Sep 13 Fri
Where should my heart be?
With the Holy Spirit in our soul in grace, we can love God for his own sake, and in the way he wants to be loved, with his own love. The object of charity is one: the goodness of God. It has no other aim. Charity is a certain friendship of man with God. It is a love of friendship, an unselfish love, which does not seek its own personal satisfaction, but rather that of the friend. But the Friend is now God himself.
“With my whole heart, I will seek thee." And any other clean love must pass the filter of His love. Indeed, we don't have a great deal to offer him. But let us not forget that everything done for Love acquires beauty and becomes great.
To make the Love of God our abiding passion is a whole program of life. Divine Love, just like human love, is increased by grace through the practice of virtue. To learn to love, we need to love a great deal and make many acts of love –aspirations– in the course of the day.
“Our Lord expects us to look for him, to love him, to call on him, especially when we find the going tough. He wants us to turn to him, trustingly and without fear. Our God is a Father who looks upon us gladly, and who never abandons us. It is we, his poor creatures, who leave him, or who forget to live with him. And, now that there are so many who leave him or who are intent on ignoring him, we have to try to be even closer to him. How? I have told you already: by seeking him, by loving him more every day, by asking his help and making up to him when we realize we haven't treated him well."
“In spiritual matters, we must be very rich in doctrine and in the knowledge and love of God. Invoke the Holy Spirit, who dwells within us, and tell him of your desire to give yourselves completely and to be very docile to his grace."
We will love God at every moment if we do everything just for him and never mechanically or for personal advantage. We will love him all day if we try to ensure that all our actions are accompanied by an offering that is real, living, and ardent: "For the love of you, Lord! Because I love you!"
God has given us his love, for us to love him, and also for us to love others as he loves them.
We have only one heart, which has to be full of only one love, with which we love everyone: God and others. St. Josemaría tells us, “With the same love with which I could have loved another human being, with that same heart I love Jesus Christ, and the Father and the Holy Spirit and our Blessed Mother."
Pic: The Adoration of the Shepherds by Le Nain
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