![]() ‘Tis to cause me to share Thine immortality, to endow me with the glory imperishable of Thy heavenly and most high and most mighty kingdom, ‘tis to make me partaker of that inheritance which is only of Thy Son, to establish me in possession of eternal bliss. With Thee, to behold is to give life ‘tis unceasingly to impart sweetest love of Thee ‘tis to inflame me to love of Thee by love’s imparting, and to feed me by inflaming, and by feeding to kindle my yearnings, and by kindling to make me drink of the dew of gladness, and by drinking to infuse in me a fountain of life, and by infusing to make it increase and endure. Now I behold as in a mirror, in an icon, in a riddle, life eternal, for that is naught other than that blessed regard wherewith Thou never ceasest most lovingly to behold me, yea, even the secret places of my soul. And what, Lord, is my life, save that embrace wherein Thy delightsome sweetness doth so lovingly enfold me? I love my life supremely because Thou art my life’s sweetness. The enlarging is by conformity with Thee, when I strive to be good because Thou art good, to be just because Thou art just, to be merciful because Thou art merciful when all my endeavour is turned toward Thee because all Thy endeavour is turned toward me when I look unto Thee alone with all my attention, nor ever turn aside the eyes of my mind, because Thou dost enfold me with Thy constant regard when I direct my love toward Thee alone because Thou, who art Love’s self, hast turned Thee toward me alone. By this I can either enlarge or restrict my capacity for Thy grace. And this power, which I have of Thee, wherein I possess a living image of Thine almighty power, is freewill. Lord, Thou hast given me my being, of such a nature that it can make itself continuously more able to receive Thy grace and goodness. from The Vision of God, by Nicholas of Cusa The classic image for this encounter of God and the soul is that of the Lover and the Beloved. … Love’s Imparting The whole self is taken up in the embrace of the divine tenderness. Such a profound attraction turns the body into a force-field of divine quickening. ![]() At that depth an atmosphere of elegance presides. It is the deepest dream of the soul to be in the intimacy of Divine Beauty. Something in us senses and knows how perfectly the contours of the soul fit the divine embrace. Faith has its own aesthetic of dignity, light and proportion. Faith is no blind piety but a primal attraction, the deepest resonance of the self drawn to the elegance of its ancient origin. When we consider faith as a response to Divine Beauty, we begin to glimpse its creativity and passion. We enter the secret symmetry of the Divine Imagination. ![]() The beauty of God increases and deepens our own beauty. The infinity of the beauty which is God is a feast for the soul. Even in unknown ways, our lives are charged with attraction towards divine beauty. ![]() It strikes our sensibility in a way that makes us respond. Yet whilst faith seems feeble in the realm of evidence and proof, beauty always attracts us. For too long faith has been presented as a weak form of knowledge. from Beauty: The Invisible Embrace, by John O’Donohueįaith is attraction to the divine. Love for God cannot be forced or pretended, but, according to 15th century theologian Nicholas of Cusa, it grows naturally in us as we “enlarge our capacity” to recognize God’s gifts of sweetness and joy.īelow we’ve paired an excerpt from Nicholas with two contemporary readings that help us pay attention to God’s overtures of love and our attraction to God’s beauty and goodness. ![]()
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