Master’s Books
My latest course is in the History of Christian Spirituality. I studied about Richard of St. Victor’s four degrees of passionate charity…
Richard of St. Victor’s four degrees of passionate charity:
1st you desire God
2nd you search out God
3rd You want to be in God
4th You want to live as God does
Richard’s analysis tells us that our soul desires God, we want to believe there is a God. Then we want to find him. Once we find God we fall in love with God and want nothing else. As we merge with God the only thing we want more than to sit in God’s love is to transform our lives to be God’s love to the world.
I have lived these four degrees. I have questioned God in my teens. I have searched him out. In my Master’s program I have tried to understand God with intellect. I have then desired to merge into God and be a part of God. Now, I desire, like in many times over my life, I want to reflect God’s life with my own life (to be God like). I think these stages are very realistic and relative to our culture today. People want God but when they search in the wrong places they find lots of gods that never fill that desire. If they don’t reach God they can’t fall in love with God.
Are you searching for God?
