In Dark Night of the Soul Chapter 1, St. John writes that “The loving mother is like the grace of God, for, as soon as the soul is regenerated by its new warmth and fervour for the service of God, He treats it in the same way; He makes it to find spiritual milk, sweet and delectable, in all the things of God, without any labour of its own, and also great pleasure in spiritual exercises, for here God is giving it the breast of His tender love, even as to a tender child.” (1.2) St. John is saying that the grace of God regenerates our souls to serve God and gives us spiritual milk.
1 Peter 2:1-3 says “Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.” (NKJV) God gives us milk by giving us the Bible. It is our job to drink that spiritual milk so that we can grow to eat more solid food of the Spirit. We are like babies who cannot eat anything other than milk or baby formula. However, like babies, we must grow in the Spirit so that God can give us more substantial spiritual food.
I commented on Haylee Lynd’s and Rachael’s posts.
Interesting take on the passage, and certainly we are called to be child-like in our faith in trusting God and his plan for our lives. It certainly is refreshing to see Saint John's perspective on some of these various issues that we all struggle with even today.
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