God Alone is Enough

“God is love, and that’s enough.” Sister Joseph-Marie told me this only a few months before she entered eternal life last September, during one of my last formation classes with her. I found the sentence striking. “God is love” – yes, everyone has heard the words of St. John. But “God is love, and that’s enough”? There seemed so much more to ponder with those added words, “and that’s enough.”

But really, those few words are enough to explain themselves. If God was not love, we would not be coming out of the Christmas season, we would not eventually be celebrating Easter, and our Faith would be pointless and my entering Carmel completely absurd, because the whole of the spiritual life is found in the truth that “God is love,” that he loves us and desires our love. But, praise God, God is love – and that’s enough to fix our feet firmly on the Rock which is Christ for, as Saint Paul tells the Corinthians, “Love never fails.”

These words became something of an anchor for me as Sister Joseph-Marie fearlessly approached death. I say fearlessly, because the thought of soon dying was only a source of joy for her – finally, the Bridegroom would soon be taking her to himself! Soon she would be seeing Jesus, Our Lady, and the ‘young and handsome’ Saint Joseph, to whom she had great devotion. There was no reason for fear because there was only love. And to know how truly she was looking forward to an eternity lost in the God who is love was enough to make her parting from us something to smile about. Sister was going home, and death was simply the front door with the friendly “Welcome” mat. Yes, I would certainly miss seeing her smile as we passed one another in the corridors, and hearing her words of wisdom during class, and even the joy of laughing at all the stories she could tell at recreation. But it was all wrapped up in the hope of heaven; death was not so much a ‘goodbye’ as simply a ‘see you later.’

Sister’s words, “God is love, and that’s enough,” were not just something to hold on to as a kind of remembrance of her. I found that she lived these words as surely as she had spoken them. She was striving to live the primacy of charity, and in each class I had with her there was always this simplification of the spiritual life into a life of love with God. All the rest was simply a means of deepening our understanding of God’s love for us and strengthening our love for him. For one who does not enjoy overly complicated things, I took great joy in realizing that “God is love, and that’s enough.” These words became a short prayer and simple reminder of the “one thing necessary.”

“God is love, and that’s enough.” I took these words with me on Nov. 1, the Solemnity of All Saints, as I entered the next stage of my Carmelite formation, the novitiate. St. Teresa of Avila wrote in her Autobiography that “love begets love.” God being love itself, that was certainly enough to desire that he have all of my love in a very special way behind the cloister door of Carmel! Nothing less could have given me the courage to leave the side of everyone I loved so much; I could only leave those I loved for a higher love, Divine Love, a love that draws the soul so strongly it cannot resist. This love is the reason for my happiness, a happiness the world struggles to explain because it required I give up everything. But what joy to give all and to be clothed in the habit of Carmel! What joy to tell others I belong to God and Our Lady simply by saying, “I am Sister Jacinta Marie of the Queen of Heaven”! What joy simply to “remain in his love”!