“Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him” (Jn 14:23)

In the quiet, humble corners of Carmelite spirituality, the words of Christ resonate with a profound and intimate invitation. The sacred union between the soul and God, symbolized in this passage from John, is not a distant or abstract ideal, but a lived reality, where love and obedience converge to open the door to divine intimacy.

At the heart of this verse is a promise—an invitation into communion with the Holy Trinity. Jesus speaks directly to us, not merely as an external teacher, but as one who desires to make His home in our hearts. He invites us to a love that is not merely sentimental but transformative—a love that moves us to keep His word, to live according to His teaching, to embrace His will as the guiding light of our lives.

In Carmelite spirituality, this call to dwell with Christ is nothing less than a call to union with God. St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross speak often of the “interior castle”—the heart as the dwelling place where God desires to take up residence. For the Carmelite, the journey is one of prayer, silence, and deepening union with God in the interior life. As Teresa writes in The Interior Castle, the soul is a “castle made of a single diamond or of a very clear crystal,” and at the very center of this castle dwells God. Jesus’ promise in John 14:23 is the very essence of this mystical understanding: through love and obedience to His word, God enters, takes up residence, and makes His dwelling in us.

Blessed Francisco Palau y Quer, a deeply contemplative Carmelite, often reflected on the indwelling presence of the Holy Trinity in the soul. He wrote that the soul, when united with Christ through love and obedience, becomes a temple where God is pleased to reside. For Palau, this was not a passive experience but an active, dynamic relationship that demanded both vigilance and surrender. His devotion to the Holy Spirit as the one who animates this union is a key part of his thought, seeing the Spirit as the force that helps the soul grow in love and understanding of God.

Christian life is not just a series of actions or duties, but a continual invitation into the divine love that desires to dwell in us. Christ’s promise in John 14:23 calls us to respond with a love that is both active and receptive—a love that welcomes Christ’s presence, obeys His teachings, and ultimately allows us to become a living sanctuary for the Holy Trinity. In our daily lives, we are invited to make space for God’s presence—through prayer, through quiet, through love, and through obedience to His word. As we do so, God draws closer, not as an external force but as the intimate, loving presence that fills our hearts and transforms us. We, too, become “dwelling places” of God, and through this union, we discover that we are never truly alone.