St. Francis de Sales, in The Love of God: A Treatise, subtitles Chapter 11, Book Two as, "It is no fault of God's, if we lack perfect charity." What is this? We may have lacked faith or reason to know we could possess perfect charity in this life. But there it is, not only from this saint, but St. Paul said as much, and Jesus, also, and more, told us how. If we believe in Him [faith], and obey His command to love others as He loves us, we remain in His love.
St. Francis de Sales continues to explain that the problem is our receptivity. We must be fully open in faith to receive God's love. Further, as somewhat expressed in the Ninth S: Serenity, clarity is key for the vast expanse of calm and tranquility within the soul to be open to faith and receive love. Again, we need to be rid of whatever possesses us, that blocks our faith, so that we may be filled with love.
Surely this comes in degrees, for now that we know to remain in Christ's love, it is a process of our being willing, of opening our minds and wills to His love, and our heart's desire to His love. We must not only be open to God's inspirations of love, but to act on them!
This is what we do when we repeat our desires and will to remain in His love in every present moment. Then our intellects and wills engage the memory, understanding, imagination, emotions and senses, from within to without, and begin making acts of love in thought, word, and deed to God and others!
As St. Bernard put it, the highest act of love is to love God in Himself, but along the way we begin in basic steps, moving from self-love to other-love to God-love with increasingly pure motives for our will to love.
Remaining in Christ's love, through our desire and will, and in faith, we go to the Heart of Jesus at the onset, and then we learn as the effects in our souls are worked out, which is a delightfully simple way to progress in love!
However, as we are discovering, while the perfection of love may be ours, we must be faithful in full receptivity of His love. No matter how great the challenges that not only are outer from the world but interior debris that comes to light, like particles in the air unnoticed until a sunbeam visually articulates them, we must persevere with faith and hope.
Pray ask the Virgin Mary, our Mother Superior of the Order of the Present Moment, to instruct us in the love of her Son, our Beloved. In faith and prayer, ask for all the graces God wills her to impart to us. Pray ask the Holy Spirit of all truth to continually shed light on any obstacles to full receptivity of love. Pray ask God the Father to protect us, keep us in Him and in His Son, bound eternally with the Holy Spirit, in perfect love. Pray this now, simply, openly, and know that we will be given all we ask in Jesus' holy name, asking what God wills because we are remaining in Christ's love, and His will is His love.
Yes, there may be more clearing out for greater clarity and increasing humility, for God desires our love and sent His Son to secure our love. He created the Virgin Mary, herself immaculately conceived, to conceive by the Holy Spirit, His Son, and birth Christ to redeem our souls, to love eternally!
Are we aware now, that if we remain in Christ's love, we exist within His Sacred Heart? Are we aware, also, that those who remain in His love, exist within His Sacred Heart have found the stairway to heaven-- that we are upon it now?
How profoundly insightful and exquisitely expressed this is, nothing: "This is what we do... Then our intellects and wills engage the memory, understanding, imagination, emotions and senses, from within to without, and begin making acts of love in thought, word, and deed to God and others!"
ReplyDeleteIt bears true that whatever we will and whatever we do has the same consequences. That is, "our intellects and wills engage the memory, understanding, imagination, emotions and senses, from within to without."
We become and we are and we remain who we are by what we will and by what we do. The course is ours to change in any direction at any time. Oh but if all would remain in Love :) ?
This is a valuable contribution to your set of posts, nothing.
I'll return to reread later, too.
By the way, part and parcel with making a new blog out of the old, this id KathY is my new id to replace aspiring... Although I shall ever remain aspiring... :) .
We thank the Blessed Virgin Mary, our Mother Superior for graces to keep writing what our inept bodies and minds struggle to express, but our hearts in His love know no bounds of impressions.
ReplyDeleteGod bless you, KathY who is always aspiring!