The Shortest Way to Union with God

Some go slowly, others run, and others fly. Moreover, even among those who fly, there are differences; rapid is the dove in its flight, more rapid is the arrow, but the most rapid of all is the ray of light.

Do you wish to know which is the most excellent and the shortest way to union with God? Listen to the words of [St. Paul]: "Follow after charity" (1 Cor. 14:1). [...]

Charity is acquired by the practice of charity itself. Mark well that I am not referring here to exterior works of charity toward one's neighbor, which, according to the opinion of many, constitute charity. [...] Charity is something quite distinct from all exterior works. Charity is simply the love of God; or, in other words, inasmuch as God and love are one and the same thing, it is God Himself living within our souls. It is personal and infinite Love loving Himself within our hearts.

To exercise ourselves in charity, therefore, is to give way to God in our hearts. It is to detach ourselves from everything and to make ourselves an absolute vacuum in order that God may fill us with HImself. As the great mystic, Tauler, says, perfection does not consist in doing great things, but in letting God "be magnified, that is, made great within us" (Institutions, chap. 14). And in order to let God be magnified within us, all we have to do is give Him much space, to expand infinitely our capacity to receive Him. This we cannot do of ourselves, but neither will God do it unless we desire it ardently and ask for it day and night.

God is an infinite treasure and He wants souls rightly to esteem His value, to desire Him above all things and to plead for Him with great yearnings. God likes to make himself desired [....]

This most ardent desire for God is also what makes the soul fly and even shoot forth with the speed of a light-ray toward that supreme Center which so irresistibly attracts it to Himself. In its flight to God, the soul is divested of all that is earthly and mortal in its nature, and mundane things are definitely cast aside. In the holy exercise of charity one arrives more quickly at the summit of perfection and sanctity because in one simple act all the virtues are exercised and all vises attacked at their very root; for the root of all vices is pride or self-love and the root and soul of all the virtues is charity. [...] The soul must die in order to be united to God, and he who is dead is justified and purified of all sin; it is no longer possible for pride and self-love to reign in him.

This is the reason why St. Paul enumerates as manifestations of charity the practice of all the virtues (patience, benignity, humility, mortification, detachment, etc.) and the absence of all the vices (pride, envy, etc.) (Cf. 1 Cor. 13:4-7). Charity or the love of God, if it is real, must of necessity produce all these effects in the soul. If the effects are otherwise, then it is a pure illusion. Wherefore, if we dedicate ourselves preferably and above all things, with all the earnestness of our souls, to the acquisition of the love of God, we shall quickly and in a more simple and excellent way attain our perfection. [...]

The soul fixes its entire attention upon God and all its efforts are aimed at delighting and pleasing Him and doing His will in all things. In a word, it strives to love Him as He should be loved. As this is the soul's one and only objective, it forgets about self and is not concerned about anything except the sole object to which it aspires with all the energy of its being, which is the love of God or union with God. That is why however grievous and painful the trials God may send or however difficult the circumstances of its life, the soul's attitude in this regard is one of total indifference. It matters not whether it be in light or in darkness, in consolation or aridity; everything which may affect the soul personally is a matter of indifference to it. Its only occupation and concern is to love God, which it feels to be the only thing necessary. [...]

This is the path proper to great hearts and courageous souls who would be ashamed to bargain with God but rather abandon themselves to Him totally and without reserve. [...]

[The method of practicing the virtues and exercises of piety] is proper to beginners and also to the proficient. [...]

Souls will learn that an ardent, sincere, and profound desire to love God as He should be loved can admit of no deception, if, at the same time, it is accompanied by a desire, equally ardent and profound, to die to self and to all things. [...] In the desire not to be anything in anything whatever, to seek poverty and nudity of spirit, to desire to die in order that God may live within us, there can be no illusion. [...]

The best way of abbreviating all the spiritual paths consists in increasing charity by every means possible, especially by performing all our actions with the most pure intention of pleasing God, that is, by performing them with great zeal and with the sole desire of glorifying God and of praising His holy name.

This does not require much knowledge nor a great variety of interior acts. One act, repeated with all the fervor of our soul, would be sufficient. [...]

We should be indifferent to everything except God, who is our last end and our beatitude.

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Source: Fr. Victorino Osende, Fruits of Contemplation, trans. by a Dominican Sister (St. Louis, MO: B. Herder Book Co., 1963), 30-39.