Morning Meditation: THE HEART OF JESUS LONGING FOR OUR LOVE
Jesus has no need of us. He is equally happy, rich and powerful, with or without our love, and yet He loves us so intensely that He desires our love as much as if man were His God. This so filled Job with astonishment that he cried out: What is man that thou shouldst magnify him? Or why dost thou set thy heart upon him?
Meditation I:
Jesus has no need of us. He is equally happy, rich, and powerful with or without our love; and yet, as St. Thomas says He loves us so intensely that He desires our love as much as if man were His God, and His felicity depended on that of man. This so filled holy Job with astonishment that he cried out: What is man that thou shouldst magnify him? Or why dost thou set thy heart upon him? — (Job vii., 17).
What! can God desire or ask with such eagerness for the love of a worm? It would have been a great favour 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 Lord thy God with thy whole heart. — (Matt. xxii., 37). So pressingly does He ask for our hearts: My son, give me thy heart. — (Prov. xxiii., 26). And if He is driven from a soul, He does not depart, but stands outside the door of the heart, and calls and knocks to be allowed to return: I stand at the gate and knock. — (Apoc. iii., 20). Jesus beseeches the soul to open to Him, calling her sister and spouse: Open to me, my sister, my love. — (Cant. v., 2). In short, He takes a delight in being loved by us, and is quite consoled when we say, and repeat often: “My God! My God, I love Thee!”
My dearest Redeemer, I will say to Thee with St. Augustine, Thou dost command me to love Thee, and dost threaten me with hell if I do not love Thee; but what more dreadful hell, what greater misfortune, can happen to me than to be deprived of Thy love! If, therefore, Thou desirest to terrify me, Thou shouldst threaten me only that I should live without loving Thee; for this threat alone will terrify me more than a thousand hells. If, in the midst of the flames of hell, the damned could burn with Thy love, O my God, hell itself would become a Paradise; and if, on the contrary, the Blessed in Heaven could not love Thee, Paradise would become a hell.
I see, indeed, my dearest Lord, that I, on account of my sins, did deserve to be forsaken by Thy grace, and at the same time condemned to be incapable of loving Thee; but still I understand that Thou dost continue to command me to love Thee, and I also feel within me a great desire to love Thee. This my desire is the gift of Thy grace, and it comes from Thee. Oh, give me also the strength necessary to put it into execution, and make me, from this day forth, say to Thee earnestly, and from the bottom of my heart, and to repeat to Thee always: My God, I love Thee! I love Thee! I love Thee!
Meditation II:
Spiritual Reading: CORAM SANCTISSIMO
ELEVENTH VISIT
.
Evening Meditation: THE PRACTICE OF THE LOVE OF JESUS CHRIST
XXIV. HE THAT LOVES JESUS CHRIST DESIRES NOTHING BUT JESUS CHRIST
Meditation I:
Oh, what security is found in the hidden life for such as wish cordially to love Jesus Christ! Jesus Christ set us the example, by living hidden and despised for thirty years in a workshop. And with the same view of escaping the esteem of men, the Saints went and hid themselves in deserts and caves. It was said by St. Vincent de Paul, that love of appearing in public, and of being spoken of in terms of praise, and of hearing our conduct commended, or that people should say that we succeed admirably and work wonders, is an evil which, while it makes us unmindful of God, contaminates our best actions, and proves the most fatal drawback to the spiritual life.
Whoever, therefore, would make progress in the love of Jesus Christ, must absolutely give a death-blow to self-esteem. But how shall we inflict this blow? Behold how St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi instructs us: “That which keeps alive the appetite for self-esteem is the occupying a favourable position in the minds of all; consequently the death of self-esteem is to keep oneself hidden, so as not to be known to anyone. And till we learn to die in this manner, we shall never be true servants of God.”
O my Jesus, grant me a desire to please Thee, and make me forget all creatures and myself also. What will it profit me to be loved by the whole world if I be not loved by Thee, the only love of my soul! My Jesus, Thou camest into the world to win our hearts; if I am unable to give Thee my heart, do Thou be pleased to take it and replenish it with Thy love, and never allow me to be separated from Thee any more. I have, alas, turned my back upon Thee in the past; but now that I am conscious of the evil I have done, I grieve over it with my whole heart, and no affliction in the world can so distress me as the remembrance of the offences I have so often committed against Thee. I am consoled to think that Thou art Infinite Goodness; that Thou dost not disdain to love a sinner who loves Thee. My beloved Redeemer, O sweetest Love of my soul, I have heretofore slighted Thee, but now at least I love Thee more than myself! I offer Thee myself and all that belongs to me.
Meditation II:
Morning Meditation: THE SORROWFUL HEART OF JESUS
.
Meditation I:
.
Meditation II:
Spiritual Reading: CORAM SANCTISSIMO
TWELFTH VISIT
.
Evening Meditation: THE PRACTICE OF THE LOVE OF JESUS CHRIST
“Charity seeketh not her own.”
XXV. HE THAT LOVES JESUS CHRIST SEEKS TO DETACH HIMSELF FROM EVERY CREATURE
Meditation I:
.
Meditation II:
Morning Meditation: THE COMPASSIONATE HEART OF JESUS
.
Meditation I:
.
Meditation II:
Spiritual Reading: CORAM SANCTISSIMO
THIRTEENTH VISIT
.
Evening Meditation: THE PRACTICE OF THE LOVE OF JESUS CHRIST
XXVI. HE THAT LOVES JESUS CHRIST SEEKS TO DETACH HIMSELF FROM EVERY CREATURE
Meditation I:
.
Meditation II:
Morning Meditation: THE GRATEFUL HEART OF JESUS
.
Meditation I:
.
Meditation II:
Spiritual Reading: CORAM SANCTISSIMO
FOURTEENTH VISIT
.
Evening Meditation: THE PRACTICE OF THE LOVE OF JESUS CHRIST
XXVII. HE THAT LOVES JESUS CHRIST SEEKS TO DETACH HIMSELF FROM EVERY CREATURE
Meditation I:
.
Meditation II:
Morning Meditation: THE DESPISED HEART OF JESUS
.
Meditation I:
.
Meditation II:
Spiritual Reading: CORAM SANCTISSIMO
FIFTEENTH VISIT
.
Evening Meditation: THE PRACTICE OF THE LOVE OF JESUS CHRIST
XXVIII. HE THAT LOVES JESUS CHRIST SEEKS TO DETACH HIMSELF FROM EVERY CREATURE
Meditation I:
.
Meditation II:
Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Morning Meditation: THE FAITHFUL HEART OF JESUS
.
Meditation I:
.
Meditation II:
Spiritual Reading: CORAM SANCTISSIMO
SIXTEENTH VISIT
.
Evening Meditation: THE PRACTICE OF THE LOVE OF JESUS CHRIST
XXIX. HE THAT LOVES JESUS CHRIST SEEKS TO DETACH HIMSELF FROM EVERY CREATURE
Meditation I:
.
Meditation II:
Morning Meditation: MARY IS OUR MOTHER OF PERPETUAL SUCCOUR
.
Meditation I:
.
Meditation II:
Spiritual Reading: CORAM SANCTISSIMO
SEVENTEENTH VISIT
.
Evening Meditation: THE PRACTICE OF THE LOVE OF JESUS CHRIST
XXX. HE THAT LOVES JESUS CHRIST SEEKS TO DETACH HIMSELF FROM EVERY CREATURE
Meditation I:
.
Meditation II:
⇑ CONTENTS
⇐ FIRST WEEK AFTER PENTECOST
⇒ THIRD WEEK AFTER PENTECOST
