Lectio
“She bears no grudge against her enemies, nor wishes them any ill. Indeed she has a special love for them, is deeply grieved at seeing them in trouble, and does all she can to relieve them, earnestly interceding with God on their behalf.”
— St. Teresa of Ávila, Interior Castle
Meditatio
The soul does not know anger nor lust nor covetousness. She does not know gluttony, nor the sorrow that begrudges another’s good, nor the restlessness that flees the moment into grief or worry, nor the ache to be respected or appreciated, nor the pride that isolates and alienates. She knows only love, and the quiet task of loving because the soul is of God, and God is love.
And so the soul does not carry resentment, nor begrudge friend or foe. The soul makes no harsh judgments and she does not take offense, or even cause it. She desires only love, only healing and wholeness, and the salvation of the world because she wills nothing but the good of the other and whatever God wills through her. She wishes no one harm, but only eternal peace, because she herself — formed out of nothing to share in eternity — knows only peace.
The soul is an oasis in the desert where thirst goes to be quenched. She is manna in the wilderness of despair, nourishing what hunger cannot name. She is Sabbath for the exhausted, a rest that asks nothing in return for those who have nowhere else to go.
The soul is all of this and more because she is the home of God within the hearts of His children, where Wisdom has pitched her tent, and the throne of heaven. She is the dwelling place of God’s own graced presence inviting us to dwell there too, and to share the glory we find there with others so that they may also discover within themselves the peace of the Lord — the truth of who we are, beneath all we believe ourselves to be.
Oratio
Transparent Love
take me into you
dwelling place of love
where fear has no home
nor even a point of entry
transparent love
untainted
unfiltered
move through me
move me through you
whisper your grace
let me hear your song
of love
of love
of love
echoing through eternity
from Source
to creature
to Source
and back again
take me into you
my true home
my truth home
where my reflection disappears
becoming only love
Contemplatio
Somewhere beneath the noise of your own defenses, a peace is already keeping watch over you — one that has never needed you to win or be right. You were not made to carry grudges; you were made to be transparent to Love. Sit in that truth a while, and consent to let it move through you.
Related Scripture
“Do not repay evil for evil or abuse for abuse; but, on the contrary, repay with a blessing. It is for this that you were called—that you might inherit a blessing.”
For Further Reading
If you enjoyed this post, you may also like The Love That Cannot Be Hoarded: Augustine of Hippo on Loving Neighbor and God, which turns from a soul that bears no grudge to a love that cannot be hoarded — both insisting that what moves through us was never ours to hold onto in the first place.
Robert Van Valkenburgh
Grappling With Divinity.
Wrestling With God.
Returning To Love.
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