Still rummaging through papers during the move, I came across this sheet, which I suppose may possibly come from a day of retreat at the Teresianum, but I am not sure. The author is L. A. Lassus, a reflection on the spirituality of the indwelling of the Most Holy Trinity in the soul:
Burning
Bush in Praise of God
Bush in Praise of God
by
L. A. Lassus
L. A. Lassus
The whole universe, its power, its beauty, the astonishing prodigality
of beings, the formidable teeming of forms and colors is
the grandiose hymn of God’s Being-as-Feast, the explosion of the Word and
of Love “that moves the sun and the other stars,” even if
the painful dissonances of
sin, suffering, and death still make themselves heard from centuries away, even if darkness still covers
the face of the earth. For a Child has been born in
the heart of the night. He bears in his hand the globe of the earth and the whole
universe. With him, the Son of Love, the image of the invisible Father,
the night is over. “For in him all the fullness was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile all things for him, making peace by the blood of his cross
whether those on earth or those in heaven” (Col 1,
19-20).
of beings, the formidable teeming of forms and colors is
the grandiose hymn of God’s Being-as-Feast, the explosion of the Word and
of Love “that moves the sun and the other stars,” even if
the painful dissonances of
sin, suffering, and death still make themselves heard from centuries away, even if darkness still covers
the face of the earth. For a Child has been born in
the heart of the night. He bears in his hand the globe of the earth and the whole
universe. With him, the Son of Love, the image of the invisible Father,
the night is over. “For in him all the fullness was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile all things for him, making peace by the blood of his cross
whether those on earth or those in heaven” (Col 1,
19-20).
Every creature, then, is already a burning bush with a joyful flame, and
it prays and sings the glory of the Trinity, of which it is a particular
expression of love. “Christ is risen and life triumphs;
Christ is risen and there are no more dead in the tombs. Alleluia,
Alleluia!” The earth is drawn into the eternal dance.
it prays and sings the glory of the Trinity, of which it is a particular
expression of love. “Christ is risen and life triumphs;
Christ is risen and there are no more dead in the tombs. Alleluia,
Alleluia!” The earth is drawn into the eternal dance.
But there is another dance of the Three in the world and of the world in God, all the more
silent and hidden, but also all the more intimate and essential: the
divinization of man, the “dwelling” of the Three Persons in
those who love Jesus: “If anyone loves me — he had
said — my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our
dwelling with him” (Jn 14,23).
silent and hidden, but also all the more intimate and essential: the
divinization of man, the “dwelling” of the Three Persons in
those who love Jesus: “If anyone loves me — he had
said — my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our
dwelling with him” (Jn 14,23).
The state of grace of the friends of God is this invasion of the soul and
of the body, which draws them by faith and love into the Trinitarian feast.
The faith of the child of God reaches the divine reality, and love is,
from the first instant, exchange, interchange, assimilation between the friend and
the Beloved. The spirit of man thus becomes the spirit of God; his
will, the will of God; his joy, the joy of God. To take up again
an image dear to spiritual writers, it is a little like when one throws a
piece of wood into the fire. It begins to smoke, turns black, starts
to crackle, then suddenly becomes fire with such intensity,
with such depth, that one no longer knows where the wood is, where the
fire is, where the fire is, where the wood is. So it happens to the friend of
God who possesses the Holy Trinity: he no longer lives; but God in him
and he in God, and it is a foretaste of the feast of Heaven, when
God will be all in all. At every instant he is born of God, lives the
life of God, knows God as God knows himself, and loves him
with the love with which God loves himself, the Holy Spirit. He is wedded
to the Word and therefore to the beloved Son in whom the Father places
all his joy and upon whom the Spirit rests.
of the body, which draws them by faith and love into the Trinitarian feast.
The faith of the child of God reaches the divine reality, and love is,
from the first instant, exchange, interchange, assimilation between the friend and
the Beloved. The spirit of man thus becomes the spirit of God; his
will, the will of God; his joy, the joy of God. To take up again
an image dear to spiritual writers, it is a little like when one throws a
piece of wood into the fire. It begins to smoke, turns black, starts
to crackle, then suddenly becomes fire with such intensity,
with such depth, that one no longer knows where the wood is, where the
fire is, where the fire is, where the wood is. So it happens to the friend of
God who possesses the Holy Trinity: he no longer lives; but God in him
and he in God, and it is a foretaste of the feast of Heaven, when
God will be all in all. At every instant he is born of God, lives the
life of God, knows God as God knows himself, and loves him
with the love with which God loves himself, the Holy Spirit. He is wedded
to the Word and therefore to the beloved Son in whom the Father places
all his joy and upon whom the Spirit rests.
At this point, what is still incredible if he carries out the very work
of the Trinity, reflects its splendor, and illumines everything around
him?
of the Trinity, reflects its splendor, and illumines everything around
him?