellect desirous of knowing, O most divine Wisdom that alone can satisfy the thirst to understand Your greatnesses! Enlighten my darkness and give me to taste You in a most sweet cognition that may enflame my heart with love.

“I offer then to You, most beautiful Spouse of my soul, this will which principally You seek, that I may love You with sempiternal ardors and be united with You without end. Would that You, O Lord, might will that my will be detached from all creatures and shake strongly its wings elevating itself to You and then, with the sleep of pure love, repose in the cavern of Your Heart. O most delicious cavern, when shall I hide myself in you and listen to the movements of the Heart that operates the life and health of my soul?

“But why, O my God, do I offer You my soul and its powers, when I am all Yours from creation and, more still, from Redemption? Perhaps, O most lovable Life, is this gift and this offering that I seek to make to Your Majesty and greatness Your interest? No, certainly, it is not Your interest, but mine, to be I all offered and given to You, O immortal Life, since I know for certain that my happiness consists in uniting myself to You” (Ven. John of G. M., o.c.d.).