The Meaning of Spiritual Love
When you regarded me
Your eyes imprinted your grace in me,
In this, you loved me again,
And thus my eyes merited
To also love what you see in me…
Let us go forth together to see ourselves in Your beauty.
~St. John of the Cross, Spiritual Canticle, 32, 33
Our book group is currently reading The Naked Now by Fr. Richard Rohr, a wonderful book that is teaching us to see as the mystics see. In one particularly wonderful chapter Fr. Rohr talks about John of the Cross‘ understanding of The Meaning of Spiritual Love, a fitting subject for Valentine’s Day.
If you have never experienced human love, it will be very hard for you to access God as Love. If you have never let God love you, you will not know how to love humanly in the deepest way…John describes the very process of love at its best:
You give a piece of yourself to the other.
You see a piece of yourself in the other (usually unconsciously).
This allows the other to do the same in return.
You do not need or demand anything back from them, because you know that you are both participating in a single, Bigger Gazing and Loving–one that fully satisfies and creates an immense Inner Aliveness.
(Simply to love is its own reward.)
You accept being accepted–for no reason and by no criteria whatsoever!
This is the key that unlocks everything in me, for others, and toward God.
So much so that we call it “salvation”!
Happy Valentine’s Day!