> [[368-the-triumph-of-love|← 368. The Triumph of Love]] | [[-divine-intimacy-toc|TOC]] | [[370-divine-intimacy|370. Divine Intimacy →]] --- # 369. Transforming Love PRESENCE OF GOD - My God, may Your love inundate and penetrate my soul until I am completely transformed in You. ## Meditation 1 As the flame of a candle, united to the flame of an immense fire, becomes one with it, burning and shining with a single brightness, so that it is impossible to distinguish it from the great fire in which it is immersed, similarly the soul united to God by love loses itself in Him, remaining so enveloped and transformed in Him as to appear to be God Himself, and to be made “divine and become God by participation, insofar as may be in this life” ([[jc-s-canticle-toc|J.C. SC]], 22,3). God is always God, essentially distinct from the soul. Love, however, has so united and, as it were, merged the creature with the Creator, that “there are two natures in one spirit and love” (ibid.). By the perfection of charity and of grace the Holy Spirit dwells with singular plenitude in such a soul, and in this divine Spirit—the Spirit and bond of Love—the soul lives completely united to the Blessed Trinity. Here is realized in the most perfect manner the burning desire and ardent prayer of Jesus: “As Thou, Father, in Me and I in Thee; that they also may be one in Us” ([[john-17|Jn 17]],21). United to God in this way, the soul remains transformed in Him by love, or rather, it is love which, uniting it completely to God, makes the soul so similar as to transform it wholly in Him. This transformation extends to all its powers: “The human understanding... becomes divine, through union with the divine,” and wholly enlightened with supernatural light; “the will is informed with divine love so that it is a will that is now no less than divine, nor does it love otherwise than divinely.... So, too, is it with the memory; and likewise the affections and desires are all changed and converted divinely, according to God” ([[jc-dark-night-toc|J.C. DN]] IJ, 13,11). Further, the soul remains divinized not only in its being and its faculties, but also in its actions, for “it is God Himself who moves the faculties and commands them divinely, according to His divine Spirit and will; and the result of this is that the operations of the soul are divine” (J.C. [[jc-ascent-toc|AC]] III, 2,8). The plenitude of supernatural life communicated to the soul in the state of spiritual marriage realizes in it, in the highest degree, the prerogative of grace, which is precisely that of making man a “partaker of the divine nature” (2 Pt 1,4). We see here the marvelous continuity which exists between the development of grace in our soul and these elevated states which are its ultimate consequence and its refulgent crown. Why do we tarry amid the paltry things of earth, when God has created us for these divine grandeurs? ## Meditation 2 St. John of the Cross says:  The lover cannot be satisfied if he feels not that he loves as much as he is loved” (SC*, 37,2). One who truly loves cannot endure being outdone in love, and the more he feels himself loved, the more he desires to love in return. But how can a creature, so weak and limited, equal God in love, that is, love Him as much as it is loved by Him? This holy and audacious ambition is realized precisely in the state of total transformation. As the will is completely transformed in that of God, “there is equality of love,” affirms the Saint, “for the will of the soul that is converted into the will of God...becomes the will of God. And thus the soul loves God with the will of God, which is also its own will; and thus it will love Him even as much as it is loved by God, since it loves Him with the will of God Himself, in the same love wherewith He loves it, which is the Holy Spirit” (ibid.). The Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity, terminus and subsistent bond of uncreated Love, who unites indissolubly the Father and the Son, has been given to us, so that, enkindling in our souls the fire of divine love, He may make us capable of loving God, not alone with our poor and very limited powers, but conjointly with Him, infinite Power and Love. The flame of charity was enkindled in our soul by the divine Paraclete on the day of our Baptism; it has grown since then, in proportion to our correspondence with grace. In the soul that has reached full transformation in God and has become one spirit with Him, this flame of charity is totally absorbed and loses itself in the infinite flame of the Holy Spirit. Then it truly loves God as it is loved by Him, because it loves Him together with the Holy Spirit. The capacity of the soul becomes in a certain sense and by participation, quasi infinite, and only in this way is its love assuaged because it can love God in return with parity of love. The Mystical Doctor again explains: “And thus the soul loves God in the Holy Spirit together with the Holy Spirit...by reason of the transformation...and He supplies that which it lacks by its having been transformed in love with Him” (ibid.). What joy and consolation for the soul, who suffers because of the extreme poverty of its love, compared with the infinite love of God and His infinite lovableness, to know that the Holy Spirit can and will supply for its insufficiency, provided that it let itself be completely seized and absorbed in the immense flame of His love. ## Colloquy “O my soul, created for these grandeurs and called thereto! What are you doing? Wherein do you occupy yourself? Your desires are base and your possessions misery. O wretched blindness of your eyes, which obscures so great a light! And why are you deaf to so clear a voice, seeing not that for as long as you seek grandeurs and glories you remain miserable and mean, and have become ignorant and unworthy of so many blessings?” (cf. [[jc-s-canticle-toc|J.C. SC]], 39,7). “O Holy Spirit, You serve as intermediary between the soul and God, moving it with such ardent desires that it becomes enkindled by that sovereign Fire, who is so near it. “O Lord, what mercies are these that You bestow upon the soul! May You be blessed and praised forever, You who are so good a Lover! O my God and my Creator! Is it possible that there is any soul who does not love You? Unhappy that I am since for so long a time I myself loved You not! “O my Lord, how good You are! May You be blessed forever! Let all things praise You, my God; You have so loved us that we can truly say that You have communication with souls even in this exile. O infinite Bounty, how magnificent are Your works! “One whose understanding is not occupied with things of earth is amazed at being unable to understand such truths. Do You, then, grant these sovereign favors to souls who have so greatly offended You? Truly, my own understanding is overwhelmed by this, and when I begin to think about it I can go no farther. Where, indeed, would I go that would not be turning back? As for giving You thanks for these favors, there is no way of doing it...” ([[teresa-of-avila-saint|T.J.]]thor-st-teresa-of-avila|T.J.]] Con, 5 - Life, 18). # 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]] DN - [[jc-dark-night-toc|Dark Night of the Soul by Saint John of the Cross]] SC - [[jc-s-canticle-toc|Spiritual Canticle by Saint John of the Cross]] 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]] > [[368-the-triumph-of-love|← 368. The Triumph of Love]] | [[-divine-intimacy-toc|TOC]] | [[370-divine-intimacy|370. Divine Intimacy →]]