The Paradise of God is the Heart of Man
by Saint Alphonsus Liguori
 Does
God love
you? Then love you
Him ! ! !
Become
accustomed to talking to
Him
face-to-face, familiarly,
with
confidence and
love, as
to a
friend,
the dearest friend you
have,
Who
loves
you so much.
It is a great mistake, as we have seen,
to treat
God
with
diffidence...
An even greater mistake
is
to suppose that conversing
with
God
is nothing
but tedium and
bitterness.
No, it is not true. "Non… habet amaritudinem
conversatio illius, nec taedium convictus illius" (Her
[Wisdom’s] conversation hath no bitterness, nor her company any tediousness.
Wisdom 8:16). Ask those
souls
that love Him with
a true love, and they will tell
you that amidst the sorrows of their life
they find no greater and truer
relief than in conversing lovingly with
God.
You are not yet required so to apply your
minds as to make you
forget all your business
and all your pleasure.
It is only required of you that, without neglecting your occupations, you should
act
towards God
as you
act
towards those whom you
love
and who love you.
Your God
is always with
you, indeed
inside
you: "In
ipso… vivimus, et movemur, et sumus" (In
Him we live and move and be. Acts 17:28).
There is no doorkeeper, for whoever
wishes
to
speak to God; indeed, it
is
God’s pleasure that you should
talk
familiarly with Him.
Speak
to
Him
of
your business,
of your plans,
of
your sorrows,
of
your fears, and
of all that
concerns
you.
Above all do it, as I
have said,
with
confidence and
with an open
heart, because God
is not accustomed to speak to the
soul
that does not speak to Him.
Such a soul, being unused to
dealing with Him,
will
not well understand His voice
when He speaks.
When you desire His love,
without waiting for you to approach Him,
He will anticipate your desire and
will
make Himself present
to you, bringing all those
graces
and remedies of which you
stand
in need. He is
only waiting for you to speak, to show
you that He is near and
is ready to listen to you and to console
you...
Our God dwells in
the highest heavens, but does
not disdain to pass days and nights with His faithful children,
allowing
them a share in His Divine consolations,
any one of which surpasses
all the delights and pleasures of
the world. Only they who have not tried
such consolations have no desire
for them: "Gustate et videte quoniam suavis
est Dominus" (O taste and see that the Lord is
sweet. Psalm 33:9).
Prayer
O my Jesus, have mercy on me.
I offer Thee my ungrateful but penitent heart.
My Redeemer, I repent above all of having despised Thee.
I repent, and I love Thee with all my soul.
Ah yes, my Savior, my God, I love Thee, I love
Thee.
Rather, it is Thou Who remindest me always how much Thou hast suffered for me,
that I may never again forget to love Thee.
Amen
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