Six Degrees of Love of God

The ultimate goal of Christian life is union with God.  This intimate union is attained through perfection of our love for God. The more we love God the closer we are united with Him. There are varied degrees of love of God. St Bonaventure (the Seraphic doctor), in one of his spiritual classics (The Triple Way) enumerates the six degrees of love of God. According to him, Christians proceed in a gradual and orderly fashion by six degrees until they reach perfection. We do not attain perfection of love of God in a day. For many us, it is a very slow and painful process.


DELIGHTFUL LOVE

In this first stage, the Christian tastes and sees that the Lord is good (Cf. Ps 34:8). He experiences the love of God in a personal and intimate way. He becomes aware of the enormity, abundance and gratuitousness of love of God.  Enjoying the sweetness of the Lord, he is absolutely delighted. He is overwhelmed with joy and gratitude. This experience occurs during quiet prayer or meditation. Meditation on the love of God provides valuable insights to the mind and sweetness to the heart.


AVID LOVE

At this stage, the Christian becomes dissatisfied with his present level of loving intimacy with God. He desires more intimate, closer union with God. He experiences a deep hunger, deep yearning for God. And he is painfully aware that nothing in this world, nothing equal to him or below him can satisfy this spiritual hunger. Like a deer that yearns for running water, his soul yearns for the living God (Cf. Ps 42:1). This insatiable hunger testifies to the transcendental nature of human beings. Human beings are created to reach out to something higher than themselves.


SATISFYING LOVE

The Christian is so filled with God that nothing below God can satisfy him. He does not derive any pleasure in the things of this world. Having been completely satisfied in God, nothing again can satisfy him. Because the soul has tasted the sweetness of God’s love, everything becomes distasteful to him. He perceives the material things of this world as ‘worthless so that he may gain Christ.’ (Cf. Phil 3:8). Nothing temporal or ephemeral can console the soul deeply satisfied with the love of God.


INTOXICATING LOVE

The Christian is drunken with love of God. He is totally inebriated. At this stage, the Christian is neither afraid nor ashamed of the cross. He embraces the cross, whatever it is. For the sake of love of God he accepts pain, discomforts, abuse, persecution and challenges of life. He is willing to make up for whatever is lacking in the suffering of Christ (Cf. Col 1:24). He cheerfully drinks the cup of suffering to the dregs out of the profound love he has for God. He lovingly carries his cross everyday and follows Christ.


REASSURING LOVE

The Christians feels so secured in the love of God that he is strongly convinced that nothing can separate him from God. What can separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness…  For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present… will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Cf. Rom 8:35-39). He believes that God’s faithful love will never fail. So the Christian lives in conscious reassurance of God’s love.


RESTFUL LOVE

At this stage the Christian attains the ultimate perfection of love of God. Here the Christian finally rest in the love of God. He is quiet and totally at peace with God. Even in the midst of the cacophony and turbulence of this world, he enjoys profound serenity.  In God alone is his soul at absolute rest (Cf. Ps 62:5). Relaxing in the tranquil love of God, nothing can disturb or perturb him. Freed from ‘the goad of craving and the sting of fear’ he is at peace in the love of Christ.