The Lord and attitude towards Him

“We read: “Sarah died that this signified night as to the trues of faith.” (A.C. 2908)

“And Abraham came to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her. That this signifies the Lord’s state of grief on account of the night as to trues of faith in the Church. These two verses treat of the end of the Church; its end is when there is no longer any charity.” (A.C. 2910)

“Abraham rose up, and bowed himself. That this signifies the Lord’s joy on account of the kind reception.” (A.C. 2927)

We are apt to feel sorry for ourselves, on account of many things, but are we concerned as to whether we cause the Lord to grieve on account of our lack of charity and faith? Or whether we are causing the Lord to feel joy, on account of our reception of Him? Are we not much more apt to be deeply concerned about our own things than as to whether we are receiving the Lord, for the sake of our regeneration? How often are we concerned about the presence of the Lord? If we reflect on this we may realize in how many states our loves are concentrated on ourselves, and how seldom the Lord’s presence is important to us. From considering the above we may realize that we are far removed from keeping the Commandment, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind and with all thy strength.”

How are we to come to love the Lord and the neighbour? The first thing is to shun evils, as sins. We must realize that loving ourselves and the world in the first place is a sin, and is the origin of all evils. Insofar as we look to the Lord, and strive as of ourselves to overcome these evils, the Lord can give us a genuine love of Him and of the neighbour; but if we do not wrestle with our love of self and the world, we prevent the Lord from giving us genuine loves. In this case we will take the natural loves we have in common with animals to be the genuine human things of life, and there will be no essential difference between those who are of the world, and those who happen to be in the Church, for the world will rule in the Church.” (TP, Sermon on Mark 12:29-31)