Therefore, I will now persuade her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her. From there I will give her her vineyards, and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. There she shall respond as in the days of her youth, as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt. On that day, says the Lord, you will call me, ‘My husband’, and no longer will you call me, ‘My Baal’. For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be mentioned by name no more. I will make for you a covenant on that day with the wild animals, the birds of the air, and the creeping things of the ground; and I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land; and I will make you lie down in safety. And I will take you for my wife for ever; I will take you for my wife in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love, and in mercy. I will take you for my wife in faithfulness; and you shall know the Lord.
"I will lead her into the desert and speak to her heart."
In the wilderness one is removed from the seduction and noise of the world and is more disposed, in interior poverty, to hear God's voice. Once Israel attained the promised land and began enjoying the promised milk and honey, she became unfaithful and sought out Baal, the god of the Canaanites. Does prosperity lead to unfaithfulness? Is this why Jesus continually warned against the danger of riches? Material independence seems to lead to spiritual independence. But did not God lead Israel to the promised land? Therefore it does not follow that prosperity in itself is evil but it certainly makes it exceedingly difficult to remain spiritually poor in the midst of it. God explicitly warned the Israelites about this before leading them into the promised land (Deuteronomy 8.7-20).
This is why the Church in her wisdom places the forty days of Lent in the midst of the liturgical year, preceding the Easter marriage. Fasting, almsgiving and prayer lead to an inner wilderness where we can again hear God's voice. We cannot be filled with clamorous thoughts of false gods and at the same time hear the voice of the true God. So inner purification is always necessary and it is the true God who always offers the invitation. The false gods promise us continual comfort and convince us that the wilderness is a place only of meaningless suffering and hardship, a lack which is meaningless.
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"I will espouse you to me forever and you shall know the Lord." No human heart can dream nor can mind conceive the joy and beauty of this ultimate end for God's church and people: eternal, unbroken spousal union with God and knowledge of Him. We are in danger here of uttering like those others who saw the miracles of Jesus: "this is too much for us." Yet we dare not for it is the end for which we were created.
There are three things here which are very difficult to grasp:
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Eternity - a permanent state of unending being. Some, in order to approach this, think of a very long time, say 10,000 years, and then add "after that it's just begun." But I think it a mistake to think of it so. Think rather of a single moment in time, a rapturous moment when time ceases to exist and you lose awareness of yourself in the most sublime self-transcendence: whether playing with your young child, being with a lover, contemplating God, watching a sunrise or sunset or losing yourself in music. Then imagine yourself as never really coming back to yourself in time but the moment simply continues in being. |
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Spousal union with God - as with eternity it is easy to go astray when thinking on this. Perhaps some will approach it by starting to think on their earthly spouse (those who are in good marriages). But there are too many differences: your spouse is not God (i.e., did not create you, cannot be worshipped, did not redeem you, etc.), your espousal union ends at death and so on. Think rather of a time when you have been caught up in an act of sublime worship as a member of church, in a rousing liturgy which you wished had no ending. Reread the paragraph on eternity above and add "total, ecstatic loss in the lover with the achievement of perfect union." |
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Knowledge of God - as with eternity and spousal union with God there are ways to think on this which are awry. For example the very word 'knowledge' may cause us to think of dry, cerebral, detached intellectual knowledge born out of theological study of the essence and acts of God. Think rather of building on our meditation of eternal, spousal union. There is yet a third aspect which we must not neglect in order to properly contemplate the bliss of heaven: knowing and being known. For spousal union is not perfect in its ecstatic union unless, in ecstasy, we can cry out that at long last we are known and that we know the beloved perfectly. Oh to be known - what a great desire in man. And to know with the most perfect, intimate knowledge the subject of our desire. |
We have a more proper view of heaven therefore when we contemplate "eternal, total, ecstatic loss in the lover with the achievement of perfect union and knowledge of each other which will be a continuous, unending state of being."
We would be wise to think often of this, God's desired end for us, with devotion and perseverance.