> [[357-the-grain-of-mustard-seed|← 357. The Grain of Mustard Seed]] | [[-divine-intimacy-toc|TOC]] | [[359-humble-and-reverent-love|359. Humble and Reverent Love →]] --- # 358. Courageous and Impatient Love PRESENCE OF GOD - May Your love, my God, make me intrepid in seeking You, and impatient to possess You. ## Meditation 1 Although the soul subjected to interior purifications by the Holy Spirit is profoundly conscious of its own misery and unworthiness, it is nevertheless “sufficiently bold and daring to journey toward union with God” ([[jc-dark-night-toc|J.C. DN]] ii, 13,9). Whence comes such audacity? From the love which is ever growing within it; indeed, “the property of love is to desire to be united, joined, and made equal and like to the object of its love” (ibid.). Therefore, the more love increases in the soul, the greater is the longing for union with God. Even if its love is still imperfect—since it has not yet brought the soul to union—nevertheless, it is sincere and thanks to “the strength set by love in the will,” the soul experiences “hunger and thirst for that which it lacks, which is the union” to which love tends (ibid.). Besides, how could the soul which has grasped something of the infinite beauty and immense love of God not aspire to unite itself to Him? That same divine light which reveals to it the abyss of its own nothingness and that of creatures, enlightens it, by contrast, as to the infinite transcendence of God, so that the soul remains seized and captivated, while God Himself, in the measure that He purifies it, draws it to Himself by infusing new love in it Humbled by the knowledge of its own unworthiness, but emboldened by the love which is growing within, and by the invitation which God Himself addresses to it, drawing it secretly to Himself, the soul dares to aspire to this supreme good which is divine union. It is humble in its audacious desire, because it knows that it does not merit such a gift; but it is also daring, because it feels that God Himself wills to give this union, and because its hunger and thirst for God are so great that it cannot live apart from Him. “Why should not the confiding soul venture toward the One whose noble image and glorious likeness it is conscious of bearing within itself?” exclaims [[bernard-of-clairvaux-saint|St. Bernard]]. God’s love has gone before it, willing to render it like unto Himself by creation and by grace. This divine resemblance, natural and supernatural, best expresses the desire of God to unite the soul to Himself and, at the same time, constitutes the basis of such union. God, who has established this basis, certainly wills to bring His work to completion; and to do it He only waits for the soul to concur with His action, letting itself be purified, despoiled of self, and clothed completely with divine Life. ## Meditation 2 The soul, famished and athirst for God, seeks Him without respite, “for, being in darkness, it feels itself to be without Him and to be dying of love for Him” ([[jc-dark-night-toc|J.C. DN]] II, 13,8). Love makes the soul impatient to find the Lord, and it seeks Him with great solicitude, like Magdalen, who, after the death of Jesus, gave herself no peace, but, rising early, ran to the sepulcher, and finding the sacred Body no longer there, went in search of it, questioning all whom she met. “I will rise and go about the city,” says the spouse in the Canticle, “in the streets and in the broad ways I will seek Him whom my soul loveth” (3,2). This is the attitude of the soul who does not turn back or resign itself to being vanquished; indeed, it desires at any cost to find this God whom it loves more than its very self. In this state, says St. John of the Cross, “the soul now walks so anxiously that it seeks the Beloved in all things. In whatsoever it thinks, it thinks at once of the Beloved. Of whatsoever it speaks, in whatsoever matters present themselves, it is speaking and communing at once with the Beloved. When it eats, when it sleeps, when it watches, when it does aught soever, all its care is about the Beloved” (DN I, 19,2). Oh! if you, too, were so solicitous in seeking your God! From all eternity His love has gone before you; created to His image and likeness, you, also, have been clothed with divine life, and God has invited you to divine union. Why then, do you go about the world, not in quest of God, but of yourself; anxious, not for His love, but for the love of creatures? Is there not, perhaps, more anxiety and solicitude in you for the wretched things of earth than for the things of heaven, than for God? Oh! how much need you still have of detachment, of renunciation and purification! Do not resist the divine invitations; open your heart wide to the purifying action of the Holy Spirit; He alone can finally disengage you from all earthly cares and solicitude. If you are attentive and faithful to the inspirations of the divine Paraclete, He will send you new, more subtle and delicate ones which will incline you ever more and more to leave the vanities of earth, to seek and love God alone. ## Colloquy “O Lord, my life and my strength, one of the greatest of the divine mercies which You have bestowed upon me is that of deigning to invite a creature so sinful and ungrateful as I am to love Your Majesty. In Your presence the heavenly seraphim veil their faces, dazzled by the splendor of the divinity and the fire of Your love. I am honored by such liberality and at the same time impelled to love You in return for Your love and for the desire which You have to unite me to Your heart, that sweet refuge, to which I long to fly that I may find repose therein. “Let others look after their affairs and worldly pretensions; as for me, I shall occupy myself with You alone and shall importune You to grant me Your love. I know not, nor can I ask anything but You alone: I love You and seek You; I shall love You and always seek Your Face, that I may be drawn and captivated by its divine beauty. “Cast me not away from You, most amiable Lord! You, who have ever been most liberal and divinely merciful, even toward those who have not asked it of You, be not severe with me, who implore from the bottom of my heart the kindness and sweetness of Your love. “May it please Your most tender Heart, O Son of the Most High, to accept me for Your service, to number me among the servants of Your house, who suffer, labor, bear the burden of the day, and desire no other recompense than You Yourself. “But my desire goes further still, for I aspire to unite myself to You by an indissoluble bond. O Beauty full of majesty which ravishes hearts with an infinite power, and makes them like unto Yourself, realize this transformation in me, I implore, so that I may no longer live in myself but in You. May the most sweet law of Your grace and the power of Your love direct all my thoughts, words, and works” (Ven. John of Jesus Mary). # References J.C. - [[john-of-the-cross-saint|Saint John of the Cross]] DN - [[jc-dark-night-toc|Dark Night of the Soul by Saint John of the Cross]] --- ![[bibliography#^biblio-di]] > [[357-the-grain-of-mustard-seed|← 357. The Grain of Mustard Seed]] | [[-divine-intimacy-toc|TOC]] | [[359-humble-and-reverent-love|359. Humble and Reverent Love →]]