based on Letter of St. Paul of the Cross to Mother Mary Crucified

By Msgr. Bernard Powers  

God created us.
He created us in his image and likeness.
God is life; God is love.
God is life within Himself in the life of the Trinity.
God is loving within the Trinity.
            We share in the Triune God
            both in living and in loving.
            And we live and we love in relationships.
            Saint Paul of the Cross gives wonderful teaching
            on this truth
            in his Letters to Mother Mary Crucified.

God is Divine Lover.
God loves us and establishes a relationship with us.
He gives his love and shares his love with us.
The Divine Lover loves us with a divine love
and even gives to us a divine love through which we love God.
                        We are in a love relationship with God.
Saint Paul names God as the Supreme Giver.(7) 
Our response is receiving, but not just receiving as that of taking,
but being the receiver, that is,
            coming alive to the gift that is given,
            or more fully,
                        coming alive to the Supreme Giver of the gift
                        God Himself… and coming alive through the gifts given. 

We are the Receiver,
not just as a pitcher receiving water,
but as a person coming alive,
responding to God more fully in and
through the gifts given.
            A pitcher is still a pitcher although it receives a gallon of water.
            We are more like God
            through the gifts given and received.
                        To fail to come alive to the gift is failure.
                        To fail to come alive to the Supreme Giver through the gift is greater failure…..
                         failure to live in a fuller way.
                            In a certain sense this is death, and in a real sense it is sin. 

            Oh, the gifts we have been given.
            Oh, the fruits of receiving.
                        Yes, God is  the Supreme Giver
                        and we are the humble, grateful receiver. 

Our God is a loving God whose delight is to be
with the children of men.
God gives the gift of Himself to us.
God dwells in the very center of our being.
            Because God dwells within our being,
            both in love and in life
            Paul of the Cross says that
            we become Adorers of the Most Holy.  (11-29) 

                        Oh, Christian,
                        realize your dignity.  God dwells within.
                        You are the “temple of the Holy Spirit.”

            God dwells within the temple of your being,
            your very being consecrated through Baptism…
            adorned with the gifts of the Holy Spirit,
            made pleasing through grace,
            adorned with gifts from God
                        “enkindled and enamoured” (7)  by God .
                        Indeed aflame with the fire of love. 

                        Oh! to love,
                        yet to love more because
                        God’s love enamors you
                                    and you are disposed for even
                                    greater love, greater graces.  (7) 

In the relationship where God is Lover
and the soul is made lover,
            love speed toward its fulfillment
            toward “union.”

God is Person.
God is Person who loves.
            Love is Gift.
            Love is the gift of the Person, God.

The soul is person.
The soul is the person who loves.
            Love is gift.
            Love is the gift of the human person to God.

This mutual giving and receiving
in a love relationship
is an espousal love ( 31-20-10)

Thus the God who gives Self in love
is the Bridegroom
and the soul who accepts and gives herself is the Bride. 

St Paul says:
                “Be worthy Brides of the Lover, the Crucified.  (51-47-50)

One final note:
    Jesus is the Crucified Lover.
    The soul who gives
    as the Crucified Lover gives
    is the victim in this love relationship.

                                    Amen…         Msgr. Bernard Powers