The Tenth Meditation: The Election and Choice the Soul Makes of a Devout Life


18: “The Tenth Meditation: The Election and Choice the Soul Makes of a Devout Life”

It is rational to desire Peace and harmony as opposed to discord and brokenness. Heaven, necessarily, is characterized by a unity of Peace that can only be achieved through the transcendent imagination and Love of God. (University of Portland. photo: P. Smith)

                It has been said before that Jesus is a gentleman and would never force Himself upon us in any way. An encounter with Jesus and the devout life will always, at the end, be a choice we make. Otherwise, we cannot “look like” God. God, after all, is rational and free, and if we are “forced” to choose Him, then we lose our rational thinking and free will. De Sales contrasts the pains of hell with the Peace of Heaven. He offers us an image of a rational choice we are free to make. It makes sense to habituate right action in our younger students, but we also need to help them understand the rational thinking behind those actions. Heaven, where we “live so calmly”, is best characterized as Peaceful accord with one another. We can actually teach logic and reason to our students as to why certain actions either disrupt or deepen relationship… how certain actions either look like hell or look like Heaven.

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