The Divine Fire
The Divine Fire
At that very moment, I felt some kind of fire in my heart. I feel my senses deadening and have no idea of what is going on around me. I feel the Lord’s gaze piercing me through and through. I am very much aware of His greatness and my misery. An extraordinary suffering pervades my soul, together with a joy I cannot compare to anything. I feel powerless in the embrace of God. I feel that I am in Him and that I am dissolved in Him like a drop of water in the ocean. I cannot express what takes place within me; after such interior prayer, I feel strength and power to practice the most difficult virtues. I feel dislike for all things that the world holds in esteem. With all my soul I desire silence and solitude—Diary of Divine Mercy 432
|
The fire of God’s love, the fire of the Holy Spirit, of purgatory, and the fire of hell, is all the same. It is God’s love in all of its power. It is about our openness to grace and our embracing God’s healing love in our lives, or not. Sister Faustian expresses it with these words:
“I am very much aware of His greatness and my misery. An extraordinary
suffering pervades my soul, together with a joy”
Even in our everyday lives, true healing is often accompanied by suffering. They seem to go hand in hand. God often seems distant and for good reason, for He can only show Himself to us to the extent that we can handle it. In the Old Testament, it talks about this when speaking about seeing God and not being able to stay in existence.
When we allow God’s Holy Fire to enter us, it burns away all the dross in our souls. So that which is built on illusion (straw) burns away to ash. We are emptied of ‘self’ so that God can fill us and bring us to our true Selves, as children, beloved of God.
In my misery, I still fight God’s love, but this fighting often comes from a place beyond my control. All I can do is to be willing and open to God’s secret hidden work in my soul and to always trust and never despair. That is why Jesus says that we must ‘trust’ above all else.
What is the groaning of the Holy Spirit that prays within us? Perhaps the Spirit is expressing in part our pain, our understanding that we are often chained and in our waiting for freedom we suffer greatly. The Holy Spirit prays with us and for us. It is all about grace, but also in part, about our willingness to allow this fire to burn all to ash that keeps us from union with our Beloved. Yes, God is our Beloved, and we are God’s Beloved, and slowly as we seek God’s love, we allow His love to expand our hearts as Sr. Faustina’s was purified in fire and her heart expanded. We are called to a life unimaginable to us at this time. Sister Faustina’s inner freedom and growth in her love of God was a pure gift, all she need do is trust, never despair, and take one step at a time.
0 Comments
Recommended Comments
There are no comments to display.
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now