And we will come to him and make our dwelling with him. (John 14:23)

The sixth step of the “Way of the Heart” is entitled, “Christ abides in us.”

The documents guiding the recreation of the PWPN give a simple description of this step in our spiritual pathway, “Out of his unlimited love for us, God desires to inhabit our hearts. Jesus left this surprising promise to his disciples before his death. He wants to dwell in each one of us.”

Jesus also explained this desire of his through many parables, especially in the parable of the vine and the branches.

I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing … As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you; abide in my love. (John 15:5,9)

Another way he has reveled this to humanity is through various revelations of his Sacred Heart. When speaking to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, Jesus said, “My Divine Heart is so inflamed with love … being unable any longer to contain within Itself the flames of Its burning Charity, It needs to spread them abroad.”

St. Margaret Mary then records, “After this He asked me for my heart, which I begged Him to take. He did so and placed it in His own Adorable Heart where He showed it to me as a little atom which was being consumed in this great furnace, and withdrawing it thence as a burning flame in the form of a heart, He restored it to the place whence He had taken it.”

Jesus loves us dearly with an infinite love and wants us to be truly happy in this world and the next. It may not always be easy, conforming our heart to that of Jesus’, but it is what leads us to a joy that will last forever.

Additionally, Jesus wants the flames of his “burning charity” to be spread throughout all the earth and this he has chosen to do through us, his instruments. Inflamed by his love, we can then go out and share his love with others, especially the most vulnerable of society.

As we draw closer to Easter, let us consider the great love God has for us and how that love is meant to transform our lives, loving others with the same love that Jesus has for us.

I came to cast fire upon the earth; and would that it were already kindled! (Luke 12:49)