«Nos ergo diligamus Deum, quoniam Deus prior dilexit nos» — "Let us therefore love God, because God first loved us" (1 John 4:19).
Point I
Consider first that God deserves to be loved by you, because He loved you before you loved Him; and He was the first of all to love you. «In caritate perpetua dilexi te» — "I have loved you with an everlasting love" (Jer. 31:3). The first to love you on this earth were your parents, but they loved you only after they came to know you. But before you had being, God already loved you. Neither your father nor your mother was yet in this world, and God already loved you; indeed, the world was not yet created, and God loved you. And how long before the creation of the world did God love you? Perhaps a thousand years, a thousand ages before? There is no need to count years and ages: know that God has loved you from eternity. «In caritate perpetua dilexi te, ideo attraxi te miserans tui» — "I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore, taking pity on you, I have drawn you to Myself" (ibid.). In short, God, since He has been God, has always loved you; since He has loved Himself, He has loved you also. That holy virgin St. Agnes was right, then, to say: «Ab alio amatore praeventa sum» — "I have been forestalled by another Lover." When the world and creatures asked for her love, she would answer: No, world; no, creatures, I cannot love you; my God was the first to love me; it is right, then, that I consecrate all my love to God alone.
And so, my brother, your God has loved you from eternity, and solely out of love He drew you out from the number of so many men He could have created, and gave you being and placed you in the world. For love of you He also made so many other beautiful creatures, that they might serve you and remind you of the love He has borne you and that you owe Him. «Coelum et terra», St. Augustine used to say, «et omnia mihi dicunt, ut amem te» — "Heaven and earth and all things say to me, that I should love You." When the saint beheld the sun, the moon, the stars, the mountains, the rivers, it seemed to him that they all spoke to him and said: Augustine, love God, for He created us for you, that you might love Him. The Abbot de Rancé, founder of La Trappe, when he looked upon the hills, the springs, the flowers, used to say that all these creatures reminded him of the love God had borne him. St. Teresa likewise used to say that creatures reproached her for her ingratitude toward God. St. Mary Magdalene de' Pazzi, when she held in her hand some beautiful flower or fruit, felt her heart wounded by it, as by an arrow, with love for God, saying within herself: So my God thought from all eternity of creating this flower, this fruit, that I might love Him!
Consider, moreover, the special love God has shown you in causing you to be born in a Christian country and in the bosom of the true Church. How many are born among idolaters, among Jews, among Mohammedans, or among heretics — and all of these are lost! Few are those among men who have the lot of being born where the true faith reigns; and among these few the Lord has chosen you. Oh, what an immense gift is this gift of faith! How many millions of persons are deprived of the sacraments, of preaching, of the example of good companions, and of all the other aids that are found in our true Church for attaining eternal salvation! And God has willed to grant you all these great helps without any merit of yours — indeed, foreseeing your demerits; for when He thought of creating you and granting you these graces, He already foresaw the offenses you were going to commit against Him.
Affections and Prayers
O sovereign Lord of heaven and earth, infinite good, infinite majesty, You who have so loved men, how is it that You are then so despised by men? But among these men, You, my God, have loved me in particular, favoring me with such special graces that You have not granted to so many others; and I have despised You more than the rest. I cast myself at Your feet, O my Jesus, my Savior: «ne proiicias me a facie tua» — "Do not cast me away from Your face." I would deserve that You drive me away for the ingratitude I have shown You; but You have said that You cannot drive away a repentant heart that returns to You: «Eum, qui venit ad me, non eiiciam foras» — "The one who comes to Me I will not cast out" (John 6:37). My Jesus, I repent of having offended You. In the past I did not know You; now I acknowledge You as my Lord and my Redeemer, who died to save me and to be loved by me. When will I cease, my Jesus, to be ungrateful to You? When will I begin to love You in earnest? Behold, today I resolve to love You with all my heart, and to love nothing but You. O infinite goodness, I adore You for all those who do not adore You, and I love You for all those who do not love You. In You I believe, in You I hope, You I love, to You I offer myself entirely; help me with Your grace. You already know my weakness. But if You so favored me when I did not love You nor desire to love You, how much more should I hope in Your mercy, now that I love You and desire nothing but to love You? My Lord, give me Your love, but a fervent love that makes me forget all creatures; a strong love that makes me overcome every difficulty to give You pleasure; a perpetual love that may never be broken between me and You. I hope for all things through Your merits, O my Jesus; and I hope for all things through Your intercession, O my Mother Mary.
Point II
But God has not only given us so many beautiful creatures; He did not consider Himself satisfied until He had come to give us even Himself: «Dilexit nos, et tradidit semetipsum pro nobis» — "He loved us and delivered Himself up for us" (Gal. 2:20). Accursed sin had made us lose the grace of God and paradise, and had made us slaves of hell; but the Son of God, filling heaven and nature with wonder, willed to come to earth and make Himself man, to redeem us from eternal death and to regain for us the grace of God and the paradise we had lost. What a marvel it would be to see a monarch become a worm for love of worms! But infinitely greater must be our wonder at seeing a God made man for love of men: «Exinanivit semetipsum, formam servi accipiens, et habitu inventus ut homo» — "He emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, and was found in appearance as a man" (Phil. 2:7). A God clothed in flesh! «Et Verbum caro factum est» — "And the Word was made flesh" (John 1:14). But the wonder grows in seeing what this Son of God then did and suffered for love of us. A single drop of His blood, one tear, one simple prayer of His would have sufficed to redeem us, since that prayer, being the prayer of a divine person, was of infinite value, and therefore was sufficient to save the whole world and infinite worlds. But no, says St. John Chrysostom: what sufficed to redeem us did not suffice for the immense love that this God bore us: «Quod sufficiebat redemtioni, non sufficiebat amori» — "What sufficed for redemption did not suffice for love."
He willed not only to save us, but because He loved us greatly, He also willed to be greatly loved by us; and for this reason He chose for Himself a life wholly filled with sufferings and contempt, and a death the most bitter of all deaths, to make us understand the infinite love with which He burned toward us: «Humiliavit semetipsum, factus obediens usque ad mortem, mortem autem crucis» — "He humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto death, even the death of the cross" (Phil. 2:8). O excess of divine love, which all men and all angels will never succeed in comprehending! I say «excess», for this is precisely what it was called by Moses and Elijah on Tabor, as they spoke of the passion of Jesus Christ: «Dicebant excessum quem completurus erat in Ierusalem» — "They spoke of the excess that He was to accomplish in Jerusalem" (Luke 9:31). «Excessus doloris, excessus amoris» — "An excess of sorrow, an excess of love," says St. Bonaventure. If the Redeemer had not been God, but simply a friend and kinsman of ours, what greater sign of affection could He have shown us than to die for us? «Maiorem hac dilectionem nemo habet, ut animam suam ponat quis pro amicis suis» — "Greater love than this no man has, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13). If Jesus Christ had had to save His own Father, what more could He have done for love of Him? If, my brother, you had been God and the creator of Jesus Christ, what else could He have done for you than sacrifice His life amid a sea of contempt and sorrows? If the lowliest man on earth had done for you what Jesus Christ has done, could you live without loving Him?
But what do you say? Do you believe in the incarnation and death of Jesus Christ? You believe it, and you do not love Him? And can you think of loving anything else apart from Jesus Christ? Perhaps you doubt whether He loves you? For this very end, says St. Augustine, He came to earth to suffer and die for you: to make you know the immense love He bears you: «Propterea Christus advenit, ut cognosceret homo quantum eum diligat Deus» — "For this reason Christ came, that man might know how much God loves him." Before the incarnation, man could doubt whether God loved him tenderly; but after the incarnation and the death of Jesus Christ, how can he doubt it any longer? And what greater tenderness could He show you of His affection than in sacrificing His divine life for you? We have grown accustomed to hearing spoken of creation, redemption, a God in a manger, a God on a cross. O holy faith, do you enlighten us.
Affections and Prayers
O my Jesus, I see that there was nothing more for You to do in order to put me under the necessity of loving You; I see that by my ingratitude I have done all I could to oblige You to abandon me. Blessed forever be Your patience, which has borne with me so long. I would deserve a hell made just for me, but Your death gives me confidence. Ah, make me know well the claim You have, O infinite good, to be loved, and the obligation I have to love You. I already knew that You, my Jesus, had died for me; how then could I, O God, live for so many years forgetful of You? Oh, if I could live over again from the beginning the years I have lived, I would, my Lord, give them all to You. But the years do not return; grant, then, that at least the life that remains to me I may spend entirely in loving You and giving You pleasure. My beloved Redeemer, I love You with all my heart; increase this love in me; remind me always of what You have done for me, and do not permit me to live ungrateful to You any longer. No, I will no longer resist the lights You have given me. You will to be loved by me, and I will to love You. And whom am I to love, if I do not love a God who is infinite beauty, infinite goodness? A God who died for me? A God who has borne with me with such patience and, instead of punishing me as I deserved, has turned punishments into graces and favors? Yes, I love You, O God worthy of infinite love, and I sigh for and seek nothing else than to live wholly occupied in loving You, forgetful of all that is not You. O infinite charity of my Lord, come to the aid of a soul that yearns to be wholly Yours.
Come to my aid also, O great Mother of God, Mary, with Your intercession; pray Jesus to make me wholly His.
Point III
The wonder grows further in seeing the desire that Jesus Christ had to suffer and to die for us. «Baptismo autem habeo baptizari (so He kept saying while He lived), et quomodo coarctor usquedum perficiatur» — "I have a baptism with which I must be baptized, and how am I constrained until it be accomplished!" (Luke 12:50). I must be baptized with the baptism of my own blood, and I feel myself dying with desire that my passion and death come quickly, so that man may soon know the love I bear him. It was this that also made Him say on the night before His passion: «Desiderio desideravi hoc pascha manducare vobiscum» — "With desire I have desired to eat this pasch with you" (Luke 22:15). Therefore, says St. Basil of Seleucia, it seems that our God cannot be sated with loving men: «Hominum amore nequit expleri Deus» — "God cannot be filled with love for men" (St. Basil, ch. 416).
Ah, my Jesus, men do not love You because they do not think of the love You have borne them. O God, a soul that considers a God dead for love of her, and with so great a desire to die in order to show her the affection He bore her — how is it possible that she can live without loving Him? «Caritas Christi urget nos» — "The charity of Christ presses us" (2 Cor. 5:14). St. Paul says that it is not so much what Jesus Christ did and suffered, but the love He showed us in suffering for us, that obliges us and, as it were, compels us to love Him. Considering this, St. Lawrence Justinian exclaimed: «Vidimus sapientem prae nimietate amoris infatuatum!» — "We have seen the Wise One made foolish by the excess of His love!" We have seen a God who for us has, as it were, gone mad through the too-great love He bears us. And who could ever believe, if faith did not assure us of it, that the Creator willed to die for His creatures? St. Mary Magdalene de' Pazzi, in an ecstasy she had, holding in her hands an image of the Crucifix, called Jesus Christ precisely this: Mad with love. «Yes, my Jesus (she said), You are mad with love.» And the Gentiles said the very same thing: when the death of Jesus Christ was preached to them, they deemed it a madness that could never be believed; so attests St. Paul: «Praedicamus Christum crucifixum, Iudaeis quidem scandalum, gentibus autem stultitiam» — "We preach Christ crucified, to the Jews indeed a stumbling block, and to the Gentiles foolishness" (1 Cor. 1:23). And how could it be, they said, that a God most blessed in Himself, who has need of no one, descended to earth, became man, and died for love of men, His creatures? That would be the same as believing that a God had become mad for love of men. Yet it is of faith that Jesus Christ, true Son of God, for love of us gave Himself to death: «Dilexit nos et tradidit semetipsum pro nobis» — "He loved us and delivered Himself up for us" (Eph. 5:2).
And why did He do it? He did it so that we might live no longer for the world, but only for that Lord who willed to die for us. «Pro omnibus mortuus est Christus, ut et qui vivunt, iam non sibi vivant, sed ei qui pro ipsis mortuus est» — "Christ died for all, so that those who live may no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died for them" (2 Cor. 5:15). He did it so that, by the love He has shown us, He might win all the affections of our hearts. «In hoc Christus mortuus est, et resurrexit, ut mortuorum et vivorum dominetur» — "For this Christ died and rose again, that He might be Lord over the dead and the living" (Rom. 14:9). Hence the saints, considering the death of Jesus Christ, thought it little to give their life and everything for love of a God so loving. How many nobles, how many princes have left relatives, riches, homelands, and even kingdoms, to shut themselves in a cloister and live for the sole love of Jesus Christ! How many martyrs have sacrificed their lives for Him! How many young virgins, renouncing marriage with the great, went rejoicing to their death, to make thus some return to the love of a God who died for love of them! And you, my brother, what have you done so far for the love of Jesus Christ? Just as He died for the saints, for St. Lawrence, for St. Lucy, for St. Agnes, so He died also for you. At least, what do you intend to do with the life that remains to you, and that God grants you so that you may love Him? From today onward, often gaze upon the image of the Crucifix, and looking at it remember the love He bore you, and say within yourself: So You, my God, died for me? Do at least this (I say), and do it often; for in doing so, you will not be able to keep from feeling sweetly compelled to love a God who has loved you so much.
Affections and Prayers
Ah, my dear Redeemer, it is true: I have not loved You, because I have not thought of the love You bore me. Ah, my Jesus, I have been too ungrateful to You; You gave Your life for me by a death the most bitter of all deaths, and I could be so ungrateful that I did not even want to think of You? Forgive me; I promise You that from this day forward, my crucified love, You shall be the sole object of my thoughts and of all my affections. Ah, when the devil or the world presents me with some forbidden fruit, remind me, my beloved Savior, of the pains You suffered for love of me, so that I may love You and never offend You again. Ah, if a servant of mine had done for me what You have done, I would not have the heart to displease him. Yet so many times I have had the heart to turn my back on You, who died for me. O beautiful flames of love, you who compelled a God to give His life for me, come, inflame me, fill my whole heart, and destroy all my affections for created things. Ah, my beloved Redeemer, how is it possible that one who contemplates You — whether in the manger of Bethlehem, or on the cross on Calvary, or in the Sacrament on the altars — does not fall in love with You? My Jesus, I love You with all my soul. In the years of life that remain to me, You shall be my only good, my only love. Enough with the unhappy years I have miserably lived forgetful of Your passion and Your love. I give myself wholly to You, and if I do not know how to give myself as I ought, take me Yourself, and reign over my whole heart. «Adveniat regnum tuum» — "Your kingdom come." May it be servant of nothing but Your love; may it speak of nothing else, deal with nothing else, think of nothing else, long for nothing else than to love You and give You pleasure. Assist me always with Your grace, so that I may be faithful to You. In Your merits I trust, O my Jesus.
O Mother of beautiful love, make me love greatly this Son of Yours, who is so lovable and who has loved me so much.