Spiritual Corner -- The Ways God Shows Himself to the People who Love Him

Do you know how I show myself within the soul who loves me in truth and follows the teaching of this gentle loving Word? I show my strength in many ways, according to her desire, but there are three principal ways.

The first is my showing of my love and affection in the person of the Word, my Son, through his blood poured out in such burning love. This love is known in two manners. Ordinary people, those who live in ordinary love, know it when they see and experience my love in all the different blessings they receive from me. But it is known in a special
manner by those who have been made my friends. Beyond the knowledge of ordinary love, they taste it and know it and experience it and feel it in their very souls.

Love's second showing is simply in souls themselves, when I show myself to them in loving affection. I do not play favourites but I do respect holy desire, and I show myself in souls in proportion to the perfection with which they seek me. Sometimes I show myself (this is still the second showing) by giving them the spirit of prophecy and letting them see into the future. This can take many forms, depending on what I see to be their need or that of others.

At other times—and this is the third showing—I will make them aware of the presence of my Truth, my only-begotten Son, and this in different ways, according to their hunger and their will. Sometimes they seek me in prayer, wanting to know my power, and I satisfy them by letting them taste and feel my strength. Sometimes they seek me in the wisdom of my Son, and I satisfy them by setting Him before their mind's eye. Sometimes they seek me in the mercy of the Holy Spirit, and then my goodness lets them
taste the fire of divine charity by which they conceive true and solid virtues grounded in pure charity for their neighbours.

Yours,

Fr. Matthew Wang
(An excerpt from The Dialogue of St Catherine of Siena)