Saturday 7 November 2020

Chapter 6 - Part 3 - The various ways God is present to us

 From the Dux spiritualis by Louis de Ponte SJ 

Section 3 - Page 101 

Then will the most Holy Trinity be present to us when, with chaste and pure prayers, and with tranquil mind and affection, we implore these three Blessed Persons to grant us union with Them. - St Denis

By these words he indicates three classes of acts by means of which we may ever remain in the presence of God and have him present in us as lively a manner as we are to him. 

The first class is frequently to invoke and speak with God by chaste and pure petitions, without any admixture of distractions or any oblique intentions. 

Such prayer may very well be made by means of ejaculations, which are short and fervent aspirations darted up from the heart to God, whom we feel near to us, as often as we please. 

Page 102 

In the second place, in order to have God always present to our mind, our interior faculties must be kept clam and tranquil, and we must believe with lively faith that he is in all creatures, fortifying this belief by the help of natural reason. 

Page 103

What love has effected in God, it will also effect in a justified Soul which loves God in real earnest, and desires [page 104] ever to dwell in his presence; for it will enjoy a vital union with God by actual knowledge and love. 

Page 104 

Then will it be able to say with the spouse: I have found him whom my Soul loveth: I hold him and I will not let go. [Canticles iii, 4]

Prayer: 

Immense God, I will love Thee with my whole heart, desiring to have Thee as my inseparable companion; wound me, Lord, with the dart of Thy charity, and grant me the realisation of Thy presence; for where there is great love, forgetfulness is impossible. 

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