Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. Jude 1:21
“Since the philosopher’s interests are mainly objective, and the artist seldom cogitates on his own processes, it is, in the end, to the initiate of religion that we are forced to go, if we would learn how to undertake this training for ourselves. The religious contemplative has this further attraction for us: that he is by nature a missionary as well. The vision which he has achieved is the vision of an intensely loving heart; and love, which cannot keep itself to itself, urges him to tell the news as widely and as clearly as he may. In his works, he is ever trying to reveal the secret of his own deeper life and wider vision, and to help his fellow men to share it: hence he provides the clearest, most orderly, most practical teachings on the art of contemplation that we are likely to find.”
Evelyn Underhill (1875-1941) in Practical Mysticism (Project Gutenberg, 1915) 25
One day a philosopher and a religious contemplative went into a sports bar. Actually, that was me and my wife last night. We got a late dinner in downtown Littleton after her last soul care session.
On the way home I said I had been reading Underhill (who reminds me of my wife, as Jenni is also a religious contemplative). When I got home I kept reading and came on this part about sharing the love of God and the deeper life.
Don’t miss the message if you want to grow in generosity, and if you want to attract people to our Lord Jesus Christ. Focus on growing an intensely loving heart. That’s my wife.
For my part, I am the philosopher whose interests tend to be mainly objective. Whereas she’s tasted the love of God so richly, she can’t help but invite others to taste it.
So, what’s the lesson for us? We find it in Jude: keep yourself in the love of God. Do that and it will form an intensely loving heart in you, and you will give yourself to wanting others to share it.