Ferial
Today's day 3 of the dear lab, I'm starting to get a hang of the lab. Anyway, coming to the reason as to why I'm posting, I read this today, which is so very beautiful, the word beautiful sometimes I feel, does not aptly describe what and how very and extremely beautiful it is, no one can describe, maybe, and so it shall now be in my vocabulary, "beautifulness" ... :)
From The Holy Eucharist by St. Alphonsus Maria de Ligouri:
Meditation III
The Heart of Jesus Christ panting to be Loved.
Jesus has no need of us; he is equally happy, equally rich, equally powerful with or without our love; and yet, as St. Thomas says (Opusc. 63, c.7.), he loves us so, that he desires our love as much as if man was his God, and his felicity depended on that of man. This filled holy Job with astonishment: What is man that Thou shouldst magnify him? Or why dost Thou set Thy heart upon him? (Quid est homo, quia magnificas eum? Aut quid apponis erga eum cor tuum? – Job vii. 17.)
What! Can God desire or ask with such eagerness for the love of a worm? It would have been a great favor if God had only permitted us to love him. If a vassal were to say to his king, “Sire, I love you,” he would be considered impertinent. But what would one say if the king were to tell his vassal, “I desire you to love me”? The princes of the earth do not humble themselves to this; but Jesus, who is the King of Heaven, is he who with so much earnestness demands our love: Love the Lod thy God with thy whole heart. (Diliges Dominum Deum tuum ex toto corde tuo. Matthew xxii. 37.) So pressingly does he ask for our heart: My Son, give Me thy heart. (Praebe, fili mi, cor tuum mihi. – Prov. Xxiii. 26.) And if he is driven from a soul, he does not depart, but he stands outside of the door of the heart, and he calls and knocks to be let in: I stand at the gate and knock. (Sto ad ostium et pulso – Apoc. Iii.20.) And he besseches her to open to him, calling her sister and spouse: Open to Me, My sister, My love. (Aperi mihi, soror mea. – Cant. v.2.) In short, he takes a delight in being loved by us, and is quite consoled when a soul says to him, and repeats often, “My God, my God, I love Thee.”
All this is the effect of the great love he bears us. He who loves necessarily desires to be loved. The heart requires the heart; love seeks love: “Why does God love, but that he might be loved himself,” said St. Bernard; and God himself first said, What doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but that thou fear the Lord thy God … and love Him? – Deut. X.12. Therefore he tells us that he is that Shepherd who, having found the lost sheep, calls all the others to rejoice with him: Rejoice with Me, because I have found My sheep that was lost. – Luke xv. 6). He tells us that he is that Father who, when his lost son returns and throws himself at his feet, not only forgives him, but embraces him tenderly. He tells us that he that loves him not is condemned to death: He that loveth not abideth in death – 1 John iii.14, And, on the contrary, that he takes him that loves him and keeps possession of him: He that abideth in charity, abideth in God, and God in him. – 1 John iv.16.). Oh, will not such invitations, such entreaties, such threats, and such promises move us to love God, who so much desires to be loved by us?
Meditation III
The Heart of Jesus Christ panting to be Loved.
Jesus has no need of us; he is equally happy, equally rich, equally powerful with or without our love; and yet, as St. Thomas says (Opusc. 63, c.7.), he loves us so, that he desires our love as much as if man was his God, and his felicity depended on that of man. This filled holy Job with astonishment: What is man that Thou shouldst magnify him? Or why dost Thou set Thy heart upon him? (Quid est homo, quia magnificas eum? Aut quid apponis erga eum cor tuum? – Job vii. 17.)
What! Can God desire or ask with such eagerness for the love of a worm? It would have been a great favor if God had only permitted us to love him. If a vassal were to say to his king, “Sire, I love you,” he would be considered impertinent. But what would one say if the king were to tell his vassal, “I desire you to love me”? The princes of the earth do not humble themselves to this; but Jesus, who is the King of Heaven, is he who with so much earnestness demands our love: Love the Lod thy God with thy whole heart. (Diliges Dominum Deum tuum ex toto corde tuo. Matthew xxii. 37.) So pressingly does he ask for our heart: My Son, give Me thy heart. (Praebe, fili mi, cor tuum mihi. – Prov. Xxiii. 26.) And if he is driven from a soul, he does not depart, but he stands outside of the door of the heart, and he calls and knocks to be let in: I stand at the gate and knock. (Sto ad ostium et pulso – Apoc. Iii.20.) And he besseches her to open to him, calling her sister and spouse: Open to Me, My sister, My love. (Aperi mihi, soror mea. – Cant. v.2.) In short, he takes a delight in being loved by us, and is quite consoled when a soul says to him, and repeats often, “My God, my God, I love Thee.”
All this is the effect of the great love he bears us. He who loves necessarily desires to be loved. The heart requires the heart; love seeks love: “Why does God love, but that he might be loved himself,” said St. Bernard; and God himself first said, What doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but that thou fear the Lord thy God … and love Him? – Deut. X.12. Therefore he tells us that he is that Shepherd who, having found the lost sheep, calls all the others to rejoice with him: Rejoice with Me, because I have found My sheep that was lost. – Luke xv. 6). He tells us that he is that Father who, when his lost son returns and throws himself at his feet, not only forgives him, but embraces him tenderly. He tells us that he that loves him not is condemned to death: He that loveth not abideth in death – 1 John iii.14, And, on the contrary, that he takes him that loves him and keeps possession of him: He that abideth in charity, abideth in God, and God in him. – 1 John iv.16.). Oh, will not such invitations, such entreaties, such threats, and such promises move us to love God, who so much desires to be loved by us?
To be continued ...
Jesus, Mary, I love Thee; Save Souls!
Jesu mitis et humilis corde, Fac cor nostrum secundum Cor tuum. (ter)
Labels: THe Holy Eucharist by St. Alphonsus Maria de Ligouri
posted by rachelanne at 6/20/2007 10:12:00 PM
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