May 24, 2014

           “The spiritual life is a ladder of love leading up to God’s home.  By degrees a soul is led to transforming union with God and the rungs of the ladder are stepping-stones to holiness.

          The end of all spirituality is love – God’s love.  God is love, and to abide in God is to live in His love.  All of creation manifests God’s tender love.  He cares for all that exists.  God’s highest creation, mankind, is His delight.  He draws man to Himself with loving cords of kindness.

          To love is to sacrifice yourself to live for another.  How hard it is not to yield to self-love in a world priding itself on self-esteem and self-assertion.  To please God you must forget yourself and your so-called rights.  You must place yourself before God as a living holocaust, ready to be consumed for other souls.

          God’s kingdom is made up of martyrs for love.  They have chosen love over themselves.  They have lost their lives in the world to find it in the eternal sphere.  They suffer much in this world because they are willing to die to all desires and ambitions.  They put themselves at God’s disposal to do with them what He wants.

          In their love for God, their suffering becomes a joy because it unites them with their suffering Savior, Jesus, in whose footsteps they follow.

          The way is rough and hard, true disciples of Mine, yet as you let Me carry the burden, it becomes sweet, peaceful, and light.

          Go ever forward in valiant faith.  You will find your life again in eternity.”

 

The Silent One