“Oh how I wish you would kiss me passionately.” Song of Solomon

“O night, my guide! O night more friendly than the dawn! O tender night that has tied lover and the loved one, loved one in the lover fused as one.” St. John of the Cross.

“God loved the world (so passionately) that He gave His one and only son . . .” John 3

How do you perceive the love of God?  What words would you use to describe it?  Give that some thought.

Now consider that the mystics thought of God’s love as passionate.  Fierce.  Pursuing.   Even romantic.  Give that some thought.

When we think of the word “passion” in conjunction with God, it is probable that we think of Christ’s Crucifixion.  That is one meaning of the word.  But the other denotes a desire.  To be passionate is to long for something or someone with an unquenchable thirst, until that desire is satiated.

That is how the mystics thought of God.  And, it is certain, how they believed God thought of them.  There is certainly scriptural proof of this, as the Song of Solomon testifies.  And the familiar passage from John 3 also undergirds this love. As does the life of Jesus Himself.  Jesus was passionately in love not only His disciples, but with others whom He encountered.

This week I had a conversation with a good friend who, while acknowledging the pure agape form of love of God, also made the point that we are missing something if we fail to see the passionate, eros type of love that God inhabits.  It was a very lively conversation, in which we both agreed that if human beings are indeed created in the image of God, then part of that image must include the reflection of eros as a form of God’s love, just as filia—the love of a brother or sister—is.  We also talked about the irony of how the Christian church through the ages has cherry-picked certain sins—such as sexual ones—to the exclusion of others that are arguably more damaging to souls, such as greed, power, control, and such.  But that is a topic for another time.

The passion of God has been experienced most commonly through ecstatic religious experiences, which seem to be common across all religious traditions.  In the Christian tradition, history records numerous such experiences, the most common being that of St. Teresa and St. Catherine.[1]

So I ask again, how do you perceive the love of God?  Here is how Rumi, a Sufi mystic and poet, perceived it:

“Glorious is the moment we sit in the palace, you and I.

Two forms, two faces, but a single soul, you and I.

The flowers will blaze and bird cries shower us with immortality,

The moment we enter the garden, you and I.

All the stars of heaven will run out to gaze at us

As we burn as the full moon itself, you and I.

The fire-winged birds of heaven will rage with envy

In that place we laugh ecstatically, you and I.

What a miracle, you and I, entwined in the same nest

What a miracle, you and I, one love, on lover, one Fire

In this world and the next, in an ecstasy without end.”

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[1] The experiences were captured in a sculpture by Bernini, and a painting by Batoni.  I would encourage you to take a look at them.