> [[366-the-reciprocal-gift|← 366. The Reciprocal Gift]] | [[-divine-intimacy-toc|TOC]] | [[368-the-triumph-of-love|368. The Triumph of Love →]] --- # 367. Perfect Union PRESENCE OF GOD - I implore You, my God, to let nothing trouble my union with You. ## Meditation 1 The yes of perfect consent has surrendered the whole human will to God, placing it completely under the vivifying influence of the divine will. Yet there are still found in the sensitive part of the soul disturbances which tend to withdraw it from the governance of God’s will: this sensitive part is subjected to the spirit only with difficulty, in consequence of the disorder produced by original sin. Even while the soul is by its will entirely conformed and united to the divine will, the sensitive part is always pulling in its own direction, carrying the affections along with it, sometimes stirring up repugnances and difficulties which can render continual adherence to God’s will painful and trouble the peace of the soul. Sensitiveness can still subject the soul to impressions and emotions which are a little too lively and expose it, when it does not succeed in wholly dominating them, to commit faults through inadvertence or frailty. Nor is the devil excluded from making use of the movements of the sensitive part to assail the soul, to hinder its progress, or, quite simply, to make it turn back, which, unfortunately, is always possible as long as we are in this life. The soul suffers from these trials, and ardently sighs to be freed from them, for it sees how they can disturb its union with God, and it desires this union to be more intense and perfect than ever. Only God can re-establish in man the harmony destroyed by original sin, and He does not refuse this sublime grace to a soul which is truly faithful to Him. He grants it by means of a more intimate and complete union with Himself, wholly dominating the soul by His powerful influence, as if taking it into His possession. ‘This is total union, called by the mystics “spiritual marriage,” the highest degree of union with God possible in this life. Oh! with what fervor the loving soul longs for this sublime state in which it can give itself entirely to God, and can be wholly possessed and directed by Him, without being troubled by the turbulence of sensibility. ## Meditation 2 “Spiritual marriage,” writes St. John of the Cross, “is a total transformation in the Beloved, wherein on either side there is made surrender by total possession of the one to the other with a certain consummation of union of love” (SC, 22,3). It is a total transformation in God; that is, the transformation which at first—in the spiritual espousals—was realized only in the will, is now extended to the other faculties as a result of that mutual, perfect giving of God to the soul and of the soul to God. God gives Himself to the soul as if He were its possession; He establishes Himself in it as the active principle, not only of its will, but of its whole being, directing its entire life, and inspiring it in all that it does. This is the result of an ever more intense influence of the gifts of the Holy Spirit that pervades all the faculties of the soul, entering even into its sensitive part, which remains henceforth completely subject to the spirit. The soul possesses its God as One who vivifies, moves and governs it; it possesses Him as its principle of life, as its support, its strength, its all; it exclaims spontaneously with St. Paul: “I live, now not I; but Christ liveth in me” (Gal 2,20). It feels that its life is much more the life of God than its own life; in fact, since God has given Himself wholly to the soul, it is precisely in virtue of the singular plenitude of the divine gift that the soul has given itself wholly to Him. It is no longer only the perfect gift of the will; it is the gift of the entire being, magnificently harmonized by the full actuation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. This gift, this total surrender of the soul to the Beloved, effects, as it were, the transfer of the life of the soul into God, so that it lives more in Him than in itself, “more in Him whom it loves than in the body which it animates” (cf. [[jc-s-canticle-toc|J.C. SC]], 8,3). Like the mystical spouse of the Canticle, the soul which has arrived at this state can repeat in all truth: “My Beloved to me, and I to Him” (2,16). The union of the soul with God is henceforth so perfect, so full, that only the beatific union of heaven can surpass it. Total union is heaven anticipated, heaven offered to generous souls who spare neither pain nor sacrifice in order to give themselves wholly to God. ## Colloquy “Great is this favor, my Spouse, and this delectable feast, this precious wine that You give me, one drop of which makes me forget all created things, and withdraw from creatures and from myself, and no longer desire the satisfactions and joys which until now my senses have longed for. Great is all this and unmerited by me. “Let worldlings come with all their possessions, their riches, their delights, their honors, and their feasts: even if all these could be enjoyed without the trials that they bring in their train, which is impossible, they could not in a thousand years cause the happiness enjoyed in a single moment by a soul whom You have elevated to this state. “No, I do not see how it is possible to compare the base things of the world with these delights so sweet that no one could merit them, with this union so complete with You, my God, with this love so ineffably shown and so blissfully experienced” ([[teresa-of-avila-saint|T.J.]] Con, 4). “O Lord my God, who is there that seeks Thee in pure and true love who does not find Thee to be the joy of his will? It is Thou who art the first to show Thyself, going forth to meet those who desire Thee. “O my God, how sweet to me Thy presence, who art the sovereign Good. I will draw near to Thee in silence...I will rejoice in nothing till I am in Thine arms. O Lord, I beseech Thee, leave me not for a moment because I know not the value of my soul” (J.C. SM J). # References J.C. - [[john-of-the-cross-saint|Saint John of the Cross]] SC - [[jc-s-canticle-toc|Spiritual Canticle by Saint John of the Cross]] SM - Spiritual Maxims T.J. - [[teresa-of-avila-saint|Saint Teresa of Avila]] Con - [[tj-conceptions-of-the-love-of-god|Conceptions of the Love of God by Saint Teresa of Avila]] --- ![[bibliography#^biblio-di]] > [[366-the-reciprocal-gift|← 366. The Reciprocal Gift]] | [[-divine-intimacy-toc|TOC]] | [[368-the-triumph-of-love|368. The Triumph of Love →]]