“When the mind ascends to God through the attraction of love, it perceives neither itself nor anything which exists. Illumined by a measureless Divine light, it is insensible to everything created, just as a sensual glance does not notice the stars because of the sun’s radiance. Blessed is the man who continuously delights in Divine beauty while passing all creation by.” (St. Maximos the Confessor)
St. Maximos the Confessor is addressing not only monastics but all of us who wish to grow in grace from applying his intelligent and spiritual thoughts. He is writing about the essence of love, the ascent to God and the way it shuts out all else. Think of the golden light we find everywhere on the icon of Transfiguration. Notice how it blinded the three apostles. It was even more brilliant than the sun. Nothing else is seen by them, and nothing else does one who adores Christ care to see, because God’s Holy Spirit is overwhelming them with glory and joy. As in all icons where human eyes are blessed to see the three Persons in Holy Trinity, they are open, large, and fixated on the Lord.
Before we try to analyze the mystery of love expressed in the Transfiguration icon, we might begin with a common comparison, the love of a man and woman for one another. True love, whether between two human beings or the love between the Holy Trinity and the devout Christian, always involves a complete involvement in one another. When the Lord says: “I am a jealous God,” that’s what He means. Consider the classic pairs: Romeo and Juliet who had eyes only for one another, or Anthony and Cleopatra. Each shut out everything else and all others, delighting in the presence of the loved one. Recall Elizabeth Barrett’s love poem to Robert Browning: “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.”
They and all like them were mere human beings, subject to changes that alter the first love, whether it was “puppy love” or developed into more mature manifestations of their affection. None of them, and none of us who are in love with someone, adoring him or her, care more about one’s self than the other. We obsess over the other’s needs, health, mental frame, and present attitude. However, nothing can match the attention that a serious committed believer can experience who has unraveled the mystery of the love that the Lord has for each one of us, yet which many of us ignore most of the time.
God’s love has no limits, because nothing can gauge the immeasurable love that the Holy Trinity has for each one of the countless billions of persons, as if each male were Adam and each female were Eve. That precious love the Holy Spirit is always holding out to us. He never imposes on us that love which takes into account our limits and has an eternity to wait until we develop the capacity to return in our limited way the unlimited grace of love shining out light. All our love relationships, such as a parent for a child and vice versa, or the love between a man and woman bound in holy matrimony are elementary exercises in grasping the ultimate love with the perfect Lover, the Lord God almighty. It is the Holy Spirit who elevates those love bonds and enhances them with a sacred meaning. “When the mind ascends to God,” the first glimmer of the love that God has for us begins to come in focus. We look for evidence of such an overwhelming affection. It causes a reaction: Who am I that the Lord should love me? What have I done to deserve such affection? Thus begins true humility leading to repentance, compunction and appreciation. We are at the starting place of a transformation of attitude that could lead to a whole new way of living.