"This is the duty and indispensable obligation of all Christians, of what condition soever, not only seriously to aspire to the divine love, but also to the perfection thereof suitably to their several states and vocations, for it is morally impossible for a soul to love God, as He ought to be loved — that is, as the only object of her love, and as the only universal end of her being and life — I say, it is morally impossible for such a soul so loving God deliberately and habitually to yield to the love of anything but God only, and in order to Him; or to stop in any inferior degree of love to Him."
— Augustine Baker (1575–1641) · English Benedictine Monk✦ Not Optional, Not for the Elite
Baker does not present the aspiration to divine love as a gift reserved for monks and mystics. It is indispensable — binding on all Christians, of whatever condition. And the aspiration is not merely to love God but to the perfection of that love, suitably to each person's state and vocation. The morning devotion before dawn in Caldas da Rainha is one vocation. The fiery furnace of packing and transition is another. Both paths tend to the same end.
"The obligation to love God transformed my life to be love centered. This came to me after years."
"Both reason and experience witness this truth in all manner of loves, lawful or unlawful; for we see that wheresoever the love to riches, honor, empire, or pleasure is the tyrannizing affection, so as to cause the person to place his supposed happiness in any of these, such persons neither will nor can, being so disposed, willfully surcease a continual progress in pursuing their designs endlessly; neither can they admit an habitual and deliberate adherence with affection to any other object, though in an inferior degree prejudicial to what they principally affect."
— Augustine Baker (1575–1641)✦ Love That Cannot Stop
The person consumed by worldly ambition does not need to be told to pursue it. The love itself drives. The tyrannizing affection will not stop, will not rest at an inferior degree, will not share the heart with a competing object. Baker says: divine love works the same way. Once it becomes the controlling affection, it presses toward perfection — not by willpower but by the nature of love itself.
This is Guyon's weight of love falling toward its center. This is Bowen's sun that exists only to dispense. The soul does not strive toward God by effort. Love, once it has become the tyrannizing affection, carries the soul the way gravity carries the stone.
"It is morally impossible for such a soul to stop in any inferior degree of love to Him."
— Augustine Baker · Love that has become the controlling affection cannot rest until it reaches perfection"There seems indeed to remain even naturally in all souls a certain propension to seek God (though not at all for Himself, but merely for the satisfaction of nature, and self-ends).
Now when divine grace adjoins itself to such good propensions, it promotes and increases them, rectifying what is amiss in them, especially by purifying the intention and making them to seek God only for God Himself, and no unworthy inferior ends of nature; but it doth not at all alter the complexion itself, but conducts souls in spiritual ways suitably to their several dispositions by an almost infinite variety of paths and fashions, yet all tending to the same general end, which is the union of our spirits with God by perfect love."
— Augustine Baker (1575–1641)✦ Infinite Variety, One End
The natural propensity to seek God exists in all souls — even, Baker says, in those outside the faith. But it seeks God for self-ends, not for Himself. Grace does not create a new desire. It cleans the one already present. Bowen's refining from Philippians 4:19 — the need purified from its grossness. Guyon's abandonment — seeking God not to obtain but to please. Baker names the same movement: grace purifies the intention.
And the paths are almost infinitely varied. Bowen's road through Bombay. Guyon's interior room in the Bastille. Baker's Benedictine silence. Le's mornings before dawn. Different dispositions, different vocations, different centuries — all tending to the same end: the union of spirits with God by perfect love.
Indispensable Obligation
Not optional, not for the elite. All Christians, of whatever condition, are called to aspire to the perfection of divine love — suitably to their state and vocation. The duty is universal.
The Tyrannizing Affection
Once love becomes the controlling affection, it cannot stop at an inferior degree. It presses endlessly toward its object. This is true of worldly loves. It is true of divine love. The nature of love itself drives.
Infinite Variety, One End
Grace does not alter the disposition but conducts each soul suitably to its nature. An almost infinite variety of paths — all tending to the same end: union with God by perfect love.