A soul makes room for God by wiping away all the smudges and smears of creatures, by uniting its will perfectly to God’s; for to love is to labor to divest and deprive oneself for God of all that is not God. When this is done the soul will be illumined by and transformed in God. And God will so communicate His supernatural being to it that it will appear to be God Himself and will possess what God himself posseses.”
– St. John of the Cross, The Ascent of Mount Carmel
If somebody would ask any of us if we loved God, wouldn’t we say “Yes I do!” without hesitation? But what kind of love is it? Is it a self-contained love? Or is it rather a self-emptying love that seeks to constantly give of one’s self to the loved one? Is it a complacent love? Or rather a love that tirelessly wishes to please the loved one? That “loved one” being God, of course. Let us read again what St. John of the Cross has to say about the love of God: “for to love is to labor to divest and deprive oneself for God of all that is not God.”
Let us extract the keywords from this passage that gives us the attitudes of someone who truly loves God:
1) Labor to divest
2) [Labor to] deprive oneself
The Christian who truly loves God does these “for God” and does so joyfully. I especially love the word “labor” that St. John of the Cross uses, because it is not as if these things come to us naturally and we can start anytime or any day to practice these mortifications. To strip ourselves of everything that surrounds our everyday lives “that [are] not God” requires a quite laborious effort from our part. In parallel to this effort, there is an added difficulty presented by a discernment process that seeks to understand which things are or are not God in our everyday lives. How many times don’t we make excuses for ourselves when we say, do, eat, see or hear things that we know very well are not of God or for God? We do this because we have become complacent with ourselves and the lifestyles we carry.
I am very much guilty of complacency. This complacency is a result of self-centeredness. For me, a powerful reminder of the subtle evil of such complacency is embodied in my indifference towards the suffering of my neighbors. For instance, when I am so wrapped up in myself and my problems because of how my $200 sunglasses have a small scratch, I lose an opportunity to see, to hear, to touch, to feel, or to reach out to my brothers and sisters in need. That is why I truly believe that through the stripping of unnecessary superfluities we become more human, more of what we were meant to be by our Creator.
As I have noted in all the previous reflections, an examination of conscience is required this week as well, because this way we can discern what are those things that pull us away from God. That examination of conscience can take many different shapes and directions depending on our state of life. However, the central question that should be asked in order to determine if a thing or a situation is of God or for God is rather simple and true for all of us: What is the end of such and such? In other words, what is the purpose behind me doing this or doing that? What am I trying to gain from doing this? Why am I reading this magazine about plastic surgeries and cosmetics? Why am I watching this TV show that only talks about adultery, drugs and broken relationships? We all do many things aimlessly during our day. Sometimes we don’t even know why we do them. How many times don’t we turn the TV on or surf the internet with no aim in particular? There is a great difference between watching a good documentary and the Dr. Phil show or watching Sportscenter for several hours at a time than watching an actual sporting event for its period of duration… it is all about living intentionally!
I think it is also important to remember that all of the drives we have within us are there for a purpose, are there to be used as the Creator intended. If we are doing something aimlessly, it is because some facility which we posses by virtue of our createdness is not being used towards an end (or proper end). We should strive to place every facility we possess at the service of God. It is not enough, as you suggest, that we avoid doing the bad, we must also order our desires to the good at the same time.
–Jonathan
Jonathan,
You’re absolutely right!
You have become one of my favorite writers!
“that through the stripping of unnecessary superfluities we become more human, more of what we were meant to be by our Creator.”
Awesome! Is that from a saint or was that your own?
Can I ask for a favor? Some might read your post and think that you are being too rigid. Can you connect that to beauty in some way? That is, a life lived in an intense Christian way is not moralistic but beautiful.
Also, some of us need to be reminded of that. Some have lost the sense of wonder we had, our lives becoming seemingly habitual rather than coming from the heart. And wonder is the gift that God gives us so that we will always be attracted to Him. What happens when this is lost?
Finally, what does the concept of living “for God” mean? Can you speak of that in a concrete way? Many might not have had the experiences you had, never have fallen in love the way you have.
Thanks. Please pray about my requests!
Apolonio,
Thanks for the comment! I wrote that line, but the theme is pretty much of what you will find in Fr. Thomas Dubay’s book Happy are the Poor.
You’re absolutely right about coming across as rigid and that is why the comment by Jonathan above is so crucial. I think I took for granted the fact that you can’t have one without the other in this post or my previous posts. It is not merely enough to “avoid distractions” or to practice frequent mortification if there is no divine purpose behind it, because we become then spiritual athletes for Christ and that is not what we are called to be as I explained in the Desert Fathers post. I can expand a bit more on beauty and contemplation on other posts.
And about living “for God”… I’m still trying to figure it out… ;) But I can perhaps write my views or how I try to live this way and then see what you guys have to say about it and offer some insights.
I’ll pray for you!
When one has suffered much one enters into a different relationship both with man & God. Before i became ill 6 years ago i was so complacent..now the ordinary day is a delight to me…& only what God wills is important..i like your blog & will be back!