{"id":21340,"date":"2022-05-12T09:42:39","date_gmt":"2022-05-12T13:42:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=21340"},"modified":"2022-05-12T09:50:10","modified_gmt":"2022-05-12T13:50:10","slug":"love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=21340","title":{"rendered":"Love"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/cFJ5qCmvPkY\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The mystic is\nnot somebody who says, \u201cLook what I\u2019ve experienced. Look what I\u2019ve achieved.\u201d\nThe mystic is the one who says, \u201cLook what love has done to me.\u201d. . .\n&nbsp;There\u2019s nothing left, but the being of love itself giving itself away as\n. . . the concreteness of who you simply are.<\/em><em><br>\n\u2014<\/em>James Finley, <em>Following the\nMystics through the Narrow Gate<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Father Richard affirms love\nas the heart of all mystical experience: <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It seems to me Christianity has put major emphasis on us loving God. Yet the mystics consistently describe an overwhelming experience of how God loves us! <strong>In their writings, God is the initiator, God is the doer, God is the one who seduces us. It\u2019s all about God\u2019s initiative.<\/strong> Then we certainly want to love back the way we have been loved. As Franciscan Jacopone da Todi (1230\u20131306) would say, weeping, \u201cLove is not loved! Love is not loved!\u201d [1] I want to love back the way I have been loved. <strong>But it\u2019s not like I\u2019ve got to&nbsp;<\/strong><em><strong>prove&nbsp;<\/strong><\/em><strong>my love for God by doing things.&nbsp;<\/strong><em><strong>My job is simply to complete the circuit!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mystics experience a full-bodied embrace and acceptance by Divine Love, and then spend their lives trying to verbalize and embody it. <strong>They invariably find ways to give that love back through forms of service and worship, but it\u2019s never&nbsp;<\/strong><em><strong>earning&nbsp;<\/strong><\/em><strong>the love\u2014it\u2019s always&nbsp;<\/strong><em><strong>returning<\/strong><\/em><strong>&nbsp;the love. Can you feel the difference? Returning God\u2019s love is almost a different language. It\u2019s not based in fear, but in ecstasy.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>God is always given, incarnate in every moment and present to those who know how to be present themselves.<\/em>&nbsp;It is that simple and that difficult. <strong>To be present in prayer can be an experience of being loved at a deep level. I hope you have felt such intimacy alone with God; I promise it is available to you.<\/strong> Maybe we just need to be&nbsp;<em>told<\/em>&nbsp;that this divine intimacy is what we should expect. We\u2019re afraid to ask for it; we\u2019re afraid to seek it. It feels presumptuous. We don\u2019t trust that such a love exists\u2014and for us. But it does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mystics often use erotic language to describe the deep human-divine relationship found in contemplation. I have often wondered why God would give us such a strong and constant fascination with one another\u2019s image, form, and face. I think it\u2019s because <strong>all human loves are an increasingly demanding school preparing us for an infinite divine love.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Today we recognize this school of love as the only real training ground for \u201call the saints,\u201d and it can never be limited to those who have fully graduated. As the entire New Testament does, we must apply the word \u201csaints\u201d to all of us who are in kindergarten, elementary school, middle school, high school, college, or graduate programs. <strong>Love is\u00a0<\/strong><em><strong>one shared reality<\/strong><\/em><strong>, and our common name for that one shared reality is \u201cGod<\/strong>\u201d (see 1 John 4:7\u201321).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sarah Young <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>Learn to relate to others through my love, not yours.\nMy unlimited supply of Love is always available to you.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Psalm 36:5.. Your love, LORD, reaches to the heavens, your\nfaithfulness to the skies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Exodus 33:14\u2026The LORD replied, \u201cMy Presence will go with\nyou, and I will give you rest.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Matthew 11:28-29\u2026&#8221;Come to me, all you who are weary and\nburdened, and I will give you rest. \u00b2\u2079Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,\nfor I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The mystic is not somebody who says, \u201cLook what I\u2019ve experienced. Look what I\u2019ve achieved.\u201d The mystic is the one who says, \u201cLook what love has done to me.\u201d. . . &nbsp;There\u2019s nothing left, but the being of love itself giving itself away as . . . the concreteness of who you simply are. \u2014James [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"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\/21340"}],"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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21340"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21340\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21342,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21340\/revisions\/21342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}