12 days ‒ Emptying oneself of the spirit of the world - Day 1

Discover the grace of God’s love

Prayer to the Holy Spirit

O Holy Spirit, inspire me. God’s love, engulf me. Holy Mary, my Mother, guide me in the right ways, look at me, and together with Jesus, bless me. Keep me from all evil, from all delusions and all threats. Mary, The Spouse of the Holy Spirit, obtain for me the grace of discovering God’s love. Amen!

The Word of God

“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen” (Eph 3:14–21).

Meditation

What is God really like? We may have different ideas of God and of who He is. Maybe we were given various depictions of Him and our conception of Him may be distorted. In such a case, we may sometimes imagine that He is an older man sitting on a cloud who cannot be treated seriously. And when it comes to faith, He is rather associated with some beliefs of older people or a domain of culture and art. We used to think also that God is an omniscient despot, and you cannot hide anything from Him. You need to beware of Him and suffer because He sends illnesses and hardship upon us. This idea echoes when we talk about God’s punishment. Maybe we think about God as an executor who always sees us and arouses fear of punishment. Finally, He may be seen as someone inaccessible, somewhere afar, or as a certain unspecified energy that is not interested in me at all. Please stop and think about it for some time. Do you see any reminiscence of such distortions in your heart?

These are different caricatures of God. But we want to find the truth, and “then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:14). Philip the Apostle asked Jesus: “Lord, show us the Father” (Jn 14:8). So what is the Father like? Here’s his picture in the Bible:

“O Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away. You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, O Lord, you know it completely. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain it. Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light around me become night,” even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is as bright as the day, for darkness is as light to you. For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes beheld my unformed substance. In your book were written all the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed. How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! I try to count them—they are more than the sand; I come to the end—I am still with you. (…) See if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Ps 139:1–18, 24).

How endearing and disparate from our false ideas this true image of God is!

Sometimes, we ask ourselves: is it possible to love me? Looking at myself through the lens of my flaws, failures, or shortcomings, I may have a wrong idea not only of God but also of myself. Do my weaknesses, hurts, and sins really constitute the whole truth about myself?

Once, during the sermon addressed to children, a priest talked about God, who is the Creator. He went on like this: Dear children, God is the great Creator. He created the whole universe: galaxies, planets, the Sun, stars, the Moon, seas, rivers, mountains, and hills. He also made various animals, from giant whales and elephants, tigers, lions, monkeys, dogs, and cats to the tiniest ants and even such organisms that we cannot even spot with the naked eye, only under the microscope. God created trees, plants, and flowers—this whole wonderful world. And in the end, God created the most beautiful, wonderful and perfect creation. Do any of you, dear children, know what creation was that? And then, one little girl put her hand up and said: “That was me!”

God loves all people, but He also loves everyone individually in a way a person needs to be loved. This girl had a great conviction about her uniqueness. God wants to give it to you, too, so that you stay assured that even if you were the only inhabitant in the whole universe, God’s love for you wouldn’t be bigger because He already loves you the most. Do you understand it? Try to pause the lecture now and reflect on it for some time. Do you know what it means? God says: “I have loved you with an everlasting love” (Jer 31:3). “But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine’” (Isa 43:1).

God loved you first. His love is eternal. Before He created everything, He had already thought about you and loved you. God wants you. Regardless of the circumstances under which you came to this world, no matter what you heard from others and what you thought, God has wanted you for ages; He wanted you and loved you even before the time. You are loved and wanted by God! God loved us first, and He still loves us first. He took the initiative in loving us. All we need to do is to answer to God’s love. It outdistances us in everything and surrounds us from all sides. Good God had loved us even before we were born. Therefore, He created us even though, in His omniscience, He knew that we would offend Him. The only reason God creates everything is His love and goodness. True love never sets conditions for it to occur.

God loved you as a sinner. The Lord doesn’t give us what we merit, but He gives us what we need the most! He doesn’t love us as saints, flawless and morally pure individuals. There is no need to pretend that you are someone else than you are in reality. He doesn’t love us as we would like to be, but as we really are! He isn’t disgusted by anyone. He loves everyone. And the greater the sinners, the more they need His love!

God loved you unconditionally. There isn’t any condition to be met so that God loves you. He doesn’t set any criteria to love you. He doesn’t say: “If you pray more, if you are better, if you don’t lie, if you don’t argue with others, then I will love you.” He doesn’t say: “I will love you, but there is one condition: you shall not sin.” No! God loves you precisely as you are right now despite your sins, flaws, and mistakes. He doesn’t deny them. Yes, they exist, but His love is greater than that!

God never stops loving you! He is almighty, but He is not able to do one thing—He cannot stop loving you! “For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you” (Isa 54:10). He loves you not because you are good, but because He is good!

God loves you tenderly! In the Bible (The Book of Hosea), God talks about His incessant care. He refers to the images of childhood: holding us in His arms, teaching us and taking care of us. Like Dad or Mom does. With great tenderness. God wants to hold you close to His heart so that you may find peace in Him.

When we look at God’s love in this way, one thought comes—this is Paradise! Exactly! God created us to live in such love. The only thing God asks you today is to believe in His love for you and trust what He says about you more than what you say about yourself. Tell Him that you want to experience His love. It is not about us “jumping up” to reach God, but rather about us accepting His love. He humbles Himself, and He comes down to love you.

Spiritual reading

“This eternal beauty, ever supremely loving, is so intent on winning man’s friendship that for this very purpose he has written a book in which he describes his own excellence and his desire for man’s friendship. This book reads like a letter written by a lover to win the affections of his loved one, for in it he expresses such ardent desires for the heart of man, such tender longings for man’s friendship, such loving invitations and promises, that you would say he could not possibly be the sovereign Lord of heaven and earth and at the same time need the friendship of man to be happy.

In his pursuit of man, he hastens along the highways, or scales the loftiest mountain peaks, or waits at the city gates, or goes into the public squares and among the gatherings of people, proclaiming at the top of his voice, ‘O viri, ad vos clamito, et vox mea ad filios hominum. You children of men, it is you I have been calling so persistently; it is you I am addressing; it is you I desire and seek; it is you I am claiming. Listen, draw close to me, for I want to make you happy’ (Prov. 8:4).

And the better to attract men, Wisdom says to them, ‘It is through me and through my grace that kings reign, princes rule, monarchs and sovereigns bear the sceptre and crown, I inspire legislators with the ability to enact just laws for the good of their people. I give magistrates the courage to administer justice fairly and fearlessly.’ I love those who love me and those who seek me diligently find me’ and in finding me they will find good things in abundance. ‘For riches, glory, honours, dignities, real pleasure and true virtue are found in me; and it is far better for a man to possess me than to possess all the gold and silver, all the precious stones, and all the wealth of the whole universe. Those who come to me, I will lead along the paths of justice and prudence. I will enrich them with the inheritance due to rightful children and fulfil their greatest desires (cf. Prov. 8:15-21). Rest assured, it is my greatest pleasure and purest delight to converse and to abide with the children of men’ (cf. Prov. 8:31).

‘And now, my children, listen to me. Happy are those who keep my ways. Hear my instructions, be wise and do not ignore them. Happy is the man who listens to me, watching at my gates every day, waiting beside my door. He who finds me finds life and obtains salvation from the Lord, but he who sins against me, wounds his own soul. All who hate me love death’ (Prov. 8:32-36).

Even though eternal Wisdom has spoken so kindly and so reassuringly to win the friendship of men, he still fears that they, filled with awe at his glorious state and sovereign majesty, will not dare approach him. That is why he tells them that ‘he is easily accessible, is quickly recognised by those who love him and is found by those who seek him; that he hastens to meet those who desire him and that anyone who rises early to look for him will have no trouble, for he will find him sitting at his door, waiting for him’ (Wisd. 6:13b-15).”

St. Louis Marie de Montfort, The Love of Eternal Wisdom, 65–69

Homework

Today, I will intentionally remember that I am loved unconditionally by God.

Prayer of consecration

I am all yours, and all that I have is yours, O most loving Christ, through Mary, your most holy Mother. Amen!