Gift-Donor Alienation
The VIP doctrine (#47) that when the soul becomes attached to God’s gifts and graces rather than to the Donor himself — “idolatrizing” them as personal satisfactions (Exodus 20:3-5; Romans 1:25) — she forms a “second life” of own taste that displaces the divine taste as the soul’s operative governing criterion, even in holy things (acting when there is taste, doing nothing in aridity); the correct disposition is stewardship: receiving all gifts as things of God held in trust (1 Corinthians 4:7; 1 Peter 4:10), ready to sacrifice them to love as Abraham sacrificed Isaac (Genesis 22:12; Matthew 22:37). (E)
Anchors: Exodus 20:3-5; Romans 1:25; 1 Corinthians 4:7; 1 Peter 4:10; Genesis 22:12 — Appearances: 2. Full Registry entry.