Divine love is the absolute love for God expressed as a ceaseless longing for God. Divine love is born in the purified heart because in this one is where the divine grace comes. Divine love is a divine gift given to the purified heart by the divine grace that comes and reveals itself to the soul. Love of God is never born without a divine revelation, because the soul that did not receive the revelation is not influenced by grace and remains indifferent to divine love. Divine love is not possible to appear without the divine power that shapes the heart. Divine love is the work of the divine grace descended into the heart.
The lovers of God are attracted towards the divine love by the divine grace that works in their pure hearts and reveals itself to the soul and draws the hearts towards God. The lover of God is loved by God first and then he loves too. The lover of God first became a son of love and then he loved the Heavenly Father.
The heart of the man who loves God never sleeps but keeps a ceaseless vigil because of the overflowing love. The man sleeps because of a natural need but the heart being awake praises God.
Blessed John Chrysostom says about the divine love: So tyrannical is the spiritual love that doesn’t cease for a moment but is always present in the soul of the one who loves and doesn’t allow to be overwhelmed by any pain or trouble.
The soul who loves God clings to Him tightly and trusts in Him and in Him puts all the hope. Divine love leads the soul to God and speaks with Him day and night.
The soul touched by divine love doesn’t aspire to anything else than t the utmost good and neglects all the others and everything is not divine love is repugnant to him.
The soul that loves God always thinks of the words of God and he spends his time in His yards. When he speaks he tells the miracles made by God and when he opens his mouth he speaks about the divine grace and wisdom.
He sends without cease chant and praise to God and serves Him with divine longing. Thus divine love overtook the whole soul, gained it and assimilated it.
The soul that loves God knew Him and knowing Him his love for Him became more ardent. The soul that loves God became happy because he gained divine love that fulfills all his longings. Any desire, any longing that is extraneous to the divine love is rejected by him as being vile and unworthy of it.
How much is elevated the soul by the love for God, transfigured by God’s love for us! This divine love like a light cloud elevating the soul takes it to the eternal spring of love, before the eternal love and fills it of eternal light.
The soul hurt by divine love always rejoices and leaps and dances because it has found rest in the love of God like at the water of peace. Nothing from all the sorrows of the world can ever trouble the peace and serenity of this soul and nothing from all the painful ones can ever take away its joy and merriment.
The soul that loves God is winged by love and is freed somehow of the physical senses getting out of its body and forgetting about itself for the complete dedication to God.
The inexpressible sweetness of the divine love charms the heart and takes possession of it and elevates the mind to God to rejoice of Him happily.
The love for God intercedes the adoption, boldness, tasting, hunger.
The soul that was united with the divine love cannot think of anything else, cannot desire anything else but whispers without cease : `God when can I come and show myself before You. My soul is longing to come to you, God, as the deer longs for the springs of waters.
This way is the divine love that overtakes the soul!
(Text excerpted from the book Saint Nektarios, Christian moral to be published at Doxologia, translation realized after Apanta erga vol. IV, Athens 2010. Doxologia)
