“Love transforms souls and sets them free” (Saint Bernard of Clairvaux).
This is the extraordinary work of the Holy Spirit who has been poured into our hearts and brings about their transformation. We know His seven gifts, which serve our sanctification.
Indeed, it is love that makes us receptive to all that God wants to give us, because “God is love” (1 Jn 4:16b).
Since love is the reason for our existence, it alone can free us to become what we really are: children of God.
Let us look at it this way: the Holy Spirit descends into the depths of our soul and enlightens it with His presence. Our soul, often stained by sin and confused by error, breathes a sigh of relief. When God’s grace touches it deeply, it awakens. As it begins to consistently follow the movements of the Holy Spirit, the soul becomes freer and freer. Purified by the blood of the Lamb, it frees itself from the bonds of its earthly existence. It focuses on God, our Father, and seeks the things that are above (Col 3:1).
Thus the soul is increasingly filled with divine love and, under its influence, becomes a God-loving soul. It then encounters freedom, the source of which is God Himself, according to the words of Jesus: “If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed” (Jn 8:36).
The soul becomes ever more attentive to God. It wants to know Him better and to receive His love. Gradually, it sheds its dullness and indifference and strives to do God’s will in everything. In this way it enters the “promised land”. It wants to know what God created it for: to love Him and to do His will. This is the true freedom that the soul transformed by the Holy Spirit can enjoy forever.