51 — TOTAL UNION

Presence of God. — I beseech You, my God, let nothing disturb my union with You.

Meditation

1 — The perfect yes has given to God all the will of man, placing it completely under the moving influence of the divine will; however in him there is still something that tries to escape the government of the will of God, and it is sensibility which, in consequence of the disorder produced by original sin, very difficultly subjects itself to the spirit. Therefore, while the soul, according to the will, is entirely conformed and united to the divine will, sensibility still goes a bit on its own account, drawing the affections, arousing at times repugnances and struggles that can render fatiguing the continuous adhering to the will of God and disturb the peace of the soul. Precisely because of sensibility, the soul can still be subject to impressions, to emotions a little too vivid that, not succeeding in dominating them entirely, expose it, at times, to commit some failure through inadvertence and frailty. Nor is it excluded that the demon may avail himself of these movements of the sensible part to assault the soul and try to bar its passage or, indeed, to make it turn back, which, unfortunately, as long as we are in this life is always possible. The soul suffers from these difficulties and, seeing how all this can disturb its union with God, which it desires however much intense and perfect, ardently sighs to be freed from it. God alone can reestablish in man the harmony broken by original sin. He does not refuse this last grace to him who is truly faithful to Him and grants it by means of a more intimate and complete union with Him, by means of which, almost taking possession of the soul, He dominates it entirely with His powerful influence. This is total union, called by the mystics “spiritual marriage,” the last degree of union with God possible on this earth.

Oh, with what ardor the loving soul longs for this sublime state in which it will be able to give itself entirely to God, will be able to be by Him entirely possessed and directed, without being importuned by the turbulence of sensibility!

2 — “Spiritual marriage — says St. John of the Cross — is a total transformation in the Beloved, in which both parties give themselves to each other, transferring the one to the other the entire possession of self to the other, with a certain consummation of union of love” (C. 22, 4).

It is a total transformation in God; that is, the transformation that before — in spiritual espousal — was realized only in the will of the soul, now extends also to the other powers. This depends on a mutual perfect donation of God to the soul and of the soul to God. God gives Himself to the soul almost on this possession, establishing Himself in it as moving principle not only of its will, but of all its being, taking the direction of all its life and inspiring it in all that it does. This is the result of a more intense influence of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, that redounds in all the faculties of the soul and even in the sensible part which remains, thus, completely subjected to the spirit. In such a way the soul possesses its God as Him who vivifies it, moves it, governs it; possesses Him as its principle of life, as its support, its strength, its all; spontaneously it exclaims with St. Paul: “I live, now not I; but Christ liveth in me” (Gal. 2, 20). It feels that its life is much more life of God than its own life; indeed, as God has given Himself all to it, so — and precisely in force of the singular fullness of the divine gift — the soul has given itself all to Him: it is no longer the sole perfect gift of the will, but is the gift of all being magnificently harmonized by the abundant motion of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. This gift, this total delivery of itself to the Beloved, makes it that the soul transfers, so to speak, its life in God, living more in Him than in itself, “more in Him who loves than in the body by which it is animated” (cf. G.C.C. 8, 3). As the mystic spouse of the Canticle, the soul, arrived at this state, can repeat with all truth: “My Beloved to me, and I to Him” (2, 16).

The union of the soul with God is now so perfect, so full that, besides this, there is only the beatific union of heaven. Total union is heaven anticipated, heaven offered to generous souls that spare no fatigues and sacrifices to give themselves entirely to God.

Colloquy

“O Lord, how great is the grace that You do to the soul when You unite it to You in a greater intimacy! How exquisite is Your banquet! How delicious the wine that You give me! A single drop makes me forget every thing, go out from creatures and from myself, reject the pleasures and the satisfactions that until now my sensuality has claimed. This grace is very great and I am unworthy of it.

“Let worldlings remain with their dominions, with their riches, with their pleasures, with their honors and with their banquets! The happiness that these things procure would not arrive in a thousand years to equal the content that the soul enjoys in a single instant after that You, O Lord, have elevated it to this state.

“No, I do not see possible to put in comparison the basenesses of earth with delights so suave that no one can merit, with this most strict union with God, with this love so ineffably testified and tasted” (T.G. P. 4 and 7).

“Who ever, Lord and God my, seeking You with pure and noble love, will not find You to his pleasure and will? Since You reveal Yourself first, and go out to meet those who desire You.

“Oh, how sweet to me will be Your presence, the presence of You who are the supreme Good! I will approach You in silence, so that You may deign to unite me to You with nuptial bond: I shall not be content until it is given me to enjoy between Your arms. And now I pray You, O Lord, never abandon me in my recollection, because I would dissipate my soul” (G.C. AM. I, 2; II, 45).