The Divine Heart: Seven Ways to Live in God's Love

By Colette Lafia

Key Selling Points:

• Author is an expert in this field of spiritual contemplation having been trained by Father Richard Rohr, Reverend Cynthia Bourgeault, and Dr. James Finley, Thomas Merton’s student.
• Her previous book Comfort & Joy: Simple Ways to Care for Ourselves and Others (Red Wheel Weiser/Conari, 5,500 sold) was named one of the best spiritual books of the year by Spirituality & Practice.
• Her book, Seeking Surrender: How My Friendship with a Trappist Monk Taught Me to Trust and Embrace Life (Sorin Books, Notre Dame, Indiana, 3,500 sold) was featured in Presence, the publication for Spiritual Directors’ International and was called, “A beautiful and honest book,” by Father Richard Rohr.
• The Divine Heart has seven easy-to-follow practices that will enable anyone to experience deeper meaning in their lives, regardless of their external circumstances. Non-dogmatic and accessible, the practices are ‘invitations’, or ways to invite God’s presence into our lives. These invitations are receptivity, delight, expansiveness, acceptance, vulnerability, mystery, and gratitude.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Monkfish Book Publishing
• Release date: May 2, 2021
• ISBN: 9781948626385

Colette Lafia

Colette Lafia is a San Francisco-based writer, spiritual director, and retreat leader. A graduate of the Spiritual Directors’ Institute at Mercy Center in Burlingame, California, Colette recently completed the Living School program in the Christian contemplative and mystical traditions guided by Fr. Richard Rohr, Rev. Cynthia Bourgeault, and Dr. James Finley. Colette has a passion for helping people connect more deeply with the presence of the sacred in daily life. She designs and facilitates workshops and retreats for an international audience, has an active practice as a spiritual director, and is an adjunct faculty member at Mercy Center. Colette Lafia is the author of Comfort and Joy: Simple Ways to Care for Ourselves and Others (Conari Press, 2008), named one of the best spiritual books of the year, and Seeking Surrender: How My Friendship with a Trappist Monk Taught Me to Trust and Embrace Life (Sorin Books/Ave Maria Press, 2015). Please visit www.colettelafia.com.

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Praise for

The Divine Heart

During these turbulent times, we need the steadying voice of feminine wisdom more urgently than ever. In this luminous book, spiritual guide Colette Lafia offers the fruits of her tenderly cultivated inner life to feed people of all genders who thirst for a direct encounter with the embodiment of love, which she recognizes as our own true nature. — Mirabai Starr, translator of John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila, author of Wild Mercy

"In The Divine Heart, Colette Lafia invites us to enter the vastness and intimacy of God’s love, offering seven simple yet powerful ways to deepen our awareness and open our hearts. This small book with a big heart shows us how to live in the flow of Divine love." — Richard Rohr, author of The Universal Christ, founder of the Center for Action and Contemplation

In these seven invitations, Colette Lafia leads us into the depths of the heart: our own heart hidden within the Divine Heart. With wisdom born of life experience, she is a loving and compassionate guide. — Veronica Mary Rolf, author of Julian’s Gospel: Illuminating the Life and Revelations of Julian of Norwich

A generous offering of insights and encouragement that lend themselves to pausing and resting in God’s presence, a state of sustained attentiveness infused with love. Colette Lafia includes a host of practical suggestions to help us carry this Divine love into the graces and challenges of each day. — James Finley, PhD, contemplative teacher and author of Merton’s Palace of Nowhere

"Beautifully written and deeply contemplative, The Divine Heart is more than just a rich and nuanced meditation on the heart – although it certainly is that. It’s a love song, inviting us into ever deepening intimacy with the One who is the source of all Love." — Carl McColman, author of The Big Book of Christian Mysticism and Eternal Heart

"Colette Lafia’s new book is intimate, accessible, and consoling. The Divine Heart offers us profound insight and a way to deepen the path of love in our own lives. Its design is the ripened fruit of slow thought and attentive action. A continuing student in the school of her life, Colette has proven a reliable study partner in the school of my own inner experiences. I do not doubt her book will earn your gratitude." —Jonathan Montaldo, coeditor of Bridges to Contemplative Living with Thomas Merton and The Intimate Merton: His Life from His Journals

"The Divine Heart offers simple yet profoundly elegant pathways to deepening one’s love relationship with God, and Colette Lafia lays out each step on the path with exquisite promise. Recognizing that we navigate the depths of our spiritual lives directly in the midst of life as it is, Colette brings God to life for those seeking to deepen or establish living with greater humility, reverence, and faith—qualities that can serve us immeasurably in the world and times we are navigating. Readers can trust that each of the seven pathways that are laid out in The Divine Heart lead to the very center of what matters most—love in life and love for life." — Kristi Nelson, Author of Wake Up Grateful and Executive Director of A Network for Grateful Living

Also by Colette Lafia

Comfort and Joy: Simple Ways to Care for Ourselves and Others

Seeking Surrender: How My Friendship with a Trappist Monk Taught Me to Trust and Embrace Life

The Divine Heart: Seven Ways to Live in God’s Love © 2021 by Colette Lafia

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without the consent of the publisher except in critical articles or reviews. Contact the publisher for information.

Paperback ISBN 978-1-948626-37-8

eBook ISBN 978-1-948626-38-5

Cover design by Lisa Carta

Book design by Colin Rolfe

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Lafia, Colette, author.

Title: The divine heart : seven ways to live in God’s love / Colette Lafia.

Description: Rhinebeck, New York : Monkfish Book Publishing Company, 2021.

| Includes bibliographical references.

Identifiers: LCCN 2020050481 (print) | LCCN 2020050482 (ebook) | ISBN

9781948626378 (paperback) | ISBN 9781948626385 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Spiritual life--Catholic Church. | Spirituality--Catholic

Church.

Classification: LCC BX2350.5 .L28 2021 (print) | LCC BX2350.5 (ebook) |

DDC 248.4/82--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020050481

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020050482

Monkfish Book Publishing Company

22 East Market Street, Suite 304

Rhinebeck, NY 12572

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To All Those Who Have Mentored My Heart

Contents

Permissions

Prologue

Part I. Beginnings: Awakening to the Flow of God’s Love

Part II. Seven Ways: Inviting Divine Love into Your Life

1. Receptivity: Listening and Responding

2. Delight: Feeling Life’s Wonders, Savoring Each Moment

3. Expansiveness: Trusting Our Heart’s Capacity

4. Acceptance: Embracing Life and Who We Are

5. Vulnerability: Becoming Open-Hearted

6. Mystery: Dwelling in the Mystery of Love

7. Gratitude: Relaxing and Enjoying the Relationship

Part III. Living Love

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Permissions

The author gratefully acknowledges permission to quote from the following:

Awakening to Love, by Mechthild of Magdeburg, translated by Oliver Davies from Beguine Spirituality, edited by Fiona Bowie and Oliver Davies. Reprinted with permission of Oliver Davies.

From New Seeds of Contemplation, copyright © 1961 by the Abbey of Gethsemane, Inc. Reprinted with permission of New Directions Publishing.

Da niegt sich die Stunde.../The hour is striking... by Rainer Maria Rilke from Rilke’s Book of Hours: Love Poems to God, by Rainer Maria Rilke, translated by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy, translation copyright © 1996 by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy. Used with permission of Riverhead, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC and Janklow & Nesbit Associates. All rights reserved.

I cannot dance, by Mechthild of Magdeburg, translated by Oliver Davies from Beguine Spirituality, edited by Fiona Bowie and Oliver Davies. Reprinted with permission of Oliver Davies.

Ich bin auf der Welt.../I’m too alone in the world... by Rainer Maria Rilke from Rilke’s Book of Hours: Love Poems to God, by Rainer Maria Rilke, translated by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy, translation copyright © 1996 by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy. Used with permission of Riverhead, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC and Janklow & Nesbit Associates. All rights reserved.

I won’t take no for an answer, Vulnerable we are, like an infant, and an excerpt from Rest in Prayer by St. Catherine of Siena from Love Poems from God: Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West, translated by Daniel Ladinsky. Copyright © 2002 by Daniel Ladinsky. Courtesy of Daniel Ladinsky.

Was irren meine Hande.../Why am I reaching again, by Rainer Maria Rilke from Rilke’s Book of Hours: Love Poems to God, by Rainer Maria Rilke, translated by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy, translation copyright © 1996 by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy. Used with permission of Riverhead, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC and Janklow & Nesbit Associates. All rights reserved.

From This Day: Collected and New Sabbath Poems, by Wendell Berry. Copyright © 2013 by Wendell Berry. Reprinted with permission of Counterpoint Press.

From Call Me by My True Names: The Collected Poems of Thich Nhat Hanh, by Thich Nhat Hanh. Copyright © 1999 by Plum Village Community of Engaged Buddhism, Inc. Reprinted with permission of Parallax Press.

Prologue

Learning to love is our human mission, one we’re all on together. Yet during the coronavirus pandemic, our frayed hearts have been dragged through uncertainty and loss along unmarked trails. We’ve been trudging through our days practicing social distancing, wearing masks, connecting with people virtually, and feeling disoriented a lot of the time. We’ve been living with a sadness that never seems to go away, accumulating like the dust and rain that stain our windows.

A month into the Covid-19 shutdown, my beloved father-in-law, Brian, passed away. He didn’t have the coronavirus, but it indirectly played a role. He was unable to receive a nonessential hospital procedure and died of complications from his condition. Attending his online burial and family gatherings to honor him was heartbreaking. But it was also a gift. From the humorous, loving, and poignant stories shared about him, it was clear that those who knew him felt well-loved and accepted by him. In this river of loss, he had left a legacy of love—a powerful and resonant love we would not forget. I was reminded that love is what lingers— and shimmers—even in times of pain and grief.

Shortly after we started sheltering in place, I began rereading New Seeds of Contemplation by the Christian monk Thomas Merton, poring over his writings on solitude. I was drawn to his concept that solitude is not separation. Solitude’s purpose, Merton said, is to help you to love not only God but also people.

An image I have been holding during this time of solitude is that of a tree in a forest. Like an individual tree, I know I’m connected to a network of trees and that our root systems intersect and grow into one another’s below the ground. Like trees, we live in cooperative, interdependent relationships, share nutrients, and are connected to the whole—the great forest of the world held together in Divine love.

How can sheltering in place and the deep suffering of lost jobs and lost lives also be embraced as a time of renewal? Perhaps there are ways we can welcome this pause from rushing around and consuming, from decades of restlessness and discontent. For besides the pain and loss, this has been a time for kids to ride bikes and for hummingbirds to feast on the renewed abundance of nectar.

Born of love is hope. Now, as we are called to integrate so much paradox and pain, we need guidance to heal, strengthen, and restore ourselves. The Divine Heart offers this guidance, outlining ways we can learn to grow and renew ourselves in Divine love. Each of us has a Divine heart, an identity we share. We not only align ourselves with love and connect to love, but we also recognize that we are love.

Consider The Divine Heart a guidebook to help you find your way around this new landscape that is filled with loss and hope yet at the same time offers new possibilities when you look with the eyes of the heart. As you open this book, listen to the longing in your heart and allow yourself to embark on a spiritual renewal, a journey into the Divine heart, into unity, connection, and belonging. God is in us and we are in God, and there is an unfolding intimacy between us—with the Divine, with one another, and with our mother, the earth. It is a complete and mutual indwelling.

Can we dare say that this time, with so many tears, is also a time of spiritual rebirth, a time to awaken to the fullness of love, to connect ourselves more fully to the love we all share and dwell in, individually and collectively? My answer is yes, we can use our suffering to connect ourselves more fully to love.

As I grieved the death of my father-in-law, and a month later the loss of my older brother, along with the news of so many other people dying and experiencing loss, I sat in my sadness reaching for love. Love can hold and heal and transform pain—but not an abstract love. We can learn to love beyond what we thought we were capable of. Our heart, living in the Divine heart, in the heart of the world, has a capacity that is boundless. It is the source of life itself and will help us find our way through this time of grief and uncertainty.

Once in the flow of Divine love, we realize this love has been here all along waiting for us. A retreat, a