> [[367-perfect-union|← 367. Perfect Union]] | [[-divine-intimacy-toc|TOC]] | [[369-transforming-love|369. Transforming Love →]] --- # 368. The Triumph of Love PRESENCE OF GOD - Grant that there may be only love in me, my God; that all may proceed from love, and all revert to love. ## Meditation 1 The life of the soul which has reached total union may be defined as one simple, continual, most intense exercise of love, by means of which it gives itself to God unceasingly. All its faculties, not only purified, but pefectly harmonized, are wholly employed in the divine service: “its understanding [the soul] employs in the understanding of those things that pertain most nearly to His service in order to do them; its will, in loving all that pleases God and in having affection of the will for God in all things; and its memory and care in that which pertains to His service and will be most pleasing to Him” ([[jc-s-canticle-toc|J.C. SC]], 28,3). Furthermore, even the sensual part, the body with all its senses, takes part in this magnificent concert of love, so that the soul can truly say that all its “possessions,” that is, all its spiritual and sensitive powers, are completely employed in the service of Holy love. “For the body now works according to God; the inward and outward senses are directed toward Him in all their operations and all the four passions of the soul [that is, joy, hope, fear, and sorrow], it likewise keeps bound to God, because it neither has enjoyment save from God, nor has hope save in God, nor fears any save only God, neither does it grieve save according to God; and likewise all its desires and cares are wholly directed to God alone” (ibid., 4) The loving flame of divine Wisdom has taken possession of this soul to such an extent, has so purified it and made it love God alone, that its whole being and all its faculties vibrate solely for Him, being engaged in nothing except in His service and in giving Him pleasure. It has no craving but for Him, no other desire than to give itself and unite itself to Him in perfect love; hence even the very first movements of this soul are movements of love: “The understanding, the will, and the memory go straightway to God; and the affections, the senses, the desires and appetites, hope, joy, and all the rest of the soul’s possessions are inclined to God from the first moment” (ibid., 5). Love has become the atmosphere in which the soul moves; it has become its breath, its life. The difficult sacrifices, the bitter struggles and renunciations of the past, when its exercise of love consisted “in stripping itself for God’s sake of all that was not God” (J.C. [[jc-ascent-toc|AS]] II, 5,7), seem to it as nothing now, compared with the great good it has obtained; thus it repeats enraptured: “everything is little when it is a question of acquiring pure and true love of God” (T.M. Sp). ## Meditation 2 The love of a soul completely surrendered to God is truly pure love, because it has been purged of the least affection for creatures and of all return on self; it is pure love because it goes straight and swiftly to God through all the circumstances of life, without stopping at anything created. The soul makes use of every happening, all its duties, all its actions to love God, which simply means that it gives itself to Him by serving Him in the way most pleasing to Him. It no longer needs to apply itself, as formerly, to the practice of this or that virtue, since it has acquired all of them in a perfect manner, and “whether its commerce be with temporal things or whether its exercise be concerning spiritual things, a soul in this case can ever say that its exercise is now in loving alone” ([[jc-s-canticle-toc|J.C. SC]], 28,9). The soul no longer has need of the spur and stimulus of an exterior law to guide it, because its law is now the great love it bears within itself, which impels it in all things to seek and to will the divine good pleasure. “Love and do what you will,” said [[augustine-of-hippo-saint|St. Augustine]]; “For the just man there is no law,” wrote St. John of the Cross at the summit of the Mount of Perfection. Far from implying that love dispenses from the observance of the law, from duties and obedience, these words signify rather, that love, when it is truly perfect, replaces and completes all law, having in itself the power to draw the soul to the highest perfection. Of this perfect and most pure love, which concentrates upon God all the powers of the soul without anything being able to draw them away; of this love which wounds the heart of God directly, passing beyond all that is of earth, St. John of the Cross writes: “A very little of this pure love is more precious, in the sight of God and the soul, and of greater profit to the Church...than are all these [other] works together” (SC, 29,2). There cannot be, in fact, an activity more intense and more sublime than that which concentrates and employs in God all the energies and capacities of the creature. It is the eternal activity of the angels and saints in heaven; it is the activity which, even here below, souls who have attained to perfect union with God can enter upon in emulation of the Blessed. “Happy life and happy estate and happy the soul that arrives thereat, where all is now substance of love to it, and joy and delight of betrothal" (ibid, 28,10). ## Colloquy “Even as a maiden that is betrothed sets not her love upon another than her spouse, nor directs her thoughts or her actions to any other, grant, O Lord, that my soul may no longer have any affections of the will or acts of knowledge of the understanding, nor any thought or action which is not wholly turned to Thee. Grant that I may know naught save how to love Thee, O my divine Spouse, and seeing that Thou prizest nothing and art pleased with nothing besides love, help me to employ everything purely for love of Thee and to serve Thee perfectly. “Permit not that I should seek my own gain nor pursue my own tastes nor busy myself in other things and in intercourse that has naught to do with Thee. May I have no other style or manner of intercourse save the exercise of love. May all in me be moved by and in love. In laboring, I wish to do all with love; in suffering I wish to endure all for love. “Grant that I may repeat to Thee with the Spouse of the Canticle: ‘All the fruits, the new and the old, my Beloved, I have kept for Thee,’ which is as if she said: My Beloved, I desire for Thy sake to have all that is hard and wearisome, and all that is sweet and delectable I desire for Thee” ([[jc-s-canticle-toc|J.C. SC]], 27,7.8 — 28,2-10). “O Jesus, I do not ask for riches or glory, not even for the glory of heaven.... I ask only for love. One thought is mine, henceforth, dear Jesus, it is to love Thee!... I love Thee, I love my Mother the Church, and I bear in mind that ‘the least act of pure love is of more value to her than all other works together.’ But does this pure love really exist in my heart?.. “O Jesus, grant that love may surround and penetrate me; that at each moment Thy merciful love may renew and purify me, cleansing my soul from all trace of sin” (T.C.J. St, 13 - 8). # References J.C. - [[john-of-the-cross-saint|Saint John of the Cross]] AS - [[jc-ascent-toc|Ascent of Mt. Carmel by Saint John of the Cross]] SC - [[jc-s-canticle-toc|Spiritual Canticle by Saint John of the Cross]] T.M. - St. Teresa Margaret of the Heart of Jesus T.C.J. - [[therese-of-lisieux-saint|Saint Therese of Lisieux]] [[_tcj-soas-ccel|St - Story of a Soul by Saint Thérèse of Lisieux]] --- ![[bibliography#^biblio-di]] > [[367-perfect-union|← 367. Perfect Union]] | [[-divine-intimacy-toc|TOC]] | [[369-transforming-love|369. Transforming Love →]]