Union of Will

"The first and most important result of the unitive power of love is the perfect union of man's will with the will of God. As love develops, it so empties the soul of everything opposed to the divine will, so impels it to love and desire only that which God Himself loves and desires, that little by little, the weak human will becomes fully conformed and united to the divine will of God; the two wills are made into one, namely, into the will of God, which...is likewise the will of the soul. (John of the Cross, Ascent of Mt. Carmel, 11,3)... Captivated by love for God, the soul has, for His sake, entirely renounced its own will; it has voluntarily lost in Him all desire, all inclination; and now, the loss has become the greatest of all gains, because the soul finds its will, now entirely transformed in the divine will of God. Could one hope for a more advantageous exchange? St John of the Cross writes: 'The state of this divine union consists in the soul's total transformation, according to the will, in the will of God.'(Ascent, I, 11,2)

...St Teresa of Jesus writes: This is the union which I have desired all my life; it is for this that I continually beg Our Lord; it is this which is most genuine and safest.( Interior Castle V,3)...Actually, the essence of sanctity consists solely in this union, whereas mystical graces are only a means toward its attainment, a very precious means, because a more rapid one, but always a means and not an end. The end consists solely in perfect conformity of one's own will with the will of God."

--from Divine Intimacy, pp.1094-5