The Love, the lover and the Beloved
Introduction:
Dear God, I would like to thank You for blessing me to feel that a crucial ingredient in my Christian life has been missing and also for blessing the reader through this sharing in a way that You like. Actually, I do not know if I can even say that my life was any Christian without this crucial affair.
To put it simply, it is about Loving our God. Or in other words, it is about the (degree of) Love between me (the Lover) and the God (the Beloved). There is another way, which is more biblical in sense, to look at this. It is the love between Jesus the Bridegroom and my soul the bride. In matters related to the way I personally feel about love, everyone else may not (or need not) feel the same way as I do. Many Christians are naturally better lovers of God that they may be loving Him without too much thinking (or having to think) about it. May be some people like me are not lovers naturally and have to think about it a lot. My soul, which I believe in God, was led to search this ingredient that is missing. Thanks to God. I was given a strong belief that this missing piece, if sought (asked and received) from God and practiced through His grace, would then improve my relationship with our God in the right way.
I am presenting my thoughts here for two purposes: the first and the major purpose is to remind me at times of need in future and the other one is to help anyone who might benefit from this in any manner.
My heart started to realize day by day that it is better if "my personal world" grows in Love towards the beloved God than to grow in anything else. With a true Love in God, which is guided by God alone, must not everything fall into its right place! In the effects of the intimate love, would not my beloved God, being the author of my life, solve my life's unique puzzle, with His elegant graceful touch, piece by piece in the way He wishes.
So I, a repenting sinner, am praying to Him for help in order to learn and know about Loving Him. It is He who caused all this feeling in me the wretched. Who else is the best to learn Love if not from the Beloved Himself? During this time, besides the fact that I am not a regular or strenuous Bible reader, I was reminded of many verses in the Holy Bible. I was guided to see some good spiritual books on this matter as well and I was fed, in a streamlined fashion, with lots
of good thoughts. I would like to do my best to summarize them here.
To put it simply, it is about Loving our God. Or in other words, it is about the (degree of) Love between me (the Lover) and the God (the Beloved). There is another way, which is more biblical in sense, to look at this. It is the love between Jesus the Bridegroom and my soul the bride. In matters related to the way I personally feel about love, everyone else may not (or need not) feel the same way as I do. Many Christians are naturally better lovers of God that they may be loving Him without too much thinking (or having to think) about it. May be some people like me are not lovers naturally and have to think about it a lot. My soul, which I believe in God, was led to search this ingredient that is missing. Thanks to God. I was given a strong belief that this missing piece, if sought (asked and received) from God and practiced through His grace, would then improve my relationship with our God in the right way.
I am presenting my thoughts here for two purposes: the first and the major purpose is to remind me at times of need in future and the other one is to help anyone who might benefit from this in any manner.
Cause and guidance:
Here I would like to give the background situations which led me towards this path. There were many
times, especially in the past, I was undergoing challenging days in my life due to two major chronic health issues. I believe all of us have some or other body or spiritual elements of suffering, that are similar in nature, in our life. Sometimes the suffering might stay for a shorter time period. The intensity and duration of the health issues could also vary from person to person depending upon their (mental/physical) state of being, social surroundings, assistance availability or accessibility, etc.
During these challenging times, for one fact, my inner being faced a dreary emptiness (in the context of this material world). It appeared to me as if the Good God was very far away from where I was. Lots of days were filled with darkness without hope. I could say that it was a cluster of deep thoughts, confusions and disappointments. During this time, everything, even the easy and regular day-to-day tasks appeared to me as huge burdens. I would often resort to short bursts of anger (mostly internal) without any perceivable reason. The times that I sleep appeared to be the best of the times (because during which I am conscientiously inactive). As a result, on these days, I regretted for waking up after that nice and deep sleep.
At the same time, I should also not forget to say that at many occasions, I was blessed by God to feel Him very close, in the sense of me thinking about Him pretty much all the time, amidst these difficulties. In my case, it was often clear in my mind that, more the pain or challenges, at least in my case as is blessed by Him, more true and serious the thoughts of God and the search for the care of God. Also, through the challenges from my health problems, as a good side effect, I was in a better position (compared to where I was before) in my ability to think about and sympathize with persons who are suffering likewise or in general. In this terms, it is certainly a blessing to wear and be felt!
Some of the Christian (mostly spiritually active) friends, that I know or happen to talk with, would observe my condition and occasionally leave a hint, either by direct or indirect remarks, that I do not have enough faith to receive the healing for my health issues. My condition became a strong reason for any passer-by (friend or no friend) to pull me to their recommendations, for example asking me to go and attend certain prayer meetings or gatherings. Most of the times, honestly, I was not in a position to be inspired or to be appeased by any of them. On one hand, what these friends have said of me and of my faith could very well be true! At this time, regarding faith, if anyone wandered to think about why God do not heal every issue then, I would like to refer to a wonderful article written by someone on the internet (please click here to read it).
On the other hand, what good does it do or give if I, poor sinner, personally cannot (or am not in a position to) realize this (i.e. the fact that I do not have enough faith). In other words, I was not aware of any feasible means to increase my "lacking" faith?
Since everything comes from God the Almighty, it occurred to me that any good virtue (which includes faith) cannot be either understood or acquired by my own "self" or strength.
On the other side, some of my friends, in a way, also have assumed that all I needed in my life was a healing for my physical health issues. Because that is what was visible to the outside eyes as an immediate necessity. I really appreciate them. Because they must have acted in love. As a matter of fact, it is very common to any human being to desire not to get into any disease or painful or strange issues. Also if one already has or gotten into such condition, then it is again a very normal human trait to strive, by all means, to get out of such condition as quick as possible. In this regard, I am not even a slight exception and so I very well have the same intentions initially at least.
Whenever the pain and suffering hit me hard, though I was kind of forced to strongly talk to God, I got panic and confused. I felt isolated from this world. Mostly because I could not be the regular and normal person. At these times, all I wanted was to hide myself for ever from anyone else. I would go to sleep and wish not to wake up again. Because many days, only during my sleep I could feel normal (like other human beings), especially because my condition also was sleeping with me. I could not think of anyone who could understand my feelings completely (especially in this regard). Mostly this is because I also could not explain the things to my ailing inner heart.
Deep inside me, on one side, I wanted an ideal and worry-free worldly life. Some of the times, I besought God in sincere prayer for healing me. Some of the times, I was wondering why this is happening! To the state of mind that I was blessed with, it was hard for me to think or conclude that God is neither listening nor answering. Because He is a loving and unfailing God, even to a sinner like me.
However, I would like to point out the other questions that were lingering in my mind simultaneously. I was restless and had no other choice but to find answers to them as best as I could. These questions would not leave my mind similar to my health problems which also would not leave. Following were some of these questions.
Why do 'I' really need to be healed of the conditions that I am suffering? Am I seeking healing just to get me out of the situation or for something else? Besides the fact that I might die any time or moment, suppose I get healed, what is going to be my life after that? Am I worrying too much? Was life guaranteed to be better, to my expectations, after getting rid of the current health challenge(s)? Do I need to be healed of the physical conditions to desire Heaven (the Kingdom of God)? What about the other brothers, sisters and children who were suffering like me or even more than what I am going through in these conditions? Are they not the individuals just like me? Won't they deserve to be healed as well? Am I not selfish if I am always just concerned about my personal healing only? What makes me so special among all the others in the world, who are similarly afflicted, to deserve the healing in the first place? What if the chronic conditions, and the resulted restrictions, are beneficial to my life and soul in the context of eternity and in the love of God? Would I be thinking about or talking to God this much had I not have these conditions? Well, the list of questions goes on. I believe I presented the important ones, because I cannot possibly gather and present here all the questions that my mind went through during these years.
At times, due to the fact that I entertained these "seemingly contradictory" questions more and more to wander and gain importance in my mind, I started to accuse myself for not having a simple heart. I do not know if any one having similar physical conditions having similar questions. May be I was arrogant and thinking beyond what is necessary of a true Christian. I did not even know if these questions were completely originated from myself. These questions would not leave me even if I wanted them to leave. They stayed stubbornly in there crying to get the answers as if the answers would help me in some way towards the desired inner peace and life, if not the healing.
At times, I was in a state of extreme secret worry. Now and then I started to plead Jesus, my God, to help me so that I can feel peaceful and strong. Sometimes, I also thought that God could already be near (or at least near to) my soul. So I blamed myself for not in a position to feel Him and/or feel His warmth.
Sooner but slowly, all these questions appeared to dissolve and got revamped into this one big question. That is - What am I missing to feel the Good God? or what am I missing to be in the right relationship with God? My inner being was blessed to conclude that it would be just sufficient to find the answer to this one question, regardless of what physical state I am in.
In other words, my inner being repeatedly seems to be asking to itself the following question! Regardless of the condition (especially the worldly or heavenly condition) that I am presently in, if I am in an intimate and good relationship with the Loving God, then shouldn't it make everything else alright and straight? In spite of many months of meditation on this thought, guided by God as I believe, I was not given any wisdom to disagree with myself on this fact! It felt like, this is the key of peace to my agony. It is sweet to be reminded of a Bible verse in favor of this thought Romans 8:28 - And we know that to them that love God, all things work together unto good, to such as, according to his purpose, are called to be saints.
Well, eventually I do not know or I cannot say much about me lacking in faith. But, on the other hand, I am thankful to be blessed to feel and be convinced that I do not have enough (or any) love with God. It occurred to me that at any point of one's life, regardless of how saintly one may have been blessed with, no person can dare to say or claim that he or she has enough love in God? In short, as far as this time of my life is concerned, I felt like all I need is Love - that is a Love that grows constantly - towards the Supreme Good God. The more the Lover and the Beloved get intimate in spirit, the more peace and assurance can be found in everything that happens (in and around), irrespective of how it is viewed by the outside world. This is similar to the intimacy and love between romantic lovers, which at times is seen by this world as crazy, strange and mysterious.
During these challenging times, for one fact, my inner being faced a dreary emptiness (in the context of this material world). It appeared to me as if the Good God was very far away from where I was. Lots of days were filled with darkness without hope. I could say that it was a cluster of deep thoughts, confusions and disappointments. During this time, everything, even the easy and regular day-to-day tasks appeared to me as huge burdens. I would often resort to short bursts of anger (mostly internal) without any perceivable reason. The times that I sleep appeared to be the best of the times (because during which I am conscientiously inactive). As a result, on these days, I regretted for waking up after that nice and deep sleep.
At the same time, I should also not forget to say that at many occasions, I was blessed by God to feel Him very close, in the sense of me thinking about Him pretty much all the time, amidst these difficulties. In my case, it was often clear in my mind that, more the pain or challenges, at least in my case as is blessed by Him, more true and serious the thoughts of God and the search for the care of God. Also, through the challenges from my health problems, as a good side effect, I was in a better position (compared to where I was before) in my ability to think about and sympathize with persons who are suffering likewise or in general. In this terms, it is certainly a blessing to wear and be felt!
Some of the Christian (mostly spiritually active) friends, that I know or happen to talk with, would observe my condition and occasionally leave a hint, either by direct or indirect remarks, that I do not have enough faith to receive the healing for my health issues. My condition became a strong reason for any passer-by (friend or no friend) to pull me to their recommendations, for example asking me to go and attend certain prayer meetings or gatherings. Most of the times, honestly, I was not in a position to be inspired or to be appeased by any of them. On one hand, what these friends have said of me and of my faith could very well be true! At this time, regarding faith, if anyone wandered to think about why God do not heal every issue then, I would like to refer to a wonderful article written by someone on the internet (please click here to read it).
On the other hand, what good does it do or give if I, poor sinner, personally cannot (or am not in a position to) realize this (i.e. the fact that I do not have enough faith). In other words, I was not aware of any feasible means to increase my "lacking" faith?
Since everything comes from God the Almighty, it occurred to me that any good virtue (which includes faith) cannot be either understood or acquired by my own "self" or strength.
On the other side, some of my friends, in a way, also have assumed that all I needed in my life was a healing for my physical health issues. Because that is what was visible to the outside eyes as an immediate necessity. I really appreciate them. Because they must have acted in love. As a matter of fact, it is very common to any human being to desire not to get into any disease or painful or strange issues. Also if one already has or gotten into such condition, then it is again a very normal human trait to strive, by all means, to get out of such condition as quick as possible. In this regard, I am not even a slight exception and so I very well have the same intentions initially at least.
Whenever the pain and suffering hit me hard, though I was kind of forced to strongly talk to God, I got panic and confused. I felt isolated from this world. Mostly because I could not be the regular and normal person. At these times, all I wanted was to hide myself for ever from anyone else. I would go to sleep and wish not to wake up again. Because many days, only during my sleep I could feel normal (like other human beings), especially because my condition also was sleeping with me. I could not think of anyone who could understand my feelings completely (especially in this regard). Mostly this is because I also could not explain the things to my ailing inner heart.
Deep inside me, on one side, I wanted an ideal and worry-free worldly life. Some of the times, I besought God in sincere prayer for healing me. Some of the times, I was wondering why this is happening! To the state of mind that I was blessed with, it was hard for me to think or conclude that God is neither listening nor answering. Because He is a loving and unfailing God, even to a sinner like me.
However, I would like to point out the other questions that were lingering in my mind simultaneously. I was restless and had no other choice but to find answers to them as best as I could. These questions would not leave my mind similar to my health problems which also would not leave. Following were some of these questions.
Why do 'I' really need to be healed of the conditions that I am suffering? Am I seeking healing just to get me out of the situation or for something else? Besides the fact that I might die any time or moment, suppose I get healed, what is going to be my life after that? Am I worrying too much? Was life guaranteed to be better, to my expectations, after getting rid of the current health challenge(s)? Do I need to be healed of the physical conditions to desire Heaven (the Kingdom of God)? What about the other brothers, sisters and children who were suffering like me or even more than what I am going through in these conditions? Are they not the individuals just like me? Won't they deserve to be healed as well? Am I not selfish if I am always just concerned about my personal healing only? What makes me so special among all the others in the world, who are similarly afflicted, to deserve the healing in the first place? What if the chronic conditions, and the resulted restrictions, are beneficial to my life and soul in the context of eternity and in the love of God? Would I be thinking about or talking to God this much had I not have these conditions? Well, the list of questions goes on. I believe I presented the important ones, because I cannot possibly gather and present here all the questions that my mind went through during these years.
At times, due to the fact that I entertained these "seemingly contradictory" questions more and more to wander and gain importance in my mind, I started to accuse myself for not having a simple heart. I do not know if any one having similar physical conditions having similar questions. May be I was arrogant and thinking beyond what is necessary of a true Christian. I did not even know if these questions were completely originated from myself. These questions would not leave me even if I wanted them to leave. They stayed stubbornly in there crying to get the answers as if the answers would help me in some way towards the desired inner peace and life, if not the healing.
At times, I was in a state of extreme secret worry. Now and then I started to plead Jesus, my God, to help me so that I can feel peaceful and strong. Sometimes, I also thought that God could already be near (or at least near to) my soul. So I blamed myself for not in a position to feel Him and/or feel His warmth.
Sooner but slowly, all these questions appeared to dissolve and got revamped into this one big question. That is - What am I missing to feel the Good God? or what am I missing to be in the right relationship with God? My inner being was blessed to conclude that it would be just sufficient to find the answer to this one question, regardless of what physical state I am in.
In other words, my inner being repeatedly seems to be asking to itself the following question! Regardless of the condition (especially the worldly or heavenly condition) that I am presently in, if I am in an intimate and good relationship with the Loving God, then shouldn't it make everything else alright and straight? In spite of many months of meditation on this thought, guided by God as I believe, I was not given any wisdom to disagree with myself on this fact! It felt like, this is the key of peace to my agony. It is sweet to be reminded of a Bible verse in favor of this thought Romans 8:28 - And we know that to them that love God, all things work together unto good, to such as, according to his purpose, are called to be saints.
Well, eventually I do not know or I cannot say much about me lacking in faith. But, on the other hand, I am thankful to be blessed to feel and be convinced that I do not have enough (or any) love with God. It occurred to me that at any point of one's life, regardless of how saintly one may have been blessed with, no person can dare to say or claim that he or she has enough love in God? In short, as far as this time of my life is concerned, I felt like all I need is Love - that is a Love that grows constantly - towards the Supreme Good God. The more the Lover and the Beloved get intimate in spirit, the more peace and assurance can be found in everything that happens (in and around), irrespective of how it is viewed by the outside world. This is similar to the intimacy and love between romantic lovers, which at times is seen by this world as crazy, strange and mysterious.
My heart started to realize day by day that it is better if "my personal world" grows in Love towards the beloved God than to grow in anything else. With a true Love in God, which is guided by God alone, must not everything fall into its right place! In the effects of the intimate love, would not my beloved God, being the author of my life, solve my life's unique puzzle, with His elegant graceful touch, piece by piece in the way He wishes.
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More on Love (as He blessed in me)
Out of all the things, one thing stands out as the primary thing that is this wonderful Bible verse. I have never read or heard this verse before, at least in this manner. In the verses of the book Deuteronomy
and chapter 6, our most wonderful Creator, God the Father, after giving the Ten
Commandments and the following commandment about Loving Him, urges me to
do the following:
[5] Thou shalt love the Lord thy God
with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole
strength. [6] And these words which I command thee this day, shall be
in thy heart: [7] And thou shalt tell them to thy children, and thou
shalt meditate upon them sitting in thy house, and walking on thy
journey, sleeping and rising. [8] And thou shalt bind them as a sign
on thy hand, and they shall be and shall move between thy eyes. [9]
And thou shalt write them in the entry, and on the doors of thy house
Please note the following words - While sitting, while walking, while sleeping, while rising, while going to places, while seeing!!!
My dear friend, I sincerely hope and pray to God that you and me get blessed by the Lord to have the vision to realize the true meaning of this message and to carry this in every moment of our life.
Well, these verses demands the depths of my mind to think about the manner in which God urges me with regard to Loving Him. What is the closest relationship in this world who would do these things? I mean, thinking about the beloved or the lover when walking, sleeping, rising, eating, etc. In which relationship one would be glad to tattoo the name or some indication of the beloved! And in which relationship, one would keep the beloved's picture always in front of (that is between) the eyes. Also during which relationship, one would be very thrilled, happy and be proud to write the name of the beloved or the lover in the desk or in the cell phone or on the wallet, etc. It is obviously and undeniably the romantic love relationship between a girl and a guy (especially before wedding). Is not God wants to have such a relationship between me and Him? Can anyone else dare to prove me wrong?
Why the omniscient God, who would not do things without good reason or purpose, has to urge me thus?
Is this not to make sure that I shall not forget about Loving Him? Or in other words, is this not to indicate me that I, as a human being, would easily tend to forget His recommendations or commands? Is this not to urge me to Love Him every possible moment of my life with all that I have? Is this not to make sure that I should get its true meaning by fully experiencing it every moment? Is it not to urge us to really taste every moment and see that the Lord is good (Psalm 34:8)? Sure, there must be more to these verses than the things that I am able to comprehend or mention here at this moment.
When God says or commands a certain thing, He would not do it in vain. Just a few moments of observing a tiny bird in nature would be sufficient to prove this fact. He knows the best of what we (His creatures) need to do. After all He is the God, He is the provider and the sustain-er of life and so unarguably He has to be the only Beloved.
With this said, it is trembling to learn about my personal carelessness on the words of the Mighty God, my true beloved, especially when He is openly telling me to carry and live these words wherever I go and have them as a focus in all the things that I do. In the Bible, to my limited knowledge, I haven't seen in any other contexts, has God the Creator, in His direct words, urges me to do a thing, especially in this manner. It is one and only when He talks to me about Loving Him.
So it would be better if every breath that I take joyfully whispers Love on the Beloved God. It would not be exaggerating to say or feel the words "Beloved God, I Love You" or "Beloved God, I would like to love you more" when breathing in and "Thanks for Your Love" or "Give me more love" when breathing out.
After the fact that my Supreme Beloved God asking me to Love Him in this manner, let me think about how far do I follow it?
To be true to myself, the answer is a simple No. Simply I do not follow it even to the slightest. On the contrary, as a practical point, I love to watch movies more than praying or thinking about the Beloved God. In the other extreme, I also get a secret pleasure in watching violent or sexually explicit materials. At times, I am curious to read evil news. I love to gossip. As a man, I enjoy looking at ladies in a lustful manner. I still love to sit and talk for hours, about (most of the times useless) things, with my friends in the late nights.
But when it comes to talking to God for few minutes in prayer, in my heart, I quickly and stealthily find reasons to escape. Also, when I pray, which I do very rare by the way, I am absolutely sure that I do not give my whole heart or whole soul or whole strength. Rather I just pray with lots of distractions of the past, present and future. Even with one prayer a week, I tend to develop pride and an evil satisfaction thinking that I have accomplished something.
I have no doubt in concluding that I am the meanest person with respect to Loving God. This also simply proves that I hardly did Love Him and do not even love Him to the slightest. It says in the Bible - Taste and see the goodness of the Lord (Psalms 34:8). Do I really taste or able to taste or willing to taste His goodness? Can I wake up and not hesitate at least in begging Him to give me the taste buds, that is the sight or understanding or whatever is needed, to do so?
In other words, by ignoring to Love Him, I have wounded my beloved God.
As written by Fr. M. Eugene Boylan, "Love means an exercise of affection, not an exhibition of honor. Honor is given by him who is awe-stricken, who is astounded, who is terrified, and who is filled with admiration. But non of these emotions has any place in the lover. Love is all sufficient for itself. ". And in another place, Father says- "To God alone are due honor and glory; but God will refuse to accept both the one and the other unless they are sweetened with the honey of Love".
St. Bernard, in his book "On the Love of God", says the following:
"You ask me, for what reason and in what method or measure God should be loved. I reply. The reason for loving God is God: the method and measure is to love Him without method or measure".
He also says: "How should the soul that loves God seek any other reward of her love save God! If she seeketh any other, she assuredly love that, not God."
Another saying of St. Alphonsus Ligouri is worth notable in this context - He who loves God because he finds in Him his own happiness has an interested, a selfish love, which really belongs to the virtue of hope and not to love. But he who loves God because for His (God's) own sake He deserves to be loved, has the true and genuine love of friendship.
Would I simply not desire then to improve my love (or romance) relationship with God?
Thanks to God in blessing me to feel that I would like to Love Him. As an analogy, lot of the people see a girl or vice-versa, one ends up seeing the best of her and becomes the best lover. Though I am not worthy of this wonderful gift, thanks to God for planting this desire in my wretched being. But where and how would I start this beautiful endeavor in order to enter into this wonderful (miraculous) journey of Love. Who else, other than the Beloved God Himself, could I seek and ask for help in this regard?
Dear most loving God, please help me (and people like me), the lowly and unworthy, on this - the most and the only important - matter of my life. I would like to feel the true regret for my mistakes. I would like to start to Love you more. Please You Yourself justify and fortify my desire, or else it would become an empty sound! Because without Thou, nothing I am.
But when it comes to talking to God for few minutes in prayer, in my heart, I quickly and stealthily find reasons to escape. Also, when I pray, which I do very rare by the way, I am absolutely sure that I do not give my whole heart or whole soul or whole strength. Rather I just pray with lots of distractions of the past, present and future. Even with one prayer a week, I tend to develop pride and an evil satisfaction thinking that I have accomplished something.
I have no doubt in concluding that I am the meanest person with respect to Loving God. This also simply proves that I hardly did Love Him and do not even love Him to the slightest. It says in the Bible - Taste and see the goodness of the Lord (Psalms 34:8). Do I really taste or able to taste or willing to taste His goodness? Can I wake up and not hesitate at least in begging Him to give me the taste buds, that is the sight or understanding or whatever is needed, to do so?
In other words, by ignoring to Love Him, I have wounded my beloved God.
Love is different from hope, honor, etc.
At the same time, in order not to confuse (as I did), it is important to see what Love by itself is not.As written by Fr. M. Eugene Boylan, "Love means an exercise of affection, not an exhibition of honor. Honor is given by him who is awe-stricken, who is astounded, who is terrified, and who is filled with admiration. But non of these emotions has any place in the lover. Love is all sufficient for itself. ". And in another place, Father says- "To God alone are due honor and glory; but God will refuse to accept both the one and the other unless they are sweetened with the honey of Love".
St. Bernard, in his book "On the Love of God", says the following:
"You ask me, for what reason and in what method or measure God should be loved. I reply. The reason for loving God is God: the method and measure is to love Him without method or measure".
He also says: "How should the soul that loves God seek any other reward of her love save God! If she seeketh any other, she assuredly love that, not God."
Another saying of St. Alphonsus Ligouri is worth notable in this context - He who loves God because he finds in Him his own happiness has an interested, a selfish love, which really belongs to the virtue of hope and not to love. But he who loves God because for His (God's) own sake He deserves to be loved, has the true and genuine love of friendship.
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Would I simply not desire then to improve my love (or romance) relationship with God?
Thanks to God in blessing me to feel that I would like to Love Him. As an analogy, lot of the people see a girl or vice-versa, one ends up seeing the best of her and becomes the best lover. Though I am not worthy of this wonderful gift, thanks to God for planting this desire in my wretched being. But where and how would I start this beautiful endeavor in order to enter into this wonderful (miraculous) journey of Love. Who else, other than the Beloved God Himself, could I seek and ask for help in this regard?
Dear most loving God, please help me (and people like me), the lowly and unworthy, on this - the most and the only important - matter of my life. I would like to feel the true regret for my mistakes. I would like to start to Love you more. Please You Yourself justify and fortify my desire, or else it would become an empty sound! Because without Thou, nothing I am.
During these days, I happened to come across a book called the "The Book of the Lover and the Beloved" written by Bl. Ramon Llull. His famous phrase is "He who loves not lives not". This book talks, in a poetic manner, all about the Love between the lover (Ramon Llull) and the Beloved (my Savior Jesus Christ). I thank God for introducing this book to me. Here is an extract from the book:
What meanest thou by love? said the Beloved. And the lover answered: "It is to bear on one's heart the sacred marks and the sweet words of the Beloved. It is to long for the Beloved with desire and with tears. It is boldness. It is fervour. It is fear. It is the desire for the Beloved above all things. It is that which causes the Lover to grow faint when he hears the Beloved's praises. It is that in which I die daily, and in which is all my will."
What meanest thou by love? said the Beloved. And the lover answered: "It is to bear on one's heart the sacred marks and the sweet words of the Beloved. It is to long for the Beloved with desire and with tears. It is boldness. It is fervour. It is fear. It is the desire for the Beloved above all things. It is that which causes the Lover to grow faint when he hears the Beloved's praises. It is that in which I die daily, and in which is all my will."
Non Christians as well like these words so much (because I have seen some of these verses framed on the walls of non Christian homes). In 1Corinthians 13:4-10 - Love is patient, is kind: love envieth not, dealeth not perversely; is not puffed up; Love is not ambitious, seeketh not her own, is not provoked to anger, thinketh no evil; Love Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth with the truth; Love Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Love never falleth away
This following thing occurred to me regarding the confusion that I had between the virtue of faith and love. If God bestows in me the true love for Him, then the virtue of faith will automatically develop to its need and sufficiency. At the same time, it is very important not to forget that the seeds of any virtue, whether be Love or Faith, have to be sown in us only by our God Himself.
Therefore, Love gets packaged not only with faith but also with all the other good virtues. All the virtues come along as a bonus with Love. It is like "buy this one and get all the others for free". St. Alphonsus Ligouri says: "Love has all other virtues in her train according to the teaching of St. Paul".
Therefore, Love gets packaged not only with faith but also with all the other good virtues. All the virtues come along as a bonus with Love. It is like "buy this one and get all the others for free". St. Alphonsus Ligouri says: "Love has all other virtues in her train according to the teaching of St. Paul".
St. Paul says in 1
Corin. 13:13 - And now there remains faith, hope and charity,
these three: but the greatest of these is charity.
Here, St. Paul elevates Love above all
other possible Christian virtues. Because, it is still possible to
hold the other virtues without sufficient amount of Love that is required (or better to have)
of a Christian. Love is the true life and soul of other virtues.
Love seems to have a profound impact on my relationship with God, analogous to the impact of an authenticated signature on a very important official letter. If the authenticated signature is not there as a part of the letter, one cannot be sure of the truth of the content in the letter.
Love seems to have a profound impact on my relationship with God, analogous to the impact of an authenticated signature on a very important official letter. If the authenticated signature is not there as a part of the letter, one cannot be sure of the truth of the content in the letter.
Other good virtues can also be thought of as the
byproducts of Love. Virtues, unless secretly evil in their intent, are the possible indicators of Love. If I have true Love, I
would also have the virtues. The converse could be but need not be true.
Love (Loving God) is the true and sole purpose of everything in my (Christian) life.
Several times as I remember, I have been doing things without this true purpose. Sometimes, I start out fine, but eventually lose the real purpose of the act. This had led me to errors and left me with lack of the true Peace. Because, without the true purpose, my idle mind develops and attaches other worldly (material) purposes to these (virtuous) acts. So most of the times, when I begin any (virtuous) act, I do fine. It is only as days or time go by, other ungodly things creep in (and gain weight) especially because of my lack of focus and sight. For example, I would like to and make sure to attend Sunday service every week at a certain time mainly so that I can meet with certain people. In the past, many times, I enjoyed spending hours reading the Bible just to learn and boastfully talk about it with others in order to manifest my knowledge. Honestly, it is not hard for me to build up this list to numerous.
Love (Loving God) is the true and sole purpose of everything in my (Christian) life.
I
consider my soul as a high mountain with Jesus resting against it to
prevent it from falling. Yes, it is indeed so! If Jesus did not sustain
me I should fall. . . . 0 my God, make haste that I die, and die of love
for Jesus! Do You not see that my heart and my body are in the throes
of an agony and that I am on fire? Do You not see that I am a victim of
love and that I shall soon die of love? The world wearies me; I long for
one thing only, love, love, love.' - See more at:
http://www.stgemmagalgani.com/2010/11/words-of-jesus-on-suffering-reason-for.html#sthash.dceYdcKI.dpuf
So whatever I do, I should always say
to myself that I am doing this because God has loved me, because God is loving me, because of the Love between God and me and certainly not because of anything else.
Several times as I remember, I have been doing things without this true purpose. Sometimes, I start out fine, but eventually lose the real purpose of the act. This had led me to errors and left me with lack of the true Peace. Because, without the true purpose, my idle mind develops and attaches other worldly (material) purposes to these (virtuous) acts. So most of the times, when I begin any (virtuous) act, I do fine. It is only as days or time go by, other ungodly things creep in (and gain weight) especially because of my lack of focus and sight. For example, I would like to and make sure to attend Sunday service every week at a certain time mainly so that I can meet with certain people. In the past, many times, I enjoyed spending hours reading the Bible just to learn and boastfully talk about it with others in order to manifest my knowledge. Honestly, it is not hard for me to build up this list to numerous.
St. Paul in the book of Colossians,
chapter 3, says - But above all these things (other virtues) have charity, which
is the bond of perfection.
In other words, Love binds all the things and make them complete in the eyes of the Lord. Again, I feel like saying about Love in this manner: Love binds together and unites the wills of God and mine.
Love goes to places where other virtues sometimes cannot or dare not go (example, Apostle Peter and John daring to enter the courtrooms where our Lord Jesus was sentenced and tortured). Love is able to do the things that is very hard or impossible to do otherwise.
Love does not need to work miracles or it does not require miracles for its survival. Love lives its every moment in miracle. Love embraces every unit of time as a miraculous, mystical, perfect and joyful moment between the lover and the Beloved.
Love is a miracle.
This is because the person who is in Love with God certainly realizes without any doubt that he or she cannot do anything on their own without Him, in other words nothing is possible or everything is impossible (for him or her) without God. Is not miracle, an impossible thing that becomes possible?
Love does not boast (1 Corinthans 13:4 – Love is not puffed up). If I hold on to any of the other virtues (or even any act), literally or just for duty sake, that is without Love (in God), then it would be an easy target to many vices including pride. It is possible for me to lose the real sight by over concentrating on holding on to some virtue or rule. Without the true Love in God, I would not have much difficulty or doubt in certifying that the "complete" credit (of all virtues and achievements) goes to my personal or to some other human efforts (when the truth just being the opposite). In the parable of the Pharisee and the tax-collector (Luke 18:11), it clearly occurs to me that the tax-collector had more Love with God than the pharisee. We can contemplate the good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) parable as well for true Love.
The destination of every Christian is to reach the Kingdom of God. From the following different verses of the Bible, we can see how Love leads us to the Kingdom of God. In Romans 13:10, St. Paul says: Love therefore is the fulfilling of the law. Our Saviour Jesus says, fulfillment of the law (with Love) gets us the everlasting life that is the entrance into the Kingdom of God (Please see Mark 10:17).
In John 14:23, our Lord says: If any one love me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and will make our abode with him.
Here it becomes clear that, if we do
not love our Lord Jesus, we cannot keep the commandments in the true heavenly sense nor we
can follow our Lord.
Love for this world will make us gradually blind to, and in our hearts diminish the importance of, our Lord's commandments; It will twist their meaning to suit them to the standards of the world of today; it will dare to certify to our heart that the Lord's commandments are outdated things, are not applicable anymore and needs to be adjusted (to well suit our wisdom); and it will present our Lord's commandments as unnecessary by justifying that the present times (of this world) are wiser and better than the Biblical times.
Love has its roots to the Heavenly God (because God is Love). Heavenly God is eternal and not temporary. Therefore, Love has its foundation in the eternal soul and so the most in the spiritual side of a human being. Love would surpass this worldly life.
Love for this world will make us gradually blind to, and in our hearts diminish the importance of, our Lord's commandments; It will twist their meaning to suit them to the standards of the world of today; it will dare to certify to our heart that the Lord's commandments are outdated things, are not applicable anymore and needs to be adjusted (to well suit our wisdom); and it will present our Lord's commandments as unnecessary by justifying that the present times (of this world) are wiser and better than the Biblical times.
Love has its roots to the Heavenly God (because God is Love). Heavenly God is eternal and not temporary. Therefore, Love has its foundation in the eternal soul and so the most in the spiritual side of a human being. Love would surpass this worldly life.
Faith and hope, though intertwined with Love so much, would not be necessary when we are done with this world. Because after this world, a good person, who is welcomed in Heaven, would see God face to face and witness all that He is. These words are certainly not written in a way to undermine the virtues of faith and hope, but just to emphasize the importance of love. As long as I am in this world, blessings of all virtues as graced to me by God (or any other person) are necessary. All good virtues including Love are gifts from the Good God.
In 1 John 4:8, He that loveth not, knoweth not God: for God is charity.
This verse logically also means, God only knows those who love Him. I have read else where that this word "know" is used in our Bible in the meaning of a husband knowing his wife or the other way round. Don't we know so many spouses, after so many years into their married life, who could easily say that they do not know their partners enough, despite the longs years of life that was filled with lots of family deeds and duties.
May be the following people who are mentioned in this Bible verse [Mathew 7:22] are similar in nature and did not love the Lord at all despite of their deeds. Many will say to me in that day: Lord, Lord, have not we prophesied in thy name, and cast out devils in thy name, and done many miracles in thy name? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, you that work iniquity.]
Love puts me in the sight of God . Like the blinkers on the eyes of a horse on a race course, Love puts blinkers on the eyes of my soul and body to keep them stay on the track of the will of God and not to end up wandering into the sideways. Love is like a standard gauge of everything in a (Christian) soul.
A statement, that is like a final verdict, comes out
from the Holy Mouth of our beloved Savior Jesus Christ. In the verses of the
book Mathew
and chapter 22, our Lord gives the key to the gates of Heaven and eternal Happiness. God had not shown me elsewhere these marvelous words in this
manner of explicit simplicity and reach-ability. Also, Lord Jesus Christ gives us the path to Heaven (and Salvation) in this lifetime itself. Our Lord is the Light of the world and He is the Salvation.
[36] Master, which is the greatest
commandment in the law? [37] Jesus said to him: Thou shalt love the
Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with
thy whole mind. [38] This is the greatest and the first commandment.
[39] And the second is like to this: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as
thyself. [40] On these two commandments dependeth the whole law and
the prophets.
It is not too much to read these verses every day at least once. It is worth to note the words "The whole law and the prophets depend
on these two commandments". Well, this is assured by our Lord Jesus. With Jesus Christ as my savior and path to eternal Life, to how much extent do I believe, realize and live the truth of this statement.
Similarly, to avoid another confusion, it is important to understand one more fact. That is - following the first commandment will certainly and automatically lead us to the second commandment. As a matter of fact, this is the proper approach to follow the commandments. That is the second one through the first or the second one in the context of the first. Following the second without the context of the first would not make any eternal and true sense. St. Catherine of Genoa once said to Our Lord: "O my God, Thou commandest me to love my neighbor, I can love no one but Thee." Our Saviour replied: "My daughter, whoever loves Me loves everything that is loved by Me.". From this the same saint concludes: "If you wish to know how much a person loves his God, see how much he loves his neighbor".
Similarly, to avoid another confusion, it is important to understand one more fact. That is - following the first commandment will certainly and automatically lead us to the second commandment. As a matter of fact, this is the proper approach to follow the commandments. That is the second one through the first or the second one in the context of the first. Following the second without the context of the first would not make any eternal and true sense. St. Catherine of Genoa once said to Our Lord: "O my God, Thou commandest me to love my neighbor, I can love no one but Thee." Our Saviour replied: "My daughter, whoever loves Me loves everything that is loved by Me.". From this the same saint concludes: "If you wish to know how much a person loves his God, see how much he loves his neighbor".
It would not be excessive to say that the following saints in the Holy Bible not only had all the virtues, but more than that they also had Love towards their Beloved. The poor widow who gave all that she had (Love seeketh not her own and not ambitious), The good Samaritan forgetting himself and his own journey to help the wounded (Love cares). St. Peter and St. John following Jesus into the courtroom where Jesus was tortured and sentenced (Love is blind and crazy), St. John till Calvary (Love is kind, believeth in all things and courageous), Abel offering the first and the best ones to God, Abraham humbly offering his beloved son Isaac on request (Love obeys, is patient and beareth all things; Love builds unblemished faith), all the martyrs like St. Stephen who willingly suffered painful death (Love is faithful and endureth all things), etc. We may find more such examples (of love stories) in the Bible and in the history.
Also, if I am a Christian today, I should realize that it is because of one reason. Also, I (could) hope in Salvation for the same one reason. It is
only because of the (manifestation of the) Love of our God towards me (humankind). I shall mark in my heart and soul that it
is only because of God’s Love.
In John
chapter 3, our Lord says:
For God so loved the world, as to give
his only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in him, may not
perish, but may have life everlasting
The Other side of Love
Act of Love is fulfilled only when it is felt by the person who is being loved. This is also very important thing to meditate. Love can be perfectly measured by the way how the beloved feels (or enjoys) it. I cannot only just show love by giving out something that I already have in abundance. A gift given or a skill demonstrated or an act done from the side of the Lover would be vain if it does not really reach or please or satisfy the beloved. Mary pleased the Lord more just by sitting with the Lord quietly doing nothing compared to her sister Martha who went on to do all kinds of chores for the same purpose.What else is (the purpose and worth of) Love if it does not satisfy (or please) the beloved?
Are not so many divorces in married life occur even without the reason of infidelity or unfaithfulness in the picture? I believe many of them are because one or either of the spouses become dry and could not feel any love from their partner.
In order to please my spouse, sometimes, I think to myself many things and and do something. But she would have her desires on something entirely different like wanting me to sit with her for some time quietly or to sit with her to hear her talk.
Everything must be in Love of God, for the Love of God and out of Love for God. If not, other vices will get in and gain strength to assume ownership of what we do (even if it is a spiritual virtue).
A perfect lover, in order to love the beloved, would always be on the desire to (find the things that would) please the beloved and do them gladly.
St. Paul speaks in Bible in various places about pleasing our God: Romans 8:8 & Ephesians 5:10. The latter verse says - Try to discover what the Lord wants of you. Who, other than a good lover, would search to find what pleases to Him?
I remember, when I started to love my wife before we were married, first notable thing is that I was thinking about her all the time. I really mean it. Then I was always looking for ways to make her smile, to make her happy, etc. I could sacrifice anything including my life for my love on her and for her love. I also was keen to hide my love for her from others so that it can be completely consumed and enjoyed by both of us in its totality. We were colleagues working (as college lecturers) in the same department for couple years. In the department office room, all the lecturers had desks as open cubes in a big square hall (department). Everyone could see everyone else. Students will fill the office room many times of the day. Even at the busiest times of the day, when lots of people talking and moving back and forth, I would still establish "secret" eye contacts with her and talk with her by maintaining a hidden channel. When we were physically away, I would not mind talking to her over the phone any time of the day. In those days, we did not have cell phones. I will gladly walk miles to a public telephone booth to talk to her. After I finish speaking with her, I never minded about the amount of time I waited for my chance for the phone in the booth. Also I would talk to her in almost any physical weakness. My occasional sicknesses would not be a thing at all in the path of my love. Whenever I hurt her feelings (which was rare y the way), I could not be at peace. I could not sleep. I was restless until I met her the next day to settle things up and see her smile again. Well, thinking about those days, they were the sweet time of my life.
Haven't God taught me (in a worldly way) a good lesson on how to love? This is after all true for the human spouse of my physical life here. I am not saying that this kind of love is bad or anything. I am just saying that our Lord and Heavenly Spouse is infinitely high and worthy of my love than anything else in this world. Is it not then easily justifiable to ask me to love Him with all my heart, with all my soul and with all my mind? We have heard that saintly people going into physical stances that does not abide by natural laws when engaged in the exchange of Love with God who is the author of Love himself.
Comparing to my love towards worldly things, how about me when I love the Heavenly Spiritual Spouse of my life? Do I do the same at least? The simple and honest answer is "no". I also rarely find myself in searching or contemplating on the various ways to please the Lord. Even if I do, I will try to find or develop some human (material) benefit to initiate and persevere on it.
Similarly, I would not take any efforts to hide even any infinitely small action of love to God. And I would not pray with concentration even if everything in this world is silent. On the contrary, many times, I could watch a movie with all the concentration in spite of all the noise around. If I am sick, I would take privilege to skip Sunday Service or prayer.
Again, would I go sleepless after hurting my God? Most of the times, I do not even realize that I am hurting my God. Even if I do, I would simply disregard the matter thinking that He is all forgiving. Would I be restless until I reconcile with this Loving God? Most of the answers are no. If the answer is yes, then it is not without doubts.
Truly, I am ashamed of myself. It is rather simple to say that I never loved my Heavenly Spiritual Spouse at all. I would better renounce being a Christian if I am going to continue this way. Many times, I have told others, without even the slightest of shame, that I am a Christian.
Why am I like this?
Do I realize who my Heavenly Spouse is? Do I remember how He Loved me? What are the targets of my ungrateful eyes and senses? Doesn't the nature and the environment around me constantly manifest and illustrate the love of God for me? Doesn't His sufferings and painful death on the Cross, in order to rescue this unworthy me from an eternal damnation to an eternal blessing, not enough to animate my senses? Is this not enough to show His abundant Love for me? What else He could have sacrificed if not life itself? Isn't He the Most beautiful? Isn't He the Heavenly Prince? Isn't He the most rich? Isn't He the source of all Goodness that I can and cannot comprehend with my senses? Isn't He the Mighty, even to our senses in the form of natural phenomenons like thunder, lightning, tornado, storms, etc? Oh? How will I end this train of thoughts?
With all this, my behavior in return to God is indifference, ingratitude and arrogance. All I have is fake and empty Love.
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Means of Advancing in Gods Love (Saintly Recommendations)
In the book "The 12 steps to holiness and salvation" written by St. Alphonsus Ligouri, following guidelines are given as the five means of advancing in God's Love. Everything given below in this extract is directly copied from the same book except the italicized words.
1. Ardent desire for this perfect Love - because I would take little or no pains in striving to obtain that for which I have little or no desire. If I cannot have or develop the desire to Love God, I shall at least take efforts to ask the God to help me.
2. Renouncing all love that does not refer to God - the pure Love of God consumes in heart all that is not God, to turn everything into love, for all that man does for God is love. St. Paul in Phil 3:8 says: "I count all things but as dung that I may gain Christ". St. Francis de Sales says: If a house is on fire, they throw everything out the window. As soon as a heart is inflamed with the love of God it seeks to divest itself of everything earthly so as to love nothing but God.
3. No self-love - To deny oneself by gladly embracing what is opposed to self-love, and refusing oneself what self-love demands. St. Francis de Sales says that our self-love wants to have a share in everything even in things the most holy. For this reason, we must love even virtue without attachment. For example, it is necessary to love prayer and solitude. But when obedience and charity prevent us from devoting ourselves to prayer and solitude we should not be disquieted, but accept resignedly everything that happens by the will of God to thwart our inclinations.
Self-love does my own will. St. Alphonsus Ligouri says: Mortification, meditation, receiving Holy Communion, acts of fraternal charity are all certainly pleasing to God-but only when they are in accordance with His will. When they do not accord with God's will, He not only finds no pleasure in them, but He even rejects then utterly and punishes them
The non-christian spiritual world of the present time teaches me to engage more on self-love (yoga, self-meditation). Much of this stuff is directed towards material benefits and so is no different to spending time in earning fame or excess money.
4. Frequent meditation of the sufferings of our Savior Jesus Christ
This has always been a favorite devotion with the saints. We must not reflect on the sufferings of Jesus Christ for the sake of the consolation and sweetness it affords, but only to inflame our hearts with love for our suffering Saviour and to learn from Him what He desires us to do.
5. (Consistent, sincere and daily) prayer
1 Thess. 5:17 Pray without ceasing. I believe Worship and Praising prayer is more involving than just the asking prayer. Prayer to God is not necessary to be formal all the times. I felt no compelling reason to pray regularly. I also had no interest in doing so. Until I was guided to read this book by our St. Alphonsus Ligouri - A Short Treatise on Prayer. Here are some excerpts from this book.
We are weak, but God is strong; by seeking His aid we obtain a participation of His power, and with His strength, according to the apostle, we can do all things: ‘I can do all things in Him who strengthened me.’--Phil 4:13. Hence, says St Chrysostom, he that falls is without excuse; had he continued to pray, he would not have yielded to the enemy.--St Chrysostom, Serm. De Moysi.
If we do not pray, we shall certainly be without excuse; for the grace of prayer is given to all; it is in our power to pray whenever we wish. ‘With me,’ says David, ‘is prayer to the God of my life; I will say to God, thou art my support.’--Ps. 41:9-10.
‘A person may say, I am unable to fast or to give alms; but if he be told to pray, he cannot say I am unable to pray;’ because there is nothing more easy than to pray. But to procure the divine aid, we must never cease to pray, we must continually do violence to heaven, that violence which is dear and agreeable to God.
We are weak, but God is strong; by seeking His aid we obtain a participation of His power, and with His strength, according to the apostle, we can do all things: ‘I can do all things in Him who strengthened me.’--Phil 4:13. Hence, says St Chrysostom, he that falls is without excuse; had he continued to pray, he would not have yielded to the enemy.--St Chrysostom, Serm. De Moysi.
If we do not pray, we shall certainly be without excuse; for the grace of prayer is given to all; it is in our power to pray whenever we wish. ‘With me,’ says David, ‘is prayer to the God of my life; I will say to God, thou art my support.’--Ps. 41:9-10.
‘A person may say, I am unable to fast or to give alms; but if he be told to pray, he cannot say I am unable to pray;’ because there is nothing more easy than to pray. But to procure the divine aid, we must never cease to pray, we must continually do violence to heaven, that violence which is dear and agreeable to God.
To relate the prayer to the situation of love between a husband and a wife, my wife oftentimes just wants me to sit with her and talk something. It does not matter what I speak. She just wants my presence with her. As a token of my love to her, she just wants me to do some amount of talking every day. Otherwise, she says that she feels distant from me.
-----------------------------------------------
Conclusion
God, I pray to you to give me just what is necessary of me to Love you more and more every day. I humbly pray to you to make me do everything in Love of You and do everything only for the Love between You and me. God, please make me your lover who would always look for opportunities and things to make you (my Beloved) happy.
In the book “The Victim Souls” which is written by Maria Valtorta, our Lord speaks to her (us) in this manner:
"Remove all bridges between yourself and the world. Live in Jesus and Mary. Remember that even if man gave everything he owns, to possess Love, it would be nothing because Love is such a tremendous thing, that with respect to God- the Love of your soul the true purpose of your life -
everything else is valueless. To possess Love is the only thing that counts. And one can possess Love when one understands how to give up all that one possesses, for Him."
In another place in the same book, our Lord speaks this:
“When a soul succeeds in being Mine,
to such an extent, Love takes the place of Law and Commandments. They
(which are the Law and Commandments) are both Divine, but they still
make their presence felt. They are like a harness placed over your
animal nature, so that it does not rear up and fall into the
precipices. But Love has no weight. It is not a
bridle to impose compulsion. It is a strength that leads you, even
liberating you from your humanity. When a soul really loves, Love
takes the place of everything. … Love is the mystical nurse who
brings up souls destined for Heaven”
Thanks to You God for these blessings You showered on this sinner
I Would Like to Love You More. Please help me my Lord.
I Would Like to Love You More. Please help me my Lord.
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References:
1. St. John Chrysostom - The Love Chapter: Them Meaning of First Corinthians 13
2. Jesus the Bridegroom, the greatest Love story ever told - Image Publishers, Amazon
3. The Lover and the Beloved, A way of Franciscan Prayer - Amazon Link
4. The Book of the Lover and the Beloved, Bl. Ramon Lull - Amazon Link
5. Sinners Guide, Chapter 27: Of those who allege that the path of virtue is too difficult - Online link to this chapter
6. This Tremendous Lover, Dom Eugene Boylan O.C.R.; Link to read online
7. On Loving God, St. Bernard of Clairvaux; Link to read online.
6. This Tremendous Lover, Dom Eugene Boylan O.C.R.; Link to read online
7. On Loving God, St. Bernard of Clairvaux; Link to read online.
