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When, after many years of absence, I was returning from Ireland for a visit to my birthplace in South Wales, I felt the need to get in touch with the AA to give me a detailed road map, and this had to take into account the places whre there were obstacles like road works or a likely build-up of traffic caused by seasonal events. But throughout the journey, I was buoyed up by the thought of seeing again the home of my happy childhood. Shirley Sullivan's A Gaze of Love was, for me, such a journey. The goal: God within. The journey: to be taken with practical preparations, and useful exercises to be followed along the way.
Well versed in the spirituality and saints of Carmel, the author draws us into the heart of prayer and the prayer of the heart. Her familiarity with the Scriptures, both the Old and New Testaments, brings us into the company of a God who is in no way aloof and who loves humankind and wants a personal relationship with each of us. As we read on the back cover: "This book has three goals: the first is to make clear that all people are called to recognize that God abides in the center of their being. The second is to guide people on their spiritual journeys to pray to the Lord in a deep and meaningful way. And the third is to show how many authors confirm and clarify this call to every Christian.'
In the opening lines of the Introduction, the author recalls how the Cure d'Ars, upon being asked by a man how he could spend so many hours before the tabernacle, replied: "He looks at me and I look at him" (p.1). This book is all about prayer: about God's love for us; and our response, a free and joyous act of the will. In Chapter 1, "The Inner Person," Sullivan takes us on a journey, giving us practical exercises that can strengthen our will, so that we become empty of self and open to the fullness of the love that God is waiting to share with us. Waiting? Yes. Because, as she simply points out: we are free to choose -- between ourselves and the Other; between worry about our situation and a liberating trust in the One who loves us and is himself the answer to our deepest longings.
The "road map" the author gives us suggests practical steps for developing an awareness of God within us. In The Interior Castle, St Teresa brings us into the various mansions, emphasizing that the route to God can take place in many ways and on different paths. In Chapter 2, "Remembering and Forgetting," Sullivan brings us through some of these different ways as she sees them: remember God and forget self; remember God's promise to send the Holy Spirit and forget past sins, pressing on with the race like St. Paul.
Chapter 3 deals with the "Emptying of Self." We are to become like him who became incarnate to be like us. We are reminded that the Spirit dwells in our hearts -- therefore, by surrendering our will to God, we can choose the good. We are also reminded to be "poor in spirit," realizing that any good in us is God-given. Only by surrender to the Holy Spirit can we reflect God. We must learn to listen -- and the clamor of self will become quiet.
Chapter 4 speaks of the "Attention of the Will": God gives wisdom to the "emptied heart." Again, we are reminded to focus on our relationship with God within. How do we discern or make a decision? Focus on the indwelling God. How do we trust in the Lord? Empty our self. By the gift of God's grace, it is in our power to use our free will to decide for God and not for self. The author takes us to Bethany, to sit in silence, stillness and awe before the divine presence at the center of our being, our will fully attentive to God who is present. The "many things" of the Martha-life are not of first importance. "Instead, with our wills rapt on the inner presence of God, we are to sit in silence and to listen" (p.89). Gazing on the Spirit of the Lord within, we are changed.
In the final chapter, "Abiding in Love," the author reminds us again of her aim in the book: to suggest steps by which we can discover and relate to the divine presence at the core of our being. Techniques are suggested and Scripture quoted, which brings to life the living presence and plan of our loving God and how he gradually reveals it. Then there is our response, using our free will guided by the Spirit, to empty our self. Constant practice is necessary.
As the Conclusion, A Gaze of Love tells us: if we learn to turn to God within, we "gradually learn to be endlessly in love with Love a the center of our being. Ideally, our life will become a gaze of love at Love itself" (p.111). As we begin to know his love for us, we long to respond to Love; this will then lead us deeper, so that we see his love for all humankind and his desire to fill us with his light and life, that it may spill out on others. But there will be times when God seems absent -- when we cry out like the bride in the Song of Songs: "I sought him whom my heart loves; I sought him and did not find him" (Sg 3:11). "At such times," comments Sullivan, "we begin to understand what faith is" (p.113). "We must trust the mystery of God, fully confident that he loves us and wants only our good" (p.113).
He looks at me and I look at him. --Oonagh Twomey, OCDS in the January-March Issue of Mount Carmel.
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Shirley Sullivan, PhD, FRSC, the author of Praying the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius (ST PAULS/Alba House, 2008) is currently a Professor in the Department of Classical, Near Eastern, and Religious Studies at the University of British Columbia. She has also taught many courses on Christian Spirituality at St. Mark's Roman Catholic College on the University of BC Campus. In addition to several articles on different aspects of Christian Spirituality, Greek literature, and philosophy, she is the author of the following books: Transformed by Love: the Soul's Journey to God in Teresa of Avila, Elizabeth of the Trinity and Mother Aloysius of the Blessed Sacrament (New City Press: Hyde Park, NY, 2002) and A Companion to the Liturgy of the Hours: Morning and Evening Prayer (Catholic Book Publishing Co.: Totowa, NJ, 2004). In recognition of her scholarship she has been elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.