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Greetings dear family of our beloved Saviour Jesus Christ, may you hold within your heart, a firm conviction of the Father's love for you, of Christ's eternal mercy towards you, and of the progressive work of the Holy Spirit within you - the sanctification of your soul!
The work of God within the soul is a long progressive journey that is filled not only with joy, but also with sorrows and pain. God wishes to infuse our hearts with His divine love, but often we prevent Him from doing so, and fall short of that perfect love with which He wishes to sanctify us. Having given us free-will, God cannot force His love upon us, it is something that we must accept from Him willingly. There are times when we prevent Him from offering us such perfect love, because we are afraid of sacrifice; we are often slow to give away something of ourselves to God, or to others. "Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the heart." (Prov 21:2). Divine love is selfless and has a great capacity to suffer; we see the perfect image of this love in Our Saviour, Jesus Christ, dieing upon the cross.
Jesus had that divine love in His heart when He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane: He told us that His soul was "sorrowful even unto death." (Matt 26:38) He was full of fear, so much so, that He perspired drops of blood! He asked His father to remove, if possible, the sacrifice that He was about to make, but added, "Nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt." (Matt 26:39) He placed the will of the Father, that most perfect will, above that of His own life! This is the secret to obtaining that divine love - we renounce our own will in favour of that most perfect will of our Father in Heaven. In the spiritual life we are always being tested, without this testing there is no spiritual growth. "The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, and the Lord tries hearts." (Prov 17:3)
Our Father loves us and He wants the best for us, that most perfect divine love! If we wish to obtain divine love then we must pray to the Holy Spirit that we may obtain it. We should also have contrition for our sins and practice the virtues of charity, mercy, patience, humility and prudence, but above all we must practice obedience to the will of God, for this is love. "If you love Me, you will keep My Commandments." (John 14:15)
A Prayer by Christina Rossetti
O my God, bestow upon us such confidence, such peace, such happiness in Thee, that Thy will may always be dearer to us than our own will, and Thy pleasure than our own pleasure. All that Thou givest is Thy free gift to us, all that Thou takest away Thy grace to us. Be Thou thanked for all, praised for all, loved for all; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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