Ordered Love, Glorifying God, and Union
It seems that in learning more about detachment being "ordered love", and in the efforts to order the externals so as to help facilitate Jesus' work in me to order the interior, to create ordered love within and without my soul, I wonder about the order in having three blogs. So I am considering consolidating this one, All for God, into the one called "The Complete Hermit."
But, this does seem to fit a category for souls who might not read anything connected with a hermit. It seems that there is a bit of hermit in everyone, as our souls repose in God alone, truly, if one ponders this.
I was reading in a Carthusian book last evening, and it was but a short meditation which mentioned that if we desire union with Christ, that we do not have to be perfect in order for this to happen. Jesus desires us to be in union with Him, and He effects the process within us once we are in Him. There was more, but that is the gist. And it is true, for like an embryo in the womb, we are not perfect, yet we are able to be accepted within that womb, and we are nurtured, purified, and grow in that womb. We progress.
Another Carthusian monk, in yet another book (The Interior Life), wrote that our end and purpose is to glorify God. This was reassuring, as years ago when my life was halted and made to change course, a counselor trying to help me deal with all the pain and changes, asked me to think of what is my purpose in life. I thought about it much, and what came to me as the base purpose is: to glorify God. The counselor did not like that purpose, I could tell from his reaction, but it was the purpose that seemed to be the only worthwhile purpose. I asked my daughter, then 9, to print out a banner on our computer that said, "Our Purpose: To Glorify God." She taped it for me above the hospital bed i was in for three months in our family room. Not too long ago I found it, and I discarded it, for the purpose no longer needed to be bannered across a room; it was bannered in my soul after all these years.
Yet this Carthusian's words reminded me, joggled the banner in my soul, and he went on to explain that many souls do not strive for what glorifies God to the highest degree, and in the most efficacious way of glorifying Him, and thus of bringing Him the MOST glory--and that is union with God. Union with God allows the soul to glorify God to the greatest degree possible, and this pleases God so much that He is then glorified to the highest degree possible.
He also mentioned that if the soul desires union, then God will help the soul achieve this, for it is thus to the end and purpose for which God created our souls.
Recently it has been brought to the attention of my soul that there was but one small obstacle in the way of my having union with God, and it was my self and my resistance to the awareness and acceptance of union. I accepted, and the union has occurred. However, this does not mean that I am finished with any cooperation or effort. Now it is a training process within this union, within God, to exist all for Him, to exist to glorify Him. This takes some change in perspective and as always, to continue dying to self, self, self. The union, while so blissful, is not for ME. No, it is for God, to glorify God, and all for God. This shift takes mindfulness and effort of perspective, and a willingness for God to continue purifying me even in this state of union with Him.
Union with God does not mean an habitual ecstasy in the sense of no more issues or efforts of the soul, or in life. It means, though, that the soul exists within the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and from His Heart, the soul learns how to view and exist and to be, all for God, as God views, exists and has His Being. The soul then gains the union with God increasingly so, within this union, and knows the end is to glorify God, and all of the soul, being in God, glorifies God. Increasingly so, nothing is of self. The soul melds into God.
But, this does seem to fit a category for souls who might not read anything connected with a hermit. It seems that there is a bit of hermit in everyone, as our souls repose in God alone, truly, if one ponders this.
I was reading in a Carthusian book last evening, and it was but a short meditation which mentioned that if we desire union with Christ, that we do not have to be perfect in order for this to happen. Jesus desires us to be in union with Him, and He effects the process within us once we are in Him. There was more, but that is the gist. And it is true, for like an embryo in the womb, we are not perfect, yet we are able to be accepted within that womb, and we are nurtured, purified, and grow in that womb. We progress.
Another Carthusian monk, in yet another book (The Interior Life), wrote that our end and purpose is to glorify God. This was reassuring, as years ago when my life was halted and made to change course, a counselor trying to help me deal with all the pain and changes, asked me to think of what is my purpose in life. I thought about it much, and what came to me as the base purpose is: to glorify God. The counselor did not like that purpose, I could tell from his reaction, but it was the purpose that seemed to be the only worthwhile purpose. I asked my daughter, then 9, to print out a banner on our computer that said, "Our Purpose: To Glorify God." She taped it for me above the hospital bed i was in for three months in our family room. Not too long ago I found it, and I discarded it, for the purpose no longer needed to be bannered across a room; it was bannered in my soul after all these years.
Yet this Carthusian's words reminded me, joggled the banner in my soul, and he went on to explain that many souls do not strive for what glorifies God to the highest degree, and in the most efficacious way of glorifying Him, and thus of bringing Him the MOST glory--and that is union with God. Union with God allows the soul to glorify God to the greatest degree possible, and this pleases God so much that He is then glorified to the highest degree possible.
He also mentioned that if the soul desires union, then God will help the soul achieve this, for it is thus to the end and purpose for which God created our souls.
Recently it has been brought to the attention of my soul that there was but one small obstacle in the way of my having union with God, and it was my self and my resistance to the awareness and acceptance of union. I accepted, and the union has occurred. However, this does not mean that I am finished with any cooperation or effort. Now it is a training process within this union, within God, to exist all for Him, to exist to glorify Him. This takes some change in perspective and as always, to continue dying to self, self, self. The union, while so blissful, is not for ME. No, it is for God, to glorify God, and all for God. This shift takes mindfulness and effort of perspective, and a willingness for God to continue purifying me even in this state of union with Him.
Union with God does not mean an habitual ecstasy in the sense of no more issues or efforts of the soul, or in life. It means, though, that the soul exists within the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and from His Heart, the soul learns how to view and exist and to be, all for God, as God views, exists and has His Being. The soul then gains the union with God increasingly so, within this union, and knows the end is to glorify God, and all of the soul, being in God, glorifies God. Increasingly so, nothing is of self. The soul melds into God.
posted by The Catholic Hermit | 5:42 AM
1 Comments:
Yes, O yes...I want to be absorbed by God...and be LESS self-absorbed. Amen.
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