Sometimes I grapple with the sayings and writings of great Christians. Take, for example, what Jean Leclerq says about Gregory the Great, whom he calls the Doctor of Desire: The importance given to desire confers on St. Gregory's doctrine an extremely dynamic quality. It is concerned with constant progress, for desire, as it becomes the more intense, is rewarded by a certain possession of God which increases it still more. The result of this desire is peace rediscovered in God, since desire is itself a possession in which fear and love are reconciled.
I find Leclerq's words a bit bland. I would like to put fire under it and proclaim, its all about desire! God cannot be possessed without it, nor fear vanquished, or struggle overcome. His phrase that we obtain a "certain possession of God", bothers me, because it makes God seem almost beyond our reach. And I'm not so sure fear and love can be reconciled. I'm more of the mind that love casts out fear; that fear can be overcome, that we can move beyond fear into a loving trust through a habitual response of trust. What we often lack is patience with ourselves, patience with the process, patience with the imperfections. It's as though we expect never to fail, and then berate ourselves because, what? we're human? God forbid!
God isn't unapproachable. God doesn't reign somewhere high above us, so that we must struggle to find even a "certain possession". Time and time again scripture and mystics tell us: God is in the depths of our hearts. The Divine Being waits patiently for us to find Divinity there. And desire can bring us to that sacred place.
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