> [[361-unitive-love|← 361. Unitive Love]] | [[-divine-intimacy-toc|TOC]] | [[363-divine-assistance|363. Divine Assistance →]] --- # 362. Union of Will PRESENCE OF GOD - O Lord, take my entire will and transform it into Your own. ## Meditation 1 The first and most important result of the unitive power of love is the perfect union of man’s will with the will of God. As love develops, it so empties the soul of everything opposed to the divine will, so impels it to love and desire only that which God Himself loves and desires, that little by little, the weak human will becomes fully conformed and united to the divine will of God; the two wills are made into one, “namely, into the will of God, which...is likewise the will of the soul” (J.C. [[jc-ascent-toc|AS]] J, 11,3). In all its deliberate actions, the soul is no longer guided by its personal will, so frail and inconstant; it is directed and moved solely by the will of God, wherein its own has been lost, lost through love. “He that shall lose his life for My sake shall find it,” Jesus declared (Mt 16,25). Captivated by love for God, the soul has, for His sake, entirely renounced its own will; it has voluntarily lost in Him all desire, all inclination; and now, the loss has become the greatest of all gains, because the soul finds its will, now entirely transformed in the divine will of God. Could one hope for a more advantageous exchange? St. John of the Cross writes: “The state of this divine union consists in the soul’s total transformation, according to the will, in the will of God” ([[jc-ascent-toc|AS]] J, 11,2). This transformation is total, and not merely in part, nor is it merely in things of greater importance, but even in very small, minute things, so that the divine will truly becomes the unique motive force of the soul: whatever it does, says and thinks is “in all and through all... The will of God alone” (ibid.). A sublime state, which lifts a creature to the heights of the Creator, which takes it from the level of human life to that of the divine! To achieve this it was worthwhile for the soul to have undergone the bitter purification by which it was “stripped and denuded of its former skin” ([[jc-dark-night-toc|J.C. DN]] H, 13,11), that is, of its own imperfect will; it was worthwhile to have renounced itself and everything created! ## Meditation 2 Speaking of perfect union with the will of God, St. Teresa of Jesus writes: “This is the union which I have desired all my life; it is for this that I continually beg Our Lord; it is this which is the most genuine and the safest” ([[tj-interior-castle-ccel|Int C]]) V, 3). The Saint, who had experienced the efficacy and sweetness of the mystical graces of union, wherein the soul “cannot possibly doubt that God has been in it and it has been in God  (ibid., 1), does not hesitate to prefer to such delights perfect union with the will of God. Actually, the essence of sanctity consists solely in this union, whereas mystical graces are only a means toward its attainment, a very precious means, because a more rapid one, but always a means and not an end. The end consists solely in perfect conformity of one’s own will with the will of God. Besides, it does not depend upon us to choose the “shortcut” of mystical graces, rather than to follow the ordinary way of generous and persevering effort. The choice depends upon God alone, who is Master of His gift and “gives when He wills, and as He wills, and to whom He wills...and this is doing no injury to anyone” (ibid. IV, 1). What is of the greatest importance is to know that union with God is not reserved for a small number of privileged souls; God calls every soul of good will to union with Himself, regardless of the way by which He chooses to lead it. Hence, the ordinary way, “the little way,” as St. Thérése of the Child Jesus called it, or the “carriage road,” according to St. Maria Bertilla, leads just as surely to divine union. Instead of preoccupying ourselves about the way, let us rather concern ourselves with striving to be completely generous, for only souls who give themselves wholly to God reach union with Him. “But observe, my daughters,” writes St. Teresa of Avila, “that if you are to gain this [union with God], He would have you keep back nothing; whether it be little or much, He will have it all for Himself, and according to what you yourself have given to Him, the favors He will grant you will be small or great” (ibid. V, 1). The more generous our gift, the more God will anticipate us with His grace and sustain us by His omnipotent action. The ordinary way, though more hidden and less consoling than the way of mystical favors, is no less genuine or efficacious. Whether God chooses to lead us by one way or by the other, we shall never lack the necessary divine help to attain to union with Him. ## Colloquy “Lord, what power this gift has! If it be made with due resolution, it cannot fail to draw You, the Almighty, to become one with our lowliness and to transform us into Yourself and to effect a union between the Creator and the creature. “The more resolute we are in soul and the more we show You by our actions that the words we use to You are not words of mere politeness, the more and more do You draw us to Yourself and raise us above all petty earthly things, and above ourselves, in order to prepare us to receive great favors from You, for Your rewards for our service will not end with this life. So much do You value this service of ours that we do not know for what more we can ask, while You never weary of giving. “Not content with having made this soul one with Yourself, through uniting it to Yourself, You begin to cherish it, to reveal secrets to it, to rejoice in its understanding of what it has gained and in the knowledge which it has of all You have yet to give it. You begin to make such a friend of the soul that not only do You restore its will to it, but You give it Your own also. For now that You are making a friend of it, You are glad to allow it to rule with You. So You do what the soul asks of You, just as the soul does what You command, only in a much better way, since You are all-powerful and can do whatever You desire, and Your desire never comes to an end. “O my God, how precious is the union which the soul attains with You, after having established itself in submission to Your will. Oh, how much to be desired is this union, in which we resign our wills to the will of God! Happy the soul that has attained to it, for it will live peacefully both in this life, and in the next, for, apart from the peril of losing You, O Lord, or of seeing You offended, there is nothing that could afflict it, neither sickness nor poverty nor even death, for this soul sees clearly that You know what You are doing better than it knows itself what it desires!” ([[teresa-of-avila-saint|T.J.]] [[tj-way-ccel-toc|Way]], 32 — Int C V, 3). # 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]] T.J. - [[teresa-of-avila-saint|Saint Teresa of Avila]] Int C - [[tj-interior-castle-ccel|Interior Castle (Mansions) by Saint Teresa of Avila]] Way - [[tj-way-ccel-toc|Way of Perfection by Saint Teresa of Avila]] --- ![[bibliography#^biblio-di]] > [[361-unitive-love|← 361. Unitive Love]] | [[-divine-intimacy-toc|TOC]] | [[363-divine-assistance|363. Divine Assistance →]]