Quod in omni tempore et in omni actu amor Dei miscendus est, qui nee prosperis cedit nee aduersis, et de excellencia eius et comparacione, et de lacrimis in melum conuersis

Quod in omni tempore et in omni actu amor Dei miscendus est, qui nee prosperis cedit nee aduersis, et de excellencia eius et comparacione, et de lacrimis in melum conuersis

The love of the divine penetrates the person it perfectly reaches, and it truly ignites with the fire of the Holy Spirit, drawing the soul to itself with a wonderful joy, and it does not allow the memory of such great love to stray even for a moment. The mind of a lover is bound so that it doesn't drift toward emptiness and continually strives toward the beloved. We can, indeed, if we are true lovers of our Lord Jesus Christ, think of Him as we go along and hold on to the song of His love while we sit together in fellowship, and we can also remember Him at His table even in the tastes of food and drink. For every morsel of food or sip of drink, we should praise God, and in the intervals between receiving food and morsels, we should sing His praises with sweet and heartfelt joy and longing, yearning for Him amid our feasting. And if we are engaged in the work of our hands, what prevents us from lifting our hearts to heaven and constantly holding on to the thought of eternal love? So, at all times, we will be fervent in our life and not sluggish, nor will anything other than sleep remove our hearts from Him. O how great is the joy and delight that fills the one who loves! O how happy and truly desirable is the sweetness that fills his soul! For love is a life that endures without end, where it is established and solidified in Christ, so that neither good fortune nor adversity can change it, just as the wisest have written. Then indeed He turns night into day, darkness into light, sorrow into melody, punishment into sweetness, and labor into the most delightful rest. This love is not imaginary or feigned, but true and perfect, directed inseparably toward Christ, resonating like a melody in harmony with the beloved. And indeed, if you love in this way, as I have shown, you'll stand gloriously before the vision of God, alongside the best and most honorable in His kingdom. However, you will strongly overcome all the attacks of demons, the rising impulses of the flesh, and the desires of worldly things, through the fervor of love and the power of prayer. You also desire the pleasure of apparent beauty, so that you wouldn't want anything that could be valued or even stained. When you are filled with the inner feasts, you'll experience the delights of eternal love, so that you may recognize the sign in certainty and almost in knowledge that you are a lover of the eternal King. However, this doesn't happen to someone else unless either God has given it to him or he has truly felt a significant part of future reward within himself in this life. But what can I say about those who, although they are chosen, still haven't received that sweetness? Sometimes I marvel at myself for having spoken about the greatness of God's lovers, as if anyone could want to rise to this; yet it is not by the will of the one who runs or strives, but by the grace of Christ who calls and lifts us up. The smallness of my mind truly doesn't know how to express what I've tried to show, however clumsily, and yet I felt compelled to say something about the ineffable, so that those who hear or read might strive to imitate, discovering that all love, when compared to divine love, is truly pain and misery. Therefore, look to understanding, and know how much the Lord marvelously honors His lover, lifting them up to great heights and not allowing them to fall into a worthless love of vain hope, but instead, He keeps them sweetly and steadfastly in love with Him. Love is indeed a continuous thought accompanied by a deep desire for what is beautiful and good, because if the thing I love is beautiful but not good, I show myself unworthy to love it; but if it is good, it is worthy of my love. The love of a creature, even if it is good and beautiful, is forbidden to me, so that I may offer and reserve all my love for the source of goodness and beauty; that He may be my love who is my God and my Jesus. For He alone has beauty and goodness in Himself; indeed, beauty and goodness are the very essence of His being. Everything else is only beautiful and good if it comes from Him, and the closer they get to Him, the more beautiful and better they become. Therefore, He is most worthily loved, who contains within Himself all that is to be sought by those who love, and from whom nothing is withheld that could prevent Him from being loved most ardently. If I love something else, my conscience will sting me for not loving rightly; I fear that what I love won't love me back in the same way. And even if I didn't fear this, I'm still shaken by the death that separates those who love poorly, and it devastates all their vanity. Moreover, other adversities often arise that disturb the peace and sweetness of those who love; but whoever truly loves God with all their heart has a purer conscience, and the more they recognize themselves to be ardently in love with the divine, the more pure their conscience becomes. Therefore, the one who loves most deeply experiences their beloved, whose sweetness death does not separate them from; rather, they find their beloved perfectly when they pass from this world, and they are truly united with Him, so that from then on they are never separated from Him, but run continually into the most loving embrace, and they glorify Him whom they have loved and desired, seeing Him clearly without end. Therefore, I compare this love to an unquenchable fire, which no force of opposing power can extinguish, nor any softness of flattery can overcome. This love cleanses us from our sins and, in its immense fervor, burns away all obstacles that hinder us from loving, and in the most ardent flames of divine love, it makes us brighter than gold and more radiant than the sun. This love brings us a spiritual healing, and I don’t think there’s anything among all that can be listed by clerics that supports and comforts us as much, freeing us from all the filth of wickedness, just as the fervent love of God and the continuous meditation on the Creator do. Tears wash away sins, and the pain of the heart removes condemnation; but burning love surpasses all things incomprehensibly and makes the soul shine most brilliantly, from which it acquires the heart of the eternal King and deserves to contemplate in joyful song. I don't say that tears are useless, nor do I claim that the pain of the heart is inappropriate, or that we shouldn't care in this exile; rather, I admire someone so caught up in the joy of love that in their devotion, whether in prayer or meditation, they can't weep. Instead, I would rather announce and declare their prayer and meditation transformed into a song, and into a melody of heavenly sweetness, so that it sounds more angelic than human, in which, with a sweet fervor, they are drawn not to lament but to rejoice; so that, as if abstracted from tears, they may continually delight in the very source of true and eternal joy. Whenever our teachers assert that the perfect ought to weep, the more perfect they are, the more abundant their tears will be, both for the miseries of life and for the sorrow of their homeland. Indeed, a remarkable longing flows within me from divine love; and the compunction of bodily tears has ceased because of the greatness of internal sweetness. But whoever is not consumed by eternal love must be purified by tears; however, whoever languishes in the love of eternity finds that love is enough to torment them, for there is no wound more severe or sweeter than love. Indeed, even if one were to be moved to tears, it is not permitted, especially in secret devotion, because at that time, when the Holy Spirit lifts the mind upward, it is filled with the sweetness of angelic delight, and it offers praises and loving thoughts to God. The seat of love is high, for it has run all the way to heaven, and it seems to me that it is also subtle and skillful here on earth, making once-lovely people dark and pale, compelling them to wither so that they may grow strong, and to fail so that they may be strong. From this, one draws closer to the peace of eternal glory, and boldly mingles with those who sing to the Creator. For whoever loves more ardently sings more sweetly and feels more deeply what they desire most; for even if the way seems harsh and long to those who love, love still unites God and humanity and makes those who endure it bearable with little effort.