Chastity of heart

PRESENCE OF GOD - O Lord, show me how pure my heart must be if I am to be admitted to intimacy with You.

MEDITATION

1. The heart of a person consecrated to God should be “a garden enclosed, a fountain sealed up” (Ct 4,12), because it cannot admit any other affection than one which has God for its object or one which refers to Him. Of course this does not exclude the love of neighbor in general, nor that which one owes to one’s own family, but it does exclude all purely natural love. In other words, the affections of a soul consecrated to God must be wholly supernaturalized; that is, it must love creatures in reference to God, because they are His and belong to Him. When instead, it allows itself to be guided in its affections by human motives, such as congeniality, sympathy, or self-interest, it is not for God that it loves these creatures, but for itself, for the satisfaction it finds in them; its love is not supernatural, but human. These human affections ravage a heart that has been consecrated to God, just as the little foxes, spoken of in the Canticle, ravage the vines.

After having broken, for the love of God, our sacred family ties, after having renounced the right to have families of our own, is it not the height of folly to let our heart be chained by creatures who have no claim to it, or by affections which are not holy? We must reply to their invitations with the fortitude of St. Agnes: “God has put a sign on my face, that I may admit no other lover. It is to Him alone that I plight my troth” (RB).

“It is sad,” says St. John of the Cross, “to see certain souls...that are laden with wealth...and spiritual exercises...and yet, because they have not the resolution to break with some whim or attachment or affection... they never make progress or reach the port of perfection.... God has granted them to break other and stouter cords of affection, but they have not shaken off some childish thing, and fail to attain to so great a blessing” (AS J, 11,4.5).

2. God is jealous of a heart which has been consecrated to Him and He will not admit it to intimacy with Himself as long as He finds it occupied with some affection which prevents it from concentrating on Him all the love of which He has rendered it capable. St. Teresa of Jesus says, “As He refuses to force our will, He takes what we give Him but does not give Himself wholly to us until He sees that we are giving ourselves wholly to Him” (Way, 28). “ God will not have a divided heart; He wants all or nothing” (T.M. Sp).

If we do not give our hearts entirely to God, we cannot enjoy divine intimacy. Jesus said, “Blessed are the clean of heart : for they shall see God” (Mt 5,8). This vision, this enjoyment of God, is in a certain way anticipated even in this life for those who keep the integrity and purity of their heart for Him. St. Thomas says, “ A heart which is free from thoughts and affections alien to God is like a temple consecrated to the Lord, in which we can contemplate Him even in this world” (Commentary on St. Matthew). A pure heart, like a limpid eye, can comprehend God and to a certain degree penetrate the depths of His infinite mystery. For this reason theologians teach that the gift of understanding corresponds to the beatitude “blessed are the clean of heart.” By this gift the Holy Spirit enables the soul to read within, “intus legere,” that is, to penetrate divine truths. One who loves ardently, desires to know the loved one more and more, not only exteriorly, but also intimately, sharing his thoughts and secrets; he is willing to sacrifice every other satisfaction in order to attain his end.

If you wish to know your God, if you wish to enter into an intimate and deep friendship with Him, you must offer Him a pure heart, free from all human affection. “Take no heed of creatures if thou wilt keep the image of God clearly and simply in thy soul, but empty thy spirit of them and withdraw far from them, and thou shalt walk in the divine light” (J.C. SM J, 25).

COLLOQUY

O Jesus, divine sweetness, change all the consolation of earth into bitterness for me, for I do not wish creatures to possess even a single atom of my heart. If I knew that a single fiber of my heart vibrated for human affection, I would hasten to tear it out and throw it away, no matter how much suffering it might cost.

But You know my weakness and how tempted I feel in moments of discouragement, of loneliness, of abandonment to seek a little understanding and affection from creatures. “Oh! then, I beg You, grant that I may find nothing but bitterness in earthly friendships; otherwise, with a heart like mine, I could easily be caught and my wings clipped (T.J.C. St, 4).

O Lord, illumine the hidden and innermost recesses of my heart; if You find there the least affection which is not for You, reveal it to me and give me the grace to renounce it forever.

You want all, and I want to give You all. In giving all to You, my heart is only returning what is already Yours, for You have given it to me, and I should be incapable of loving if You had not put a spark of Your infinite charity in me. O Lord, it is only just that this spark should return to You, and that it should requite Your love, O infinite Love, who have created me out of nothing and enabled me to return love for love. By reaching up to You and coming in contact with You, O immense furnace of Charity, my love insignificant as it is, will increase immeasurably and pour itself out over all the earth, embracing all creatures in the munificence of a pure, supernatural love, so that it may bring them to You, their beginning and their end.

O Jesus, guardian of virgins, guard my heart, make it so pure and transparent that it will become worthy to gaze upon the splendor of Your Face.

I do not know You yet, my Lord, for, since I still love and enjoy creatures, my interior eye has not the clearness necessary for contemplating You. And because I do not know You, I do not love You as much as I should, and I have very little enjoyment of You. Behold how great is my misery! Come Yourself and purify my heart, so that I may know You fully, and knowing You fully, really love You with all my strength.