For great is his love toward us,
and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever.
Praise the LORD.
Psalms 117:2 (NIV)
For this passage I will present the words of John of the Cross (1542-1591) who described what it was like to experience God’s love.
The soul now feels that it is all inflamed in the divine union, its palate is all bathed in glory and love, that in the intimate part of its substance it is flooded with no less than rivers of glory, abounding in delights, and from its depths flow rivers of living water.[1]
The soul feels its ardor strengthen and increase and its love become so refined in this ardor that seemingly there flow seas of loving fire within it, reaching to the heights and depths of the earthly and heavenly spheres, imbuing all with love.[2]
The soul always walks in festivity, inwardly and outwardly, and it frequently bears on its spiritual tongue a new song of great jubilation in God.[3]
This is the love that we only experience in part in this life, but in the next life we receive the full blessing of his love. Even though he does not show all of his love now, all this love is aimed toward us now. This is the love that preserves and fulfills our souls. The tastes of his love that we receive now encourage us because they are the down payment on our future blissful marriage that will endure forever.
[1] John of the Cross, The Collected Works of John of the Cross, trans. Kieran Kavanaugh and Otilio Rodriguez(Washington D.C.: Institute for Carmelite Studies (ICS) Publications, 1991), 641. This quote is from John’s work Living Flame of Love, stanza 1, section 1. The short form of this reference is F, 1, 1.
[2] John of the Cross, Collected Works, 661. F, 2, 10.
[3] John of the Cross, Collected Works, 672. F, 2, 36.
