John 15:9: “Remain in my love.”

Jesus continues to “give Himself fully” (#49 in The Simple Path) for me. He remains faithful to me every time I sin and am unfaithful. He remains to receive the thorns of my brokenness and inability to love Him as He has loved me. He doesn’t leave; he doesn’t reject me, criticize me, or separate Himself from me. He remains in the solitude of the Tabernacle for me. He remains in the long-suffering of waiting as He thirsts for my love.

Now, in the second nail of crucifixion, I am called to love as one with Christ. I, too, must choose daily to “remain in love” by receiving the brokenness of souls and choosing to remain in patience, tenderness, mercy, compassion, slow to anger, and rich in kindness… I need to process my emotions, especially anger, frustration, disappointment, resentment, and sorrow, in silence and prayer and give them to Jesus. I need to choose what pleases Him, forgetting myself, which is to remain in love.

This daily struggle to choose to remain and continue to give myself entirely to those most difficult begins to draw my soul into the “Soledad,” an interior desolation of heart that abandons her human desire to be loved the way she longs to be loved by creatures. In this second nail of crucifixion, God hides from the soul to perfect her in love. Her self-love is dying. She must choose the “solitude” solely for the love of Christ to quench His thirst for love. This abandonment to live by giving love, the roses, and receiving the thorns in time bears the fruit of joy (John 15:11).

“Love one another, as I have loved you” (John 15:12). God has remained in love since the Fall. Salvation history proves that God is Love. He continues, generation after generation, to remain faithful to humanity even when humanity continues to be unfaithful. To become love, one with God, I must remain faithful through perseverance in living The Path He has given me. This process of the second nail is a gift from God to enter and live the Scriptures to greater perfection, becoming one with the Word of God.

(see 2/23/22)