How does one acquire a "burning" love for God?

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How? How does one get to the point where their heart aches and burns because of how much they love God. That they gain deep and true sorrow for their sins? Does one pray for these things? I mean, throwing yourself at the altar for the love of God, how did the saints do it? Was it a gift they were given? Is it something one can acquire if God deems them worthy?
 
To quote St.Teresa of Avila on this, “I saw in his hand a long spear of gold, and at the iron’s point there seemed to be a little fire. He appeared to me to be thrusting it at times into my heart, and to pierce my very entrails; when he drew it out, he seemed to draw them out also, and to leave me all on fire with a great love of God. The pain was so great, that it made me moan; and yet so surpassing was the sweetness of this excessive pain, that I could not wish to be rid of it. The soul is satisfied now with nothing less than God.”
 
hausofferni said:
How? How does one get to the point where their heart aches and burns because of how much they love God. That they gain deep and true sorrow for their sins? Does one pray for these things? I mean, throwing yourself at the altar for the love of God, how did the saints do it? Was it a gift they were given? Is it something one can acquire? Fasting, penance?
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I think one needs to finally realize how much one needs God. Its just like a realization.
 
hausofferni said:
To quote St.Teresa of Avila on this, “I saw in his hand a long spear of gold, and at the iron’s point there seemed to be a little fire. He appeared to me to be thrusting it at times into my heart, and to pierce my very entrails; when he drew it out, he seemed to draw them out also, and to leave me all on fire with a great love of God. The pain was so great, that it made me moan; and yet so surpassing was the sweetness of this excessive pain, that I could not wish to be rid of it. The soul is satisfied now with nothing less than God.”
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I think obsession plays a part in it.
 
hausofferni said:
How? How does one get to the point where their heart aches and burns because of how much they love God. That they gain deep and true sorrow for their sins? Does one pray for these things? I mean, throwing yourself at the altar for the love of God, how did the saints do it? Was it a gift they were given? Is it something one can acquire if God deems them worthy?
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I think that this process can be different for everyone.

If you think about it, the saints lived their lives totally for God, where they felt called to serve Him and consecrate their lives to Him.

For us as lay people–unless we feel called to serve Him in the religious life–we can do our best to serve Him by trying to be as close to Him as possible. This may be different for everyone, depending upon where they are in their life.

What I mean by that is by our different schedules and obligations–work schedule, family life, home life, student life, and so on.

For example, we can try to go to Mass as much as possible. We can go to Adoration before the Blessed Sacrament or sit before the Tabernacle in church, and spend time with the Lord in that way.

We can try and do the devotions that we like to do, whether it is to pray the Rosary, the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy, read Scripture, the Liturgy of the Hours, or pray certain Novena prayers/spend time in prayer, or pray other favorite prayers that we like.

We can do anything that we can/like, that would draw us closer to God, and that would bring our minds closer to God and His Kingdom, and keep our minds focused on God.

I personally believe that if we make the personal effort to reach out for a closer relationship to God in the best way that we can, that God will respond to our efforts.
 
hausofferni said:
How? How does one get to the point where their heart aches and burns because of how much they love God. That they gain deep and true sorrow for their sins? Does one pray for these things? I mean, throwing yourself at the altar for the love of God, how did the saints do it? Was it a gift they were given? Is it something one can acquire if God deems them worthy?
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Think about love all the time and act on it. Eventually it will become a part of you. This will cause a war in your spirit, and you will start feeling very ashamed of you sins and it will cause a desire in you to become closer toward God. Tears will well up in your face because you will realize that sin is slavery. You’re dying. It is suffocating you and you haven’t done anything worthy of God, and you will see what you could have been compared to the worthlessness you are now. You will cry for God’s grace and scream because you are too weak and stained with sin to become the greatness that God has shown you by your self. God will become like the necessity of breathing air.

When you want God more than you want to breath, thats when you have acquired the heart of a saint. I am not quite there yet, but i hope i get there.
 
How? How does one get to the point where their heart aches and burns because of how much they love God. That they gain deep and true sorrow for their sins? Does one pray for these things? I mean, throwing yourself at the altar for the love of God, how did the saints do it? Was it a gift they were given? Is it something one can acquire if God deems them worthy?
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God bless you guys. Please pray for me.
I recommend reading The Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ by St. Alphonsus Maria. He gives very good advice, and bases this book on scripture passages (Love is patient, love is kind, ect.).

If you want a PDF version of that book online, here’s the link on basilica.org:
basilica.org/pages/ebooks/St.%20Alphonsus%20Liguori-The%20Practice%20of%20the%20Love%20of%20Jesus%20Christ.pdf
 
I understand we are worthless sinners, not capable of understanding our God, much less burning in our desire for Him. However, I find if you sneak up on Him from behind, give Him a quick hug and then run to your room, He often lets you get away with it. Keeps me going.
 
I think that illumination comes when we are ready for it, which is perhaps what everyone is saying. Otherwise, we would be burned out like by an electric current that we at a stage of development are not ripe for it.
 
The only answer is grace - an infusion of charity. This is the teaching of the saints.

You can dispose yourself to this grace of course, through prayer, fasting, almsgiving, and an upright moral life. And in general don’t be a slouch.
 
I think one must commit (decide in favor of) God, and work to order all one’s actions in that direction, and to live for God, and to engage in meditative prayer, not just vocal prayer.
 
Sacred_Heart said:
I think obsession plays a part in it.
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That’s an easy answer. -worldly knowledge, easy reach. It denies that people can reach that level of love. Or that levels of love that are that devoted are somehow a psychological pathology. That is wisdom of the world. And yeah, sure, I sort of think that too… However one should always leave room for God and the possibility there are such things and not dismiss so easily. Sad that people don’t believe in love anymore. They believe in “like”.

To answer the O P, these saints obtain a burning love for God because they have met Him, know Him, and that is the result. There’s no trick, no method, no special religious guru to follow. Remember the first lesson of the catechism. also, they did what scripture says to do…they sought God with their whole heart, whole strength, whole soul…etc.

We have to desire to do His will… This is easy when you are in love. The first step is to seek out who God is. This is a continual thing.

Again, if we believe what the world teaches about “love”, that will be what you follow, and NOT God’s will. Scripture says the work of God is to believe in Him and those He has sent. It’s not easy to believe, because it seems so much unlike what our natural inclinations are like.
 
IWantGod said:
Think about love all the time and act on it. Eventually it will become a part of you. This will cause a war in your spirit, and you will start feeling very ashamed of you sins and it will cause a desire in you to become closer toward God. Tears will well up in your face because you will realize that sin is slavery. You’re dying. It is suffocating you and you haven’t done anything worthy of God, and you will see what you could have been compared to the worthlessness you are now. You will cry for God’s grace and scream because you are too weak and stained with sin to become the greatness that God has shown you by your self. God will become like the necessity of breathing air.

When you want God more than you want to breath, thats when you have acquired the heart of a saint. I am not quite there yet, but i hope i get there.
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This exactly!!!
 
Thank you all very much for your responses, they are greatly appreciated. God bless! 🙂
 
Message to poster Sacred Heart… My apologies, I didn’t see your follow up response. How I answered doesn’treally pertain to how you explained it.
 
Prayer, sacrifice, meditation, bible reading, consecration to the Blessed Mother. Ask for this grace.
 
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