Reading Garrigou-Lagrange is like eating Death by Chocolate Cake. One needs to
stop and take a breath before continuing absorbing all the fantastic insights
he gives one.
In the chapter “The Will and Holy Love of God”, the author
looks at these points: a) in what way love is in God and in what way He loves
Himself; b) and the nature of His love for us.
How wonderful to read a chapter on love.
There is a third section on “the will of expression in and
the will of His good pleasure.”
Remember that there is no sensibility in God as He is pure
spirit. Therefore, in God, “a wholly
spiritual and eternal act of love for the good necessarily exists, and this
good loved from all eternity is God Himself, His infinite perfection, which is
the fullness of being. God loves Himself….infinitely.
Of course, our pea-brains cannot understand this “eternally subsisting burning flame, ignis ardens
We can only hope to have glimpses of this great love, by
looking and meditating on the Cross of Christ and the Scriptures, and by
partaking in the sacramental life of the Church.
One passage quoted by the author may help us perceive, a
bit, this undying, eternal, infinite love:
“We read in the
Gospel, ‘Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice: or they shall
have their fill.’ (Matt. 5:6). This is that burning love for the good which is
mightier than all contradictions, than all weariness and temptations to
discouragement we may meet with, a love mighty as death, even mightier than
death, as seen in our Lord and the martyrs. Yet this mighty, ardent love for
the good, which must eventually dominate everything in our hearts, is but a
spark springing from that spiritual furnace in God, the uncreated love for the
sovereign good.”
To be continued…