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Meditation 31. On the Lovableness of God in Himself
Preparatory Prayer as on page x
Composition of Place — Picture yourself in God's presence, and all angels and saints praising His Goodness and interceding for you.
Prayer of Petition — My God and my Lord, grant me a clear knowledge, as far as possible, of Thy Infinite Goodness, so that I may love and serve Thee with greater perfection.
"The more perfectly God is known, the more perfectly is He loved." — Saint Thomas Aquinas.
First Point
God deserves to be loved because He is the Supreme Good. Here we have, my soul, the foundation and basis upon which the perfect love for God is built. One rightly loves God because He is the Supreme Good Who, for His own sake, deserves to be loved with infinite love. Now do you understand what it means to be the Supreme Good?
It means that God is a Being which contains infinite perfections and contains and possesses them in Himself, by Himself, in the supreme degree, without being debtor for them to anyone. In order to conceive a faint idea of all this, my soul, merely consider some of these perfections of His.
(1) God is Infinite Beauty — Here it is suitable to use merely illustrations which, because of their greater vividness and expressiveness, will somehow resemble a child's ideas which he uses for considering the circuits of the sun and planets that shine in the sky.
Let this be the first illustration — The Blessed Virgin Mary perceives far more of God's Beauty than all the angels and elect together who are in Heaven. Now suppose God were to elevate Her understanding and enable Her to see as much more of His Beauty as She has perceived up to now; and that, a moment later, He gives Her a new enlightenment and She perceives twice what She had perceived in the earlier moment; and suppose this continued thus for a million years.
Would the Blessed Virgin ever perceive all that there is of God's Beauty? Ah! After the passage of so many years, as much of God's Beauty would yet remain to behold as would be left of water in the ocean after you had withdrawn what your hand would hold.
Let this be the second illustration — The number of angels is almost countless, and each of them is endowed with such rare beauty that no man could fix his gaze on him without fainting from the abundant joy that this sight would cause. Now suppose God created an angel who possessed by himself the beauty of all the other angels combined. Oh, what beauty would he not possess!
Yet this would be infinitely inferior to God's Beauty. Suppose furthermore, that God created at each moment in the course of a thousand years one million angels, each of whom surpassed in beauty all the others combined, as much as the highest Seraphim at present surpasses a man. Suppose that after that thousand years God again extended the arm of His might and drew out of nothing an angel who alone possessed the beauty of all the other angels combined. Could the human mind picture a beauty like that?
Yet all this would be nothing in comparison with God's Beauty and would be infinitely inferior to it. Proceed as much as you will, my soul, with these comparisons, for days, for years, for all eternity, and it will never be possible for you to envision a beauty so excellent, but that God's Beauty infinitely surpasses it.
(2) God is Infinite Power — Here again one needs to use the imagination in order to grasp something of this Divine perfection.
Let this be the first illustration — Suppose the number of men who, from the beginning until Judgment Day, have lived on earth and will live on it, amounts to two hundred thousand million. What a stupendous figure! Some of these men's souls are in Paradise, others are in Purgatory, others are in hell. Their bodies are reduced to dust. Now the final day is approaching and the angel's trumpet sounds in all parts of the universe. What will happen?
In the blinking of an eye, in a single instant those bodies will rise again, the souls will re-enter them, and two hundred thousand million men will again become alive. What a stupendous prodigy! To accomplish this, what will have been necessary? Nothing but these three words from an all-powerful Divinity: "Arise ye dead."
Let this be the second illustration — Suppose God, coming down from Heaven, paused on the bank of the sea, just as He tarried in the countryside of Damascus when He created the first man. Suppose that with His voice of authority He says: Let there be here as many men as there are grains of sand on the seashore.
At this utterance of Almighty Power, would there not appear, then and there, in an instant, as many men as there are grains of sand on the shores? Make, then, as many illustrations as you like. Increase, multiply them as much as anyone may wish. One can never find an example which God's almighty Power will not infinitely surpass.
(3) God is Infinite Goodness — There are three effects, my soul, by which you can know the greatness of God's Goodness.
The first effect is His patience in bearing with sinners. From Heaven God sees countless men who, letting themselves be dragged on by their disordered passions, surrender to all kinds of vice and daily outrage Him as they trample on His Holy Law and profane His Most Holy Name. God sees them continue this kind of life for twenty, thirty, forty years and longer.
In an instant He could rid Himself of them and punish all the wicked things they do against Him. Yet He remains silent as though He did not know of their evil behavior. Rather, He prolongs their lives, and as if they were faithfully serving Him He provides new benefits for them each day and speaks to their hearts, inviting them to His friendship as though He, the Lord, needed them and they did not need His Divine support. Oh what patience! What goodness!
The second effect is His lovable way of receiving sinners. Suppose, my soul, a man who has lived a hundred years continually offending God and who has never in his life done the least penance. If he were in a death agony and only a single moment of life remained, do you believe he could receive pardon from God for so many sins? Ah! Marvellous is the Divine Kindness! Realize that if this wicked man sent to Heaven a single interior act of perfect contrition, God would forgive all the iniquities of his bad life, would forget them forever, and would let him share in His glory. (This does not, of course, exclude some possible time in Purgatory.)
The third effect is the reward of the just. Picture, my soul, a man who, in the whole course of his life, had not done any other good but make with a contrite and humbled heart this single act, namely, "O my God, I love Thee above all things because Thou art the Supreme Good!"
And after this single good act, suppose he were to die and enter into eternity. What reward do you think God would give Him? Nothing less than the full possession of Heaven, the vision and enjoyment of all His Beauty, and both of these for all eternity. So wonderful, so infinitely grand, is God in His rewards.
Affective Acts
(1) Shame — O my God, I know well, and faith teaches me, that Thou art the supreme Good which has infinite perfections and combines them in Thyself to an eminent degree; that Thou art a God worthy of being loved with infinite love. But of what use is it, O my God, that a heart created by Thee only to love Thee and possess Thee, be with all this knowledge and with this faith, if it remains yet so insensible, so indifferent, so cold? I do not feel drawn to intimacy with Thee. Silence and recollection are distasteful to me.
I do not see in myself those effects which true love would be expected to produce in one who possesses it. And what does this mean? Ah! My God, I know my misery, and I must rot in it until the fire of Divine Love is enkindled in my heart. Oh, deliver me forever from my coldness and grant that for once I will begin to love perfectly Thy Divine Goodness and never cease loving it.
(2) Resolution and Repentance — But when will I begin to do this, O my soul? Do you wish to know? You will begin doing it when you die perfectly to yourself and to all creatures. Then your God will use His mercy with you and enkindle your heart with that holy fire . . . if that is so, my God, I hereby wish to strip myself completely of selfishness, to give Thee my whole heart and to love Thee with all my powers. I detest all the thoughts and affections that were directed to creatures exclusively and I repent whatever I have done in my life that has not been done out of love for Thee.
Henceforth Thy supreme good pleasure alone and Thy Love alone will be the object of all my thoughts, the aim of all my desires, the goal of all my undertakings . . . But, O my God, no matter how sincere I might be in this resolve of mine, I can never carry it out unless Thou stoop down to strengthen my weakness with Thy Grace.
Turn, then, Thine Eyes kindly toward me. Remember that Thou hast shed all Thy Precious Blood for this one purpose, namely, that I might love Thee. By that Blood I beg Thee to work in me one of Thy accustomed wonders of mercy, destroying in my heart all that is contrary to love for Thee and enkindling therein so great a flame that it will never go out for all eternity.
Second Point
God deserves to be loved because He is the only God — This is a very important truth, O my soul, and once it is well reflected upon, it has the full power to draw our whole heart to God. It consists in this:
(1) Neither in Heaven nor on earth nor in any other creature is any good to be found, no matter how little, that does not come from God. Look about the whole world: consider all the creatures to be found in it: note the great variety of trees, of fruit, of flowers and other plants, the variety of land animals, of the birds of the air, of the fish in the waters. From earth turn your eyes to Heaven and consider the marvels it displays.
Note the sun, whose brilliance brightens the world. Note the stars which shine in the firmament. Realize how incomprehensibly ample and lovely paradise is, the dwelling-place of those who are saved. From lifeless creatures turn your attention to the rational ones and ponder in man the many qualities that adorn him — his beauty, his wisdom, his love, his gallantry, his friendliness, and the like — natural qualities and supernatural ones.
Consider the angels and all the blessed who see God — their virtues, their merits, their holiness, the various things in which they excel . . . consider the glory wherein they are totally happy. And then, my soul, in entering within yourself, ponder as follows: Before the world was created, where were those noble creatures?
Ah! They were buried in the bosom of their nothingness, and would still be there if God, by His Almighty Power and by the bounty of His infinite goodness, had not drawn them into existence, as faith teaches. If, then, they have being, and have a being so lovely, they have it not from themselves; they have it from God.
(2) Everything that can be called good in creatures, is nothing else than a pure mercy that God has communicated to them — All the beauty of creatures is nothing more than a ray of this Divine sunshine. All their holiness is no more than a drop from the immense sea of God's Holiness. God alone is good, and the good that is found in creatures is only a merciful share of His Infinite Goodness. This is an Article of Faith and one must believe it.
But does our life agree with this Faith? Alas! How poorly we employ the noble affections of our heart! And consider well, my soul, the necessary consequences that follow from these stupendous truths. Penetrate them so well that they will not slip from your memory.
First Consequence — God deserves to be infinitely loved. Our reason teaches this. Everything good deserves love, and an Infinite Good deserves an infinite love. God, being infinitely Good, deserves then, to be infinitely loved.
Second Consequence — If God is an infinitely lovable Good, I, then, do not love Him as much as I ought if I do not love Him as much as I can.
Third Consequence — I, then, do not fulfill the obligation I have of loving Him with all my powers, if I admit into my heart any affection, even a fleeting one, which is not directed to Him; if I do anything that disagrees with His Divine good pleasure; if I only once oppose the designs His Sovereign Majesty has formed concerning me.
Affective Acts
(1) Shame — O God, Who alone are Good and are Supremely Good! I know too well what Thou deserves and what true love ought to be. A soul burning with love for Thee cuts off every attachment and does not tolerate any inclination which does not come from Thee and return to Thee. It does nothing but what is pleasing to Thee and does everything only to fulfill Thy Divine good pleasure.
It suffers all and does not oppose anything which Thou dost arrange concerning it. Wholly surrendering itself to Thee, it rests without fear in the bosom of Thy most loving Providence. Happy indeed is the state of this soul! O holy love, how beautiful, how desirable you are! How much of you is there in my heart?
How many hours can I count of my life during which I have loved in this way? How many deeds have I done, how many troubles have I borne, in the spirit of this love? How poor my condition is! Who will give me fountains of tears to weep day and night over this lack of love? . . .
(2) Love and consecration — But why do I afflict myself? All can still be done, all can be repaired with fervor. Away, then, with faintheartedness! Why can I, too, not do what so many youths, so many tender maidens, have done in the flower of their manhood and maidenhood? "I can do all things," said one of the greatest saints, "not of myself, but by Him Who strengthens me."
I say the same; and with this confidence in Thee, my God, my Strength, my All, I begin to love Thee and surrender myself entirely to Thee. Take, then, O Sovereign Good, my liberty, take my memory, my mind and my will. Whatever I have and possess, all is Thy gift, and I return it all to Thee. I desire and crave nothing else than Thy love. With that alone my desires are satisfied, and with that I am rich enough.
(3) Prayer of Petition — Come, then, Most Holy and Divine Spirit. Thou art Love by Thy Nature and are the Source of that Divine fire which burned in the hearts of the saints. Thou art holiness by Thy Nature and the Source of those effective graces which penetrate human hearts, captivating them to turn to God with all their affections.
Ah! Deign to come to my heart and to purify it of all imperfections and to enkindle it with Thy fire. I am ready to do and to suffer. Dispose of me, then, as Thou dost wish. I will offer no opposition in anything. I only ask Thee for Thy Love, with the purpose that It be the rule of all my conduct.
Now pray the Our Father and the Hail Mary and the Concluding Prayers as on page xi.
Preparatory Prayer as on page x
Composition of Place — Picture yourself in God's presence, and all angels and saints praising His Goodness and interceding for you.
Prayer of Petition — My God and my Lord, grant me a clear knowledge, as far as possible, of Thy Infinite Goodness, so that I may love and serve Thee with greater perfection.
"The more perfectly God is known, the more perfectly is He loved." — Saint Thomas Aquinas.
First Point
God deserves to be loved because He is the Supreme Good. Here we have, my soul, the foundation and basis upon which the perfect love for God is built. One rightly loves God because He is the Supreme Good Who, for His own sake, deserves to be loved with infinite love. Now do you understand what it means to be the Supreme Good?
It means that God is a Being which contains infinite perfections and contains and possesses them in Himself, by Himself, in the supreme degree, without being debtor for them to anyone. In order to conceive a faint idea of all this, my soul, merely consider some of these perfections of His.
(1) God is Infinite Beauty — Here it is suitable to use merely illustrations which, because of their greater vividness and expressiveness, will somehow resemble a child's ideas which he uses for considering the circuits of the sun and planets that shine in the sky.
Let this be the first illustration — The Blessed Virgin Mary perceives far more of God's Beauty than all the angels and elect together who are in Heaven. Now suppose God were to elevate Her understanding and enable Her to see as much more of His Beauty as She has perceived up to now; and that, a moment later, He gives Her a new enlightenment and She perceives twice what She had perceived in the earlier moment; and suppose this continued thus for a million years.
Would the Blessed Virgin ever perceive all that there is of God's Beauty? Ah! After the passage of so many years, as much of God's Beauty would yet remain to behold as would be left of water in the ocean after you had withdrawn what your hand would hold.
Let this be the second illustration — The number of angels is almost countless, and each of them is endowed with such rare beauty that no man could fix his gaze on him without fainting from the abundant joy that this sight would cause. Now suppose God created an angel who possessed by himself the beauty of all the other angels combined. Oh, what beauty would he not possess!
Yet this would be infinitely inferior to God's Beauty. Suppose furthermore, that God created at each moment in the course of a thousand years one million angels, each of whom surpassed in beauty all the others combined, as much as the highest Seraphim at present surpasses a man. Suppose that after that thousand years God again extended the arm of His might and drew out of nothing an angel who alone possessed the beauty of all the other angels combined. Could the human mind picture a beauty like that?
Yet all this would be nothing in comparison with God's Beauty and would be infinitely inferior to it. Proceed as much as you will, my soul, with these comparisons, for days, for years, for all eternity, and it will never be possible for you to envision a beauty so excellent, but that God's Beauty infinitely surpasses it.
(2) God is Infinite Power — Here again one needs to use the imagination in order to grasp something of this Divine perfection.
Let this be the first illustration — Suppose the number of men who, from the beginning until Judgment Day, have lived on earth and will live on it, amounts to two hundred thousand million. What a stupendous figure! Some of these men's souls are in Paradise, others are in Purgatory, others are in hell. Their bodies are reduced to dust. Now the final day is approaching and the angel's trumpet sounds in all parts of the universe. What will happen?
In the blinking of an eye, in a single instant those bodies will rise again, the souls will re-enter them, and two hundred thousand million men will again become alive. What a stupendous prodigy! To accomplish this, what will have been necessary? Nothing but these three words from an all-powerful Divinity: "Arise ye dead."
Let this be the second illustration — Suppose God, coming down from Heaven, paused on the bank of the sea, just as He tarried in the countryside of Damascus when He created the first man. Suppose that with His voice of authority He says: Let there be here as many men as there are grains of sand on the seashore.
At this utterance of Almighty Power, would there not appear, then and there, in an instant, as many men as there are grains of sand on the shores? Make, then, as many illustrations as you like. Increase, multiply them as much as anyone may wish. One can never find an example which God's almighty Power will not infinitely surpass.
(3) God is Infinite Goodness — There are three effects, my soul, by which you can know the greatness of God's Goodness.
The first effect is His patience in bearing with sinners. From Heaven God sees countless men who, letting themselves be dragged on by their disordered passions, surrender to all kinds of vice and daily outrage Him as they trample on His Holy Law and profane His Most Holy Name. God sees them continue this kind of life for twenty, thirty, forty years and longer.
In an instant He could rid Himself of them and punish all the wicked things they do against Him. Yet He remains silent as though He did not know of their evil behavior. Rather, He prolongs their lives, and as if they were faithfully serving Him He provides new benefits for them each day and speaks to their hearts, inviting them to His friendship as though He, the Lord, needed them and they did not need His Divine support. Oh what patience! What goodness!
The second effect is His lovable way of receiving sinners. Suppose, my soul, a man who has lived a hundred years continually offending God and who has never in his life done the least penance. If he were in a death agony and only a single moment of life remained, do you believe he could receive pardon from God for so many sins? Ah! Marvellous is the Divine Kindness! Realize that if this wicked man sent to Heaven a single interior act of perfect contrition, God would forgive all the iniquities of his bad life, would forget them forever, and would let him share in His glory. (This does not, of course, exclude some possible time in Purgatory.)
The third effect is the reward of the just. Picture, my soul, a man who, in the whole course of his life, had not done any other good but make with a contrite and humbled heart this single act, namely, "O my God, I love Thee above all things because Thou art the Supreme Good!"
And after this single good act, suppose he were to die and enter into eternity. What reward do you think God would give Him? Nothing less than the full possession of Heaven, the vision and enjoyment of all His Beauty, and both of these for all eternity. So wonderful, so infinitely grand, is God in His rewards.
Affective Acts
(1) Shame — O my God, I know well, and faith teaches me, that Thou art the supreme Good which has infinite perfections and combines them in Thyself to an eminent degree; that Thou art a God worthy of being loved with infinite love. But of what use is it, O my God, that a heart created by Thee only to love Thee and possess Thee, be with all this knowledge and with this faith, if it remains yet so insensible, so indifferent, so cold? I do not feel drawn to intimacy with Thee. Silence and recollection are distasteful to me.
I do not see in myself those effects which true love would be expected to produce in one who possesses it. And what does this mean? Ah! My God, I know my misery, and I must rot in it until the fire of Divine Love is enkindled in my heart. Oh, deliver me forever from my coldness and grant that for once I will begin to love perfectly Thy Divine Goodness and never cease loving it.
(2) Resolution and Repentance — But when will I begin to do this, O my soul? Do you wish to know? You will begin doing it when you die perfectly to yourself and to all creatures. Then your God will use His mercy with you and enkindle your heart with that holy fire . . . if that is so, my God, I hereby wish to strip myself completely of selfishness, to give Thee my whole heart and to love Thee with all my powers. I detest all the thoughts and affections that were directed to creatures exclusively and I repent whatever I have done in my life that has not been done out of love for Thee.
Henceforth Thy supreme good pleasure alone and Thy Love alone will be the object of all my thoughts, the aim of all my desires, the goal of all my undertakings . . . But, O my God, no matter how sincere I might be in this resolve of mine, I can never carry it out unless Thou stoop down to strengthen my weakness with Thy Grace.
Turn, then, Thine Eyes kindly toward me. Remember that Thou hast shed all Thy Precious Blood for this one purpose, namely, that I might love Thee. By that Blood I beg Thee to work in me one of Thy accustomed wonders of mercy, destroying in my heart all that is contrary to love for Thee and enkindling therein so great a flame that it will never go out for all eternity.
Second Point
God deserves to be loved because He is the only God — This is a very important truth, O my soul, and once it is well reflected upon, it has the full power to draw our whole heart to God. It consists in this:
(1) Neither in Heaven nor on earth nor in any other creature is any good to be found, no matter how little, that does not come from God. Look about the whole world: consider all the creatures to be found in it: note the great variety of trees, of fruit, of flowers and other plants, the variety of land animals, of the birds of the air, of the fish in the waters. From earth turn your eyes to Heaven and consider the marvels it displays.
Note the sun, whose brilliance brightens the world. Note the stars which shine in the firmament. Realize how incomprehensibly ample and lovely paradise is, the dwelling-place of those who are saved. From lifeless creatures turn your attention to the rational ones and ponder in man the many qualities that adorn him — his beauty, his wisdom, his love, his gallantry, his friendliness, and the like — natural qualities and supernatural ones.
Consider the angels and all the blessed who see God — their virtues, their merits, their holiness, the various things in which they excel . . . consider the glory wherein they are totally happy. And then, my soul, in entering within yourself, ponder as follows: Before the world was created, where were those noble creatures?
Ah! They were buried in the bosom of their nothingness, and would still be there if God, by His Almighty Power and by the bounty of His infinite goodness, had not drawn them into existence, as faith teaches. If, then, they have being, and have a being so lovely, they have it not from themselves; they have it from God.
(2) Everything that can be called good in creatures, is nothing else than a pure mercy that God has communicated to them — All the beauty of creatures is nothing more than a ray of this Divine sunshine. All their holiness is no more than a drop from the immense sea of God's Holiness. God alone is good, and the good that is found in creatures is only a merciful share of His Infinite Goodness. This is an Article of Faith and one must believe it.
But does our life agree with this Faith? Alas! How poorly we employ the noble affections of our heart! And consider well, my soul, the necessary consequences that follow from these stupendous truths. Penetrate them so well that they will not slip from your memory.
First Consequence — God deserves to be infinitely loved. Our reason teaches this. Everything good deserves love, and an Infinite Good deserves an infinite love. God, being infinitely Good, deserves then, to be infinitely loved.
Second Consequence — If God is an infinitely lovable Good, I, then, do not love Him as much as I ought if I do not love Him as much as I can.
Third Consequence — I, then, do not fulfill the obligation I have of loving Him with all my powers, if I admit into my heart any affection, even a fleeting one, which is not directed to Him; if I do anything that disagrees with His Divine good pleasure; if I only once oppose the designs His Sovereign Majesty has formed concerning me.
Affective Acts
(1) Shame — O God, Who alone are Good and are Supremely Good! I know too well what Thou deserves and what true love ought to be. A soul burning with love for Thee cuts off every attachment and does not tolerate any inclination which does not come from Thee and return to Thee. It does nothing but what is pleasing to Thee and does everything only to fulfill Thy Divine good pleasure.
It suffers all and does not oppose anything which Thou dost arrange concerning it. Wholly surrendering itself to Thee, it rests without fear in the bosom of Thy most loving Providence. Happy indeed is the state of this soul! O holy love, how beautiful, how desirable you are! How much of you is there in my heart?
How many hours can I count of my life during which I have loved in this way? How many deeds have I done, how many troubles have I borne, in the spirit of this love? How poor my condition is! Who will give me fountains of tears to weep day and night over this lack of love? . . .
(2) Love and consecration — But why do I afflict myself? All can still be done, all can be repaired with fervor. Away, then, with faintheartedness! Why can I, too, not do what so many youths, so many tender maidens, have done in the flower of their manhood and maidenhood? "I can do all things," said one of the greatest saints, "not of myself, but by Him Who strengthens me."
I say the same; and with this confidence in Thee, my God, my Strength, my All, I begin to love Thee and surrender myself entirely to Thee. Take, then, O Sovereign Good, my liberty, take my memory, my mind and my will. Whatever I have and possess, all is Thy gift, and I return it all to Thee. I desire and crave nothing else than Thy love. With that alone my desires are satisfied, and with that I am rich enough.
(3) Prayer of Petition — Come, then, Most Holy and Divine Spirit. Thou art Love by Thy Nature and are the Source of that Divine fire which burned in the hearts of the saints. Thou art holiness by Thy Nature and the Source of those effective graces which penetrate human hearts, captivating them to turn to God with all their affections.
Ah! Deign to come to my heart and to purify it of all imperfections and to enkindle it with Thy fire. I am ready to do and to suffer. Dispose of me, then, as Thou dost wish. I will offer no opposition in anything. I only ask Thee for Thy Love, with the purpose that It be the rule of all my conduct.
Now pray the Our Father and the Hail Mary and the Concluding Prayers as on page xi.
"So let us be confident, let us not be unprepared, let us not be outflanked, let us be wise, vigilant, fighting against those who are trying to tear the faith out of our souls and morality out of our hearts, so that we may remain Catholics, remain united to the Blessed Virgin Mary, remain united to the Roman Catholic Church, remain faithful children of the Church."- Abp. Lefebvre