Contemplative Haven: Wrapping Up the Love Wounds 
Wrapping Up the Love Wounds
What? You haven't been waylaid by an angel thrusting arrows into your heart? Well, as a matter of fact, neither have I.
So, are there other kinds of "love wounds" granted by the Lord which are a little less dramatic? Anything that we might recognize ourselves? Absolutely.
St. Teresa says that Our Lord, "has other methods of awakening the soul." Sometimes, she tells us, during vocal prayer, the soul just seems to "catch fire". She compares it to being overcome by a fragrance which diffuses itself through all our senses (although she is not talking about an actual fragrance here); we unexpectedly become conscious that the Spouse is with us. This creates within us "a delectable desire to enjoy Him", and disposes the soul to "make many acts and to sing praises to Our Lord." This causes no pain, and our desires themselves are not painful ones.
There are also experiences known as mystical touches and impulses. Let us look at two quotations from Father Thomas Dubay on this subject:
"A mystical touch is a deep, intimate contact-union-experience of God in one of His attributes such as power, light, goodness, beauty, or joy. It is not only a contact but also a union, and not only a union but also an experience...These touches are not messages or flashes of inner lightning, and they are not clear vision as in glory. But they are contacts with the very Divinity, and they effect a union with God." (Fire Within)
"What is an impulse? The saint [St. Teresa of Avila] defines it as a desire, frequent and even habitual, that comes upon the soul suddenly and without any preceding prayer. It involves a keen remembrance that one is separated from God...a remembrance so powerful and experienced with such impact that instantaneously the soul seems beside itself." (Fire Within)
What lasting effects do these love wounds, mystical touches and impulses have on us? Again, Father Dubay has this to say:
"Touches purify, strengthen and quiet a person, and they make the inner life more stable. They prepare the recipient to receive permanently the divine union of espousal and eventually the transforming union itself."
So, are there other kinds of "love wounds" granted by the Lord which are a little less dramatic? Anything that we might recognize ourselves? Absolutely.
St. Teresa says that Our Lord, "has other methods of awakening the soul." Sometimes, she tells us, during vocal prayer, the soul just seems to "catch fire". She compares it to being overcome by a fragrance which diffuses itself through all our senses (although she is not talking about an actual fragrance here); we unexpectedly become conscious that the Spouse is with us. This creates within us "a delectable desire to enjoy Him", and disposes the soul to "make many acts and to sing praises to Our Lord." This causes no pain, and our desires themselves are not painful ones.
There are also experiences known as mystical touches and impulses. Let us look at two quotations from Father Thomas Dubay on this subject:
"A mystical touch is a deep, intimate contact-union-experience of God in one of His attributes such as power, light, goodness, beauty, or joy. It is not only a contact but also a union, and not only a union but also an experience...These touches are not messages or flashes of inner lightning, and they are not clear vision as in glory. But they are contacts with the very Divinity, and they effect a union with God." (Fire Within)
"What is an impulse? The saint [St. Teresa of Avila] defines it as a desire, frequent and even habitual, that comes upon the soul suddenly and without any preceding prayer. It involves a keen remembrance that one is separated from God...a remembrance so powerful and experienced with such impact that instantaneously the soul seems beside itself." (Fire Within)
What lasting effects do these love wounds, mystical touches and impulses have on us? Again, Father Dubay has this to say:
"Touches purify, strengthen and quiet a person, and they make the inner life more stable. They prepare the recipient to receive permanently the divine union of espousal and eventually the transforming union itself."
posted by Gabrielle at 1:35 AM
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