AN EMPTY AND SOLITARY HEART
St John of the Cross
We must be empty to be filled by God.
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The following is the transcript from a rosary meditation in the AMEN app from the Augustinian Institute.
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THE FRUIT OF SUFFERING
God does not send suffering. God allows it and turns it to our favour.
The fruit of this experience is that we can be totally stripped of every earthly thing we relied upon.
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BEING EMPTY TO BE FILLED
Beibg empty of all things, we surrender ourselves totally to God.
We let God do what God wanted to do through the people and events in our life.
Once we are empty, God floods our soul with the river of living water, His divine life.
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NADA - JOY-FILLED ABANDONMENT
The word that encapsulates St John of the Cross’ teaching is the word “Nada”.
Nada means to be unconditionally surrendered to God.
It means having a joy-filled to the abandonment of the goodwill of God no matter how it comes to us, so that God may empty us, make room in us, so that He may fill us with His divine life.
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AN APPROACHING GOD
The most important thing is making room for God. Our efforts is not to go in search for God, but make room for Him to come to us.
God is not a God we go in search of. He is an approaching God.
It is not about building something but receiving.
It of not about achieving, but making space for God so we can receive Him
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MAKING SPACE FOR GOD
There are two ways to make space for God:
(1) BY OUR EFFORT
We have to apply effort to make space for God, by daily meditation and reflection, by receiving the Sacraments, by doing all we can to remove sins and temptations form our lives, and by practicing virtues, by taking care of the ordinary responsibilities and duties of our life.
(2) BY OUR ACCEPTANCE
Something may occur in our life that we don’t like and cannot change. Do not fight like mad to resist it.
When we realise we cannot change it, we accept it and realise that it is the way that God is trying to break in and carve out more space in our soul to flood us with His life.
We need to surrender to Him and let Him do what He wants to do, and not resist Him.
This is where God, with heavy trials, particularly interior ones, perfects and completes what the soul has begun but cannot complete on his own.
This is passive purgation but not inactive. But we need to cooperate with faith, trust, acceptance and love and with a joy-filled total abandonment to God.
We have to apply all efforts here to stop fighting God.
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OUR NEED FOR CONTROL
We so often try to be God. We try to control everything.
But God wants to flood our soul with His divinity and transform us, but we resist with this need to control.
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WE CLING TO THINGS OF THIS WORLD
And we cling to things in this world that we think we need to have to be happy - achievements, relationships , good health, financial security, certain way of living —- we think we know better than God and we don’t want him messing up with our plans.
As long as we act this way, we block God form transforming our lives.
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UNCONDITIONALLY SURRENDER
The most important thing we need to do is to unconditionally surrender ourselves to God. To tell Him that He can do whatever He wants and whatever we need to be emptied of these earthy attachments and to be filled with Him.
Say yes to whatever God is doing even when all our being wants to cry out ”Stop!”.
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IMPLORE THE HELP OF OUR LADY
If we can’t say yes to God, give ourselves to Mary and ask her to say yes for us.
She comes into our soul and help us to say yes to all that God wants to do in us so that we can receive Him fully.
Learn from her - “Let it be done to me according to Your Word.”
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