Monday Musings – What Does God See When He Looks At Your Soul?

Since we have lost the sense of sin, it is unlikely that many of us have spent sufficient time looking at the true nature of our relationship with God and the actual condition of our souls – an essential self-examination if we desire to be eternally united with our Lord.  

When God looks at your soul what does He see? 

Photo by The Business Model Scholar on Unsplash

Listen to Jesus explain this truth to St. Catherine of Siena: 

“Do you know, daughter, who you are and who I am? If you know these two things you have beatitude in your grasp. You are she who is not, and I AM HE WHO IS. Let your soul but become penetrated with this truth, and the Enemy can never lead you astray; you will never be caught in any snare of his, nor ever transgress any commandment of mine; you will have set your feet on the royal road which leads to the fullness of grace, and truth, and light."

Without God we are nothing!

Now listen and ponder the words of St. Peter Julian Eymard as he urges us to render ourselves pleasing in God’s sight:

“The state of grace is necessary in order that God may love us and grant us His grace. Assuredly, God does not love us because of any merit on our own part and He has no reason to love our works in so far as they have their source in us. What are we in His sight? And what good can come from a body and soul stained with sin? A little natural good at the most, but nothing supernatural. What God loves in us is His grace, the reflection of His sanctity in hearts that are pure. That is enough to satisfy His gaze. Does not God love a child after its Baptism? Yet it has no acquired virtues. It is pure, however, and in the state of grace. God sees Himself reflected in the grace which adorns its heart and takes pleasure in the perfume of the fragile flower while He awaits its fruits.

In ourselves, too, God loves above all the state of grace, the state of purity we acquired by being washed in the Blood of Jesus. The state of grace is our beauty. It is the reflection of Jesus Christ in His saints. As the Father sees Himself in His Word, so Jesus sees Himself in their souls. But if the soul is stained with sin, it is impossible for God to be reflected therein. Do you expect Him to be well pleased to look at His divine Son’s executioner? Evil is never lovable., And when we are guilty of sin, God cannot love our state. In His goodness and mercy, He first purifies us, and not till then does He show His love for us; not till then can we bear His gaze. Our first motive, therefore, for guarding the state of grace, is that it makes us loved by God and renders us pleasing in His sight.”

(St Peter Julian Eymard from Holy Communion)

Let us beg God to purify us in order that He will see Himself in our souls.