Word of God: Deut. 6:5
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”
Insight from the Founders
During his retreat in 1701, Claude Poullart des Places, in silence and prayer, reflected on his life and discovered that God’s love had always preceded him, never tiring. Convinced that God alone loved him with true love, he was then able to write:
“Now, Lord, I repent of my blindness; with all my heart I renounce all the things that compelled me to flee from you, ( …) descend into the heart where you have longed to enter: it will have ears for none but you, and will henceforth harbour no other affections than to love you as it ought” (Retreat 1701, Reflections on the Truths of Religion).
In Francis Libermann, the absolute primacy of God dwells in his soul like a living spring.
It is deeply rooted in the Shema Israel of Deuteronomy (Dt 6:5). From the very beginning, whilst he was still a young seminarian, on 30 August 1835, he wrote to another seminarian:
“I beg you to love God with all your soul, with all your heart, with all your strength. Apart from that, there is nothing good on earth or in heaven… But do you know what it means to love God in this way? It is when one has no affection or desire apart from God, but they are all centred in him alone. […] As long as our heart is divided between God and creatures, it cannot make true progress in the most holy love” (LS 1, 107–109).
This insight would only deepen. Towards the end of his life, Libermann would sum up his entire spiritual experience in a few words that have become famous: “… Sacrifice yourself for Jesus, for Jesus alone. God is everything; man is nothing…”
Reflection
The primacy of God is the foundation of Spiritan spirituality. It arises from an encounter: that of a heart which discovers that God has gone before it, that he loves it, that he calls it to a life greater than itself. One cannot truly be a Spiritan without this foundational encounter. Poullart and Libermann, each in their own story, experienced this inner transformation.
Poullart des Places experienced it when he re-examined his life in the light of God. He realised that God had always been with him, with patient faithfulness, and that the Lord had never ceased to knock at the door of his heart. Under this loving gaze, he could at last see himself as he truly was, with his strengths and weaknesses, his shadows and his light: a poor sinner, deeply loved by God.
The light he has received leads him to a trusting surrender. By saying to God: “Come into the heart where, for a long time, you have desired to enter”, Poullart gives primacy to God and allows Him to guide him and become the living centre of his life. By letting God act within him, Poullart des Places finds himself led down paths he had never imagined: service to the poor, fraternal life, the founding of a seminary. So many unexpected answers, made possible by a heart that chose to let itself be led.
Libermann, for his part, carried within him a profound intuition of the Absolute nature of God. Inherited from his Jewish faith and transformed by his encounter with Christ, this conviction became the key to his spiritual and missionary life. To say “God is everything” is not to deny the value of man, but to recognise that his true greatness arises from his dependence on God. The more man empties himself, the more he becomes capable of receiving the light, strength and charity of Christ.
In many of his letters, Libermann returns time and again to this deep conviction that dwells within him: “God alone”, “I have nothing left but God alone”,
“God alone, God alone. Always God alone… one must see only God alone in all things” (LS 1,153), “Entrust your soul to God alone, who must be your all, at all times and in all circumstances ” (LS 1,195).
Full love for God entails the need to live in his presence, and prayer then becomes a breath that permeates the whole of life.
Thus, Poullart and Libermann are in agreement: putting God first does not crush the human person, but liberates them and opens up an inner space within them where the Spirit can act, inspire and send forth.
Questions for reflection
- What attachments, fears or securities still prevent me from letting God fully take first place in my life?
- What concrete action, however simple, can I take so that my choices, my commitments and my relationships reflect more clearly that God is my All?
Prayer
Lord God of all tenderness, you who loved us first, open our hearts to your presence.
Teach us to love you with all our heart, with all our soul and with all our strength. Purify our hearts of all that divides them and make us fully open to your Spirit.
You alone are enough for us: Lord, be our All.
Grant that we may desire ‘You alone’, that we may turn our desires, our strength and the deepest impulse of our lives towards you, so that you may become the sole centre of our lives. Amen.
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