{"id":20137,"date":"2021-05-14T09:06:33","date_gmt":"2021-05-14T13:06:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=20137"},"modified":"2021-05-14T09:09:09","modified_gmt":"2021-05-14T13:09:09","slug":"transformed-in-the-beloved","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=20137","title":{"rendered":"Transformed in the Beloved"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/fWk9I26nX5w\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The infinite love that is the architect of our hearts has made our hearts in such a way that nothing less than an infinite union with infinite love will do. It&#8217;s the setup in the beginning. . . . That infinite love creates you as a capacity for love, for love&#8217;s sake alone. That love is our destiny, love is the fabric of the true nature of everything that&#8217;s happening. This is the love nature of life. \u2014<\/em>James Finley,&nbsp;<em>Intimacy: The Divine Ambush<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Few people understand the love poetry and mysticism of John of the Cross (1542\u20131591) better than my friend James Finley. I never tire of hearing him teach on John, whether it\u2019s at our Living School or on his recent podcast. I offer a few stanzas of John\u2019s poetry with nothing more to guide you than Jim Finley\u2019s conviction that God\u2019s \u201cinfinite love\u201d is in all in us. This first passage is from the \u201cThe Ascent of Mount Carmel\u201d:&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On a dark night,<br>Inflamed by love-longing\u2014<br>O exquisite risk!\u2014<br>Undetected I slipped away.<br>My house, at last, grown still.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Secure in the darkness,<br>I climbed the secret ladder in disguise\u2014<br>O exquisite risk!\u2014<br>Concealed by the darkness.<br>My house, at last, grown still.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That sweet night: a secret.<br>Nobody saw me;<br>I did not see a thing.<br>No other light, no other guide<br>Than the one burning in my heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This light led the way<br>more clearly than the risen sun<br>To where he was waiting for me<br>\u2014The one I knew so intimately\u2014<br>In a place where no one could find us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>O night, that guided me!<br>O night, sweeter than sunrise!<br>O night, that joined lover with Beloved!<br>Lover transformed in Beloved!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Upon my blossoming breast,<br>Which I cultivated just for him,<br>He drifted into sleep,<br>And while I caressed him,<br>A cedar breeze touched the air. . . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I lost myself. Forgot myself.<br>I lay my face against the Beloved\u2019s face.<br>Everything fell away and I left myself behind,<br>Abandoning my cares<br>among the lilies, forgotten. [1]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>This second passage is from \u201cThe Spiritual Canticle\u201d:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>O soul,<br>most beautiful among all creatures,<br>you who so long to know the place<br>where your Beloved is,<br>so as to seek him<br>and become one with him,<br>now it has been stated:<br>you yourself are the home in which he dwells.<br>Here is a reason to be happy;<br>here is a cause for joy:<br>the realization that every blessing<br>and all you hope for<br>is so close to you<br>as to be within you.<br>Be glad,<br>find joy there,<br>gathered together<br>and present to him<br>who dwells within,<br>since he is so close to you;<br>desire him there,<br>adore him there,<br>and do not go off<br>looking for him elsewhere . . .<br>There is just one thing:<br>even though he is within you,<br>he is hidden.\u00a0 [2]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"353\" src=\"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/image-2-500x353.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-20139\" srcset=\"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/image-2-500x353.png 500w, http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/image-2-300x212.png 300w, http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/image-2-768x542.png 768w, http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/image-2.png 1848w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The infinite love that is the architect of our hearts has made our hearts in such a way that nothing less than an infinite union with infinite love will do. It&#8217;s the setup in the beginning. . . . That infinite love creates you as a capacity for love, for love&#8217;s sake alone. That love [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20137"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20137"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20137\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20141,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20137\/revisions\/20141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}