WHILE THE WHOLE HEART IS EMPLOYED IN SACRED LOVE, ONE CAN STILL LOVE GOD IN VARIOUS WAYS AND LOVE MANY OTHER THINGS TOGETHER WITH HIM
One who uses the word “all" excludes nothing. Nevertheless, a person would not cease to be wholly God’s, wholly the father’s, wholly the mother’s, wholly the ruler’s, wholly the country’s, wholly the children’s, wholly the friends’. In this way, being all to each one, he will be still all to all. This is so because the duty by which one is all to some is not contrary to the duty by which one is all to the others.
A human being gives oneself wholly by love, giving oneself wholly to the extent of one’s love. Hence it is supremely given to God when loving supremely the Divine Goodness. And having given oneself in this way it is to love nothing that can remove its heart from God. Now never does any love take our hearts from God, except that which is contrary to him. Sarah is not angry when she sees Ishmael with her dear Isaac as long as his play does not strike and hurt Isaac (Gen 21:9-10). And the Divine Goodness is not offended at seeing in us other loves besides our love for him as long as they maintain for him the reverence and submission that are his due.
Theotimus, in Paradise above, God will certainly give himself wholly to us and not in part, since he is a whole that has no parts. Nevertheless, he will give himself differently and with as many differences as there will be Saints. This is how it will be because giving himself wholly to all and wholly to each he will never give himself completely either to one in particular or to all in general. Now we shall give ourselves to him according to the measure in which he gives himself to us. We shall all see him indeed face to face (1Cor 13:12), as he is in his beauty, and love him heart to heart as he is in his goodness. All, however, will not see him with an equal clarity nor love him with an equal sweetness. But each one will see him and love him according to the particular measure of glory which Divine Providence has prepared for that person. We shall all have equally the fullness of this divine love, but the full measures will nevertheless be equal in perfection.
The honey of Narbonne is very sweet. So is also that of Paris. Both of them are full of sweetness. Yet one is full of a better, more delicate and richer sweetness. Though the one and the other are entirely sweet, yet neither the one nor the other contains all sweetness. I do homage to the sovereign ruler and the same to my immediate superior. I commit therefore my whole fidelity to the one and to the other. Yet I do not give it totally to either the one or the other. In that which I give to the sovereign I do not exclude that which I give to the subordinate. And in that which I give to the subordinate I do not include that which I give to the sovereign. If in heaven, where these words you shall love your God with all your heart shall be so excellently practised, there will be great differences in love, it is no wonder that there are many in this mortal life.
Among those who love God with all their heart, Theot- imus, not only do some love him more and some less, but even one and the same person often exceeds oneself in this supreme activity of loving God above all things. Apelles painted better at one time than at another. Sometimes he surpassed himself. Though ordinarily he put all his art and all his attention in painting Alexander the Great, yet he did not always do it so totally and so entirely that there remained no other efforts to make. In these he did not use a greater art or a greater affection but worked more actively and perfectly. He always employed all his genius to paint well these portraits of Alexander because he used it without reserve. But sometimes he used it more effectively and successfully. We are all aware that we grow in this holy love, and that the end of the lives of the Saints is fulfilled with a more perfect love than their beginning.
Now according to the way it is spoken of by the Holy Scriptures, to do a thing with all one’s heart simply means to do it with a good heart and without reserve. David says, O Lord, with my whole heart I seek you (Ps 119:10); with my whole heart I cry, Lord, answer me (Ps 119:145). And the Holy Word testifies that he had truly followed God with his whole heart (1Sam 13:14; Acts 13:22). In spite of this, it goes on to say about Ezechias that there was no one like him among all the kings of Judah after him, or among those who were before him. For he held fast to the Lord; he did not depart from following him. (2Kings18:5-6). Later, speaking of Josias it says that before him there was no King like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses, nor did any like him arise after him (2Kings 23:25).
See, then, Theotimus, I ask you, see how David, Ezechias and Josias loved God with all their heart and nevertheless all three did not love him equally. This is because not one of these three had one like him in this love, as the sacred text says. All three loved him, each one of them with all his heart, but not one of them nor all three together, loved him totally. Rather, each one loved him in his own particular way. Thus all three were similar in that each one gave his whole heart. So also all three were unlike in their manner of giving it. Indeed, there is no doubt that David, taken by himself, was far different from himself in this love, with his second heart which God created pure and clean in him and with his right spirit which God renewed in his bowels by most holy penitence. With this heart and spirit he sang the canticle of his love far more melodiously than he had ever done with his first heart and spirit.
All true lovers are equal in that they all give all their heart to God and with all their strength. But they are unequal in that they all give it diversely and in different ways. Hence some give all their heart with all their strength less perfectly than others. One person gives it all by martyrdom, another all by virginity, another all by poverty, another all by action, another all by contemplation, another all by the pastoral office. While all give all by the observance of the commandments, some give it with less perfection than others.
Yes, even Jacob, who is called in Daniel the holy one of God (Dn 3:35), and whom God declares to have loved (Mal 1:2), himself admits that he served Laban with all his strength (Gen 31:6). Why did he serve Laban? Only to get Rachel whom he loved with all his strength. He serves Laban with all his strength, he serves God with all his strength. He loves Rachel with all his strength, He loves God with all his strength. Still he does not love Rachel as God, nor God as Rachel. He loves God as his God, above all things and more than himself. He loves Rachel as his wife, above all other women and as himself. He loves God with a love that is absolutely and sovereignly supreme, and Rachel with a supreme nuptial love. Of these loves, one is not contrary to the other, since that for Rachel does not violate the sovereign privileges and interests of that for God.
Hence, Theotimus, the value of the love we have for God depends on the eminence and excellence of the motive for which and according to which we love him; in that we love him for his sovereign, infinite goodness as God and because he is God. Now one drop of this love is worth more, has more power and deserves more esteem than all the other loves that can ever be in the hearts of humans or among the choirs of angels. For while this love lives, it reigns and holds the sceptre over all the affections, making God to be preferred in its will above all things indifferently, universally, and without exception.