The following is one of the odd thoughts that crossed my mind.
I was part of a discussion on Stanza 3 of St. John of the Cross’ “Living Flame of Love.” Something about reflecting God’s glory got me thinking about what albedo I should ultimately aspire for on this scale and my current place on the scale.
An object that reflects back all incident radiation has an albedo of 1. An object that absorbs all incident radiation has an albedo of zero. So 1 is Blessed Virgin Mary territory.
So I think about all the grace God gives me and seem to absorb and how little I reflect back. Still, I am also so grateful that I have been moving up on that scale. Also, that nobody is an actual zero on this scale. No matter how far we seem to be from God at times, there is still grace working in every one of us.
Another thing I have been thinking about is this verse: Philippians 1:6 “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” It can be very frustrating to feel so little progress in loving God, but that in itself is an indicator of loving God. I need to trust God more in that he is working in me.
