I am impressed with the sincerity and maturity of the young Croatian mystic Zlatko Sudac.
Here is an interview with him from a few years back, and an English language website with information about retreats and more.
His message is very much aligned with that of other mystics:
God is something which surpasses any and all thoughts about Him. He surpasses our feelings, and even the state of our souls. It is impossible to speak about Him. The only way to communicate with God is to love God. We have to sink into God so that I no longer exist but God does. When I do this I don’t lose myself, but find myself in God. This can be understood only by those people who love God with all their heart, all their soul, and all their strength. If anyone sins, the only cause for all sins is the lack of love towards God and the lack of love for mankind and ourselves, that is the cause of all evils. If this wounded humanity would discover the formula of love, unconditional love, this life would be heaven on earth.
And from the introduction to the interview:
Fr. Sudac’s primary messages are very simple ones: that love has to be the foundation of everything that we do, and if we live in love, then we live in God; that we must be open to the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives so that we can live the fullness of what God wants to give us; that we must die to ourselves completely so that God can fill us with Himself; that we must be completely normal people, who have our feet firmly planted on the ground, but ever aware that while we live in this world, we are not of it.
I do like Fr. Sudac, however I find as I find in many teachers of religion, that though their words are simple, they are too hard to understand the actual meaning. For example, “and if we live in love, then we live in God.” Can anyone really explain such a statement? I think not, so it’s just confusing.
Thank you, Frank.
Yes, I agree. He paints with a broad brush and his strenght seems to be in his charisma and ability to inspire.
But what he says is also a pointer, something we can explore for ourselves through practice and prayer.
For instance, what happens if I pray for the welfare and happiness of others regularly, including the ones I don’t particularly like? What happens if I bring that more into my life? Do I get a taste of what he is describing?
to live in love is complete abandonment to love. like, everything. the very first priority in all our dealings. to make the concious free-choices that this requires by effort alone is impossible. it is acquired by a habit of love that is formed when God recreates you at every little death. And slowly, by grace, one remains in the love [in the Vine; in the Body] they have known even while pursuing further abandonment. To live this way is to live increasingly “in God”, according to His will by participating as co-creators. As our temporal, corpral lives are drawn ever deeper into this lifestyle [of the Spirit who empowers], the shaping of events around us coincide with the Will that we share in communion with the Almighty.
And thus we are slowly sanctified, brought into the very life of God by being ministers of Christ [His hands and feet] such that it is no longer we who live but He who lives in us.
This should be qualified [so that its not taken that we become slaves in the surrender of our freedom] by noting that while He crowns His own merits, they are lived out through us. God wills through our choices [made in the flesh]. Sharing His glory in communion, we are enabled to call upon His power as our Charity sees fit [e.g. Ps 91 “for he knows my name”].
Thus we do not become God, nor are brought under a single coercive control. Instead we enter into the mystery of love that gives us an increased wisdom and power [such that our freedom grows as we surrender to love and life in God].
But, of course, we don’t love Him because of what we recieve from Him but for Who He Is…
To live in love is to live in God. Not confusing. If you have a life of prayer and a life of the spirit, nurtured by the Sacraments, the simplicity of the message becomes clear.
God is Love is God. Live in love with God and live in fear of offending Him because He is all good and deserving of all my love.