UNCHANGING LOVE THAT SETS US FREE

(Scripture reflection from The Magnificat, Luke 13:10-17)

“Woman, you are set free”

Now I am going to tell you how I experience God, his divine presence and the effects it produces in me. I experience God at all times and in all places—when I am working, when I am eating, and even when I am in bed—but not always in the same manner nor with the same intensity. Thus, when I am alone in my cell and not distracted by physical occupations, I feel drawn by an infinite sweetness and power. My soul enjoys a complete and serene peacefulness, like a sky without any clouds. At other times it seems as if God is carrying me in his arms and he hugs me as a mother does her child. Then I say to him—no, I don’t say anything, I feel—“My God, why are you so good and why do you love this unworthy creature so much?” And I hear him say to me, although rather than hear I understand: “I do the same to all…. My desires are to unite myself with souls.” 

In order that you may understand, I am going to refer to an incident. The Lord let me know that I had committed four or five faults in a few moments: infidelity to grace to do all things peacefully and calmly, impatience, lack of respect in the way I answered our Mother Superior, bad example to the others who saw me. What was I to do after committing these faults? Humble myself, trust in the Lord, and remain tranquil. And so I said: “My Jesus, I have been evil; have mercy on me.” And it seemed that Jesus said to me: “I do not change. Your faults are not able to change my heart in any way. Because I am good, I have loved you, I still love you, and I shall love you.” Then he made me experience the sweetness of his love. In such cases I feel very humiliated. I would like to reduce myself to nothingness. But God, on the contrary, presses me closer to himself. Jesus does not interrupt his expressions of love. He loves me always, even when I am bad. He counsels me sweetly and draws me to himself. 

Venerable Mother Mary Magdalen of Jesus in the Eucharist, c.p.

Mother Mary Magdalen († 1960) was a Passionist nun from Spain and a spiritual writer. / From Toward the Heights of Union with God, Fr. John G. Eucharist Arintero, o.p., and Mother Mary Magdalen, c.p., Jordan Aumann, o.p., Tr. © 1972, Passionist Nuns Monastery, Erlanger, KY. All rights reserved.