From The Confessions of St Augustine
All my hope lies in your great mercy
Where did I find you in order to make your acquaintance in the first place? You could not have been in my memory before I learned to know you. Where then could I have found you in order to learn of you, if not in yourself, far above me? “Place” has here no meaning: further away from you or toward you we may travel, but place there is none. O Truth, you hold sovereign sway over all who turn to you for counsel, and to all of them you respond at the same time, however diverse their pleas.
Clear is your response, but not all hear it clearly. They all appeal to you about what they want, but do not always hear what they want to hear. Your best servant is the one who is less intent on hearing from you what accords with his own will, and more on embracing with his will what he has heard from you.
Late have I loved you, Beauty so ancient and so new, late have I loved you!
Lo, you were within,
but I outside, seeking there for you,
and upon the shapely things you have made
I rushed headlong – I, misshapen.
You were with me, but I was not with you.
They held me back far from you,
those things which would have no being,
were they not in you.
You called, shouted, broke through my deafness;
you flared, blazed, banished my blindness;
you lavished your fragrance, I gasped; and now I pant for you;
I tasted you, and now I hunger and thirst;
you touched me, and I burned for your peace.
When at last I cling to you with my whole being there will be no more anguish or labour for me, and my life will be alive indeed, alive because filled with you. But now it is very different. Anyone whom you fill you also uplift; but I am not full of you, and so I am a burden to myself. Joys over which I ought to weep do battle with sorrows that should be matter for joy, and I do not know which will be victorious. But I also see griefs that are evil at war in me with joys that are good, and I do not know which will win the day. This is agony, Lord, have pity on me! It is agony! See, I do not hide my wounds; you are the physician and I am sick; you are merciful, I in need of mercy.
Is not human life on earth a time of testing? Who would choose troubles and hardships? You command us to endure them, but not to love them. No-one loves what he has to endure, even if he loves the endurance, for although he may rejoice in his power to endure, he would prefer to have nothing that demands endurance. In adverse circumstances I long for prosperity, and in times of prosperity I dread adversity. What middle ground is there, between these two, where human life might be free from trial? Woe betide worldly prosperity, and woe again, from fear of disaster and evanescent joy! But woe, woe, and woe again upon worldly adversity, from envy of better fortune, the hardship of adversity itself, and the fear that endurance may falter. Is not human life on earth a time of testing without respite?
On your exceedingly great mercy, and on that alone, rests all my hope.
聖思定懺悔錄 我的全部希望在於祢的大慈大 悲
我在哪裏找到了祢，而認識了 祢呢？因為在我認識祢之前， 我的記憶裏還沒有祢。除非在 祢內並超乎我，我還能在何處 找到祢，而認識祢呢？沒有一 處地方，我們接近祢或遠離祢 並不涉及任何地方。祢是真 理，無所不在，祢到處答覆詢 問祢的人們，並同時答覆所有 詢問不同問題的人。
祢的答覆是清晰的，然而並非 所有的人都聽得清楚。罪人都 詢問他們所願問的，却不會常 常聆聽他們所願意聽的答覆。 祢最好的僕人是這樣的，他不 大關心他所願意從祢那裏聽到 的話，而更關心祢願意他從祢 那裏聆聽的話。
我愛祢太晚了！祢這萬古常新 的美，我愛祢太晚了！請看， 祢曾在我內，而我却在外邊， 並在外邊尋找祢。醜陋的我投 身在祢所造的這些美物中。祢 曾和我在一起，我却沒有和祢 在一起。那些受造物使我遠離 祢，如果它們不在祢內，就絕 不會存在。你呼喚過我，也高 喊過並開啟我的耳聾。祢曾放 出光芒，照耀過我，驅除了我 的眼瞎。祢曾散發芬芳，我聞 到了，我現在渴望祢。我嘗到 了祢，現在我愛祢如飢似渴。 祢觸摸了我，我切望祢的和平 而心熱如焚。
當我整個與祢結合之後，我再 沒有痛苦和疲勞；我的生命將 富有活力，完全充滿了祢。現 在，因為祢充滿一個人時，祢 也減輕他的負擔；而我因為還 沒有充滿祢，我是我自己的一 個重擔。我所應哭泣的今世之 喜樂與我所應慶幸的今世之憂 傷互相衝突，我不知道勝利屬 於哪一方。
主啊，我是有禍的，可憐我 吧！我那些不對的憂傷，與我 那正當的喜樂互相衝突，我不 知道勝利屬於哪一方。主啊！ 我是有禍的，可憐我吧！我是 有禍的！請看，我不想掩飾我 的創傷；祢是醫生，我是病 人；祢是仁慈的，我是可憐 蟲！
難道「人生在世，不是一項考 驗嗎？」誰願意有煩惱和困難 呢？祢命令我們忍受，而不是 愛它們。誰也不會去愛那他所 忍受的──即使他可能愛這忍受 的行為本身。因為即使有人喜 歡忍受，他也寧願沒有什麼要 忍受的。在逆境中，我渴望順 境；在順境中，我畏懼逆境。 在這兩極端之間，是否有一中 間地帶，人生在哪裏不是一項 考驗呢？世俗的順境中難免一 而再地發生災禍：對逆境的畏 懼，歡樂的消失；世俗的逆境 也是一而再、再而三的災禍： 對順境的渴望，逆境本身的難 以忍受，並害怕痛苦會使之滅 頂。難道「人生在世，不是一 項不斷的考驗嗎？」
我的全部希望只在於祢的大慈 大悲。
Ex Confessiónum libris sancti Augustíni epíscopi
Tota spes mea in magna misericordia tua posita est
Ubi te invéni ut díscerem te? Neque enim iam eras in memória mea, priúsquam te díscerem. Ubi ergo te invéni, ut díscerem te, nisi in te supra me? Et nusquam locus, et recédimus et accédimus, et nusquam locus. Véritas, ubíque prǽsides ómnibus consuléntibus te simúlque respóndes ómnibus étiam divérsa consuléntibus.
Líquide tu respóndes, sed non líquide omnes áudiunt. Omnes unde volunt cónsulunt, sed non semper quod volunt áudiunt. Optimus miníster tuus est, qui non magis intuétur hoc a te audíre quod ipse volúerit, sed pótius hoc velle quod a te audíerit.
Sero te amávi, pulchritúdo tam antíqua et tam nova, sero te amávi! Et ecce intus eras et ego foris et ibi te quærébam et in ista formósa quæ fecísti, defórmis irruébam. Mecum eras, et tecum non eram. Ea me tenébant longe a te, quæ si in te non essent, non essent. Vocásti et clamásti et rupísti surditátem meam, coruscásti, splenduísti et fugásti cæcitátem meam, flagrásti, et duxi spíritum et anhélo tibi, gustávi et esúrio et sítio tetigísti me, et exársi in pacem tuam.
Cum inhǽsero tibi ex omni me, nusquam erit mihi dolor et labor, et viva erit vita mea tota plena te. Nunc autem quóniam quem tu imples, súblevas eum, quóniam tui plenus non sum, óneri mihi sum. Conténdunt lætítiæ meæ flendæ cum lætándis mæróribus, et ex qua parte stet victória néscio. Conténdunt mæróres mei mali cum gáudiis bonis, et ex qua parte stet victória néscio. Ei mihi! Dómine, miserére mei! Ei mihi! Ecce vúlnera mea non abscóndo: médicus es, æger sum; miséricors es, miser sum.
Numquid non tentátio est vita humána super terram? Quis velit moléstias et difficultátes? Tolerári iubes eas, non amári. Nemo quod tólerat amat, etsi toleráre amat. Quamvis enim gáudeat se toleráre, mavult tamen non esse quod tóleret. Próspera in advérsis desídero, advérsa in prósperis tímeo. Quis inter hæc médius locus, ubi non sit humána vita tentátio? Væ prosperitátibus sǽculi semel et íterum a timóre adversitátis et a corruptióne lætítiæ! Væ adversitátibus sǽculi semel et íterum et tértio a desidério prosperitátis et quia ipsa advérsitas dura est, et ne frangat tolerántiam! Numquid non tentátio est vita humána super terram sine ullo interstítio?
Et tota spes mea non nisi in magna valde misericórdia tua.
Late have I loved you
Love above all
Since my longing for martyrdom was powerful and unsettling, I turned to the epistles of St. Paul in the hope of finally finding an answer. By chance the 12th and 13th chapters of the 1st epistle to the Corinthians caught my attention, and in the first section I read that not everyone can be an apostle, prophet or teacher, that the Church is composed of a variety of members, and that the eye cannot be the hand. Even with such an answer revealed before me, I was not satisfied and did not find peace.
I persevered in the reading and did not let my mind wander until I found this encouraging theme: Set your desires on the greater gifts. And I will show you the way which surpasses all others. For the Apostle insists that the greater gifts are nothing at all without love and that this same love is surely the best path leading directly to God. At length I had found peace of mind.
When I had looked upon the mystical body of the Church, I recognised myself in none of the members which St. Paul described, and what is more, I desired to distinguish myself more favourably within the whole body. Love appeared to me to be the hinge for my vocation. Indeed I knew that the Church had a body composed of various members, but in this body the necessary and more noble member was not lacking; I knew that the Church had a heart and that such a heart appeared to be aflame with love. I knew that one love drove the members of the Church to action, that if this love were extinguished, the apostles would have proclaimed the Gospel no longer, the martyrs would have shed their blood no more. I saw and realised that love sets off the bounds of all vocations, that love is everything, that this same love embraces every time and every place. In one word, that love is everlasting.
Then, nearly ecstatic with the supreme joy in my soul, I proclaimed: O Jesus, my love, at last I have found my calling: my call is love. Certainly I have found my place in the Church, and you gave me that very place, my God. In the heart of the Church, my mother, I will be love, and thus I will be all things, as my desire finds its direction.
--St Therese of Lisieux, Autobiography
THE CROSS FROOM DIFFERENT ANGLES
Under the influence of fear, we bear the Cross of Christ with patience. Under the more inspiring influence of hope, we carry the Cross with a firm and valiant heart. But under the consuming power of love, we embrace the Cross with ardour.
(St Bernard of Clairvaux, Cistercian priest, Doctor of the Church, 1090-1153)
There is not one who does not love something, but the question is, what to love. The psalms do not tell us not to love, but to choose the object of our love. But how can we choose unless we are first chosen? We cannot love unless someone has loved us first. [Quia nec diligimus nisi prius diligamur.] Listen to the apostle John: We love him, because he first loved us. The source of man’s love for God can only be found in the fact that God loved him first. He has given us himself as the object of our love, and he has also given us its source. What this source is you may learn more clearly from the apostle Paul who tells us: The love of God has been poured into our hearts. This love is not something we generate ourselves; it comes to us through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
Since we have such an assurance, then, let us love God with the love he has given us.
(St Augustine, Sermon)
“He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life” (Jn 12:25). In other words, the one who wants to have his life for himself, living only for himself, keeping everything to himself and exploiting all its possibilities – is actually the one who loses his life. Life becomes boring and empty.
Only by self-abandonment, only by the disinterested gift of the “I” in favour of the “you”, only in the “yes” to the greater life, the life of God, does our life also become broad and great.
Thus this fundamental principle established by the Lord is ultimately identical to the principle of love. Love, in fact, means letting go of oneself, giving oneself, not wanting to possess oneself, but becoming free from oneself: not retiring into oneself – (what will become of me?) – but looking ahead, towards the other – towards God and towards the men that he sends to me. And once again, this principle of love, which defines man’s path, is identical to the mystery of the cross, to the mystery of death and resurrection that we encounter in Christ.
(Benedict XVI, Homily, Palm Sunday--24th World Youth Day, 5 April 2009)
The Perfection of Love
Taken from HOLY COMMUNION
by St. Peter Julian Eymard
(Imprimi Potest, Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur, 1940)
Suspectus est mihi amor cui aliud quid adispiscendi spes suffragari videtur. Amor habet praemium, sed id quod amatur. Praeter se non requirit causam, non fructum; amo quia amo; amo ut amem.
I distrust that love which seems to be sustained by the hope of obtaining some other reward. The reward of love is the object beloved. It needs no other cause and no other fruit itself; I love because I love; I love that I may love.
(Saint Bernard, 95th Sermon on Cant.)
I
THERE are two ways to love God. The first way is to love Him for oneself, because of His benefits and the reward He has prepared for us in Heaven. One loves oneself in God; this is love according to the law. It is good, very good, and it is the only love demanded from all of us by the first commandment. Strictly speaking, no more can be exacted from us; possessing it, we are saved. This love glorifies the goodness, the generosity, the munificence of God toward us.
But certain souls to whom God has accorded special favors owe in return a greater debt of gratitude. He has showered graces upon you; He has not given you a mere sufficiency, but a superabundance. In you turn, be not content to be day-laborers, domestics, mercenaries; the graces you have received entitle you to be a child of the family, and the child does not work for gain but for love. Its law is love, and love knows no bounds. "The measure of loving God is to love Him without measure," says Saint Bernard. Modum esse diligendi Deum sine modo diligere.[1] Certainly God has placed no obligation upon us in this regard, but that is because He wishes to grant us the happiness of giving more than He demands. If God is obliged to order us to love Him, why, He shames us! What! Must He say to us, who are intelligent creatures, loaded with His gifts, and well aware of His boundless love for us, must He say to us: "You shall love Me more than creatures, more than gold, more than pleasure, and in exchange for this love I will bring you to My paradise!" Alas, not even this love does God receive from man!
But shall we, whom the good God calls to Him as His friends, be content to give only that much? No, no, God is generous toward us in order that we may be so toward Him. He gives us free scope; let us love Him all we can. Such liberty impels us to heroic love; we wish to surprise Him and please Him, and we do much more than if we acted under orders. Now to us God has said: Sponsabo te mihi in sempiternum.[2] ---- "I will espouse you to Me forever ." And the spouse must give herself wholly to the Bridegroom; for Him she must lose all, leave all, country, parents, family, even her name and individuality. Erunt duo in carne una.[3] ----"They shall be two in one flesh."
"My God, I love Thee for Thyself, and for Thyself alone!" So speaks the pure love of God. This does not exclude Heaven and the hope thereof, but we do not make that our habitual and predominant motive. We know that God will be good and generous to us if we are so toward Him. Yet we say, too: "Even though there were no Heaven to reward my love ---- and that is impossible! ---- I should love Thee all the same, O my God, because, of Thyself, Thou deservest my whole love. My reward is to love Thee. Fructus ejus, usus ejus.[4] ---- Whatever I do, I shall do from love of Thee, to show my love of Thee."
And what is that for a God Who loves us so greatly? Nothing much! We do as much in our earthly affections. Consider the poor children of Paris who work all day long in factories from their tenderest years. They sacrifice themselves for their needy parents, and it seems to them a very simple thing. Their attention is fixed on love, and they are not concerned with what it costs them. Their love is their reward. Amor habet praemium, sed id quod amatur. ---- "The reward of love is the object beloved." Shall we not do as much for God? Shall we give more devotion to our earthly father than to our Father in Heaven? But you also, fathers and mothers, have sacrificed yourselves in the same way for the good of your children, and for them alone! Indeed, everybody does the like. An accident happens to some person in the street, and you run to his aid, though you do not know him and expect not the least reward. Well, then, when God is blasphemed, and Jesus Christ suffers His Passion over again, why do you not suffer for Him? Why do you not sacrifice yourself for His glory?
Let no one say: "I can not reach such heights." The heart's first need is to give more than it is obliged to give. The devil often advises us not to try to practice this devoted love. "It is all right for great Saints," he whispers in our ear, "but it would be pride in you to number yourself with them."
But it is not a matter of pride! Love without calculation, and rest assured that the more you love in that way, the more clearly you will realize your nothingness and the sanctity and majesty of God,
How illogical people are! One hears continually: "I just want to stay at our Lord's feet; I am unworthy of a higher place!" At our Lord's feet, you say? But that is the holy Virgin's place! Do you think you are worthy of it?
Do not be guided so much by what you have a right to, or by what you deserve, but think rather: "I have not done enough; I must do more and more every day!" No one here on earth deserves to be loved for himself alone, but only as he bears the impress of God's likeness. But God is our supreme goal and deserves to be loved for Himself; He is Sanctity, uncreated and infinite Love. Know Him and love Him as you may, ever more and more, still you will never succeed in loving Him as He deserves. One who is given to prayer grows continually in love because he comprehends better what God is. He comes to love Him through Jesus Christ Himself, Who inspires his love and clothes it with His infinite merits. He comes to love God with a love in some sort infinite, a love that can not be worthily recompensed except by an infinite and eternal reward. It is Jesus Who loves in him.
Love, therefore! Give constantly without being afraid our Lord has had enough. He places no limits to the love to which He calls His friends: "Love Me as My Father hath loved Me and as I love you. Live and abide in the infinite love with which I love My Father." Oh, let us, then, love God for Himself because of His transcendent goodness, because He deserves it, and let us make this love the guiding and ruling motive of our life!
II
TO THAT end, first of all, do everything for the glory of God, paying Him homage for all that is good in you and in your works. Why this sacrifice? To give thanks to the Divine Goodness and glorify God's love. Make this acknowledgment of His goodness frequently; praise Him and thank Him again and again; exalt Him not so much for what He is to give you hereafter, but because He is good, holy, and happy in Himself, because He makes known to you His goodness and happiness, and graciously manifests Himself to you.
Secondly, let His will be the sovereign guide of all your actions. In every thing that happens, say without hesitation or regret: "It is God's will, and therefore mine. His will is the expression of His goodness toward me." Discharge all your duties with this thought in mind. Why does God will one thing instead of another? That does not trouble me; to ask Him would show a lack of respect and confidence. Is He not Goodness and Wisdom? Does He not wish my good and His Own glory? Is there anything that is not foreseen by Him? To wish to know the motives of the Divine will is, in effect, to obey only one's own will.
It is enough for you to know God wills a certain thing: nothing else need concern you. But that is hard! What of it? It is the concern of the good God. It is Thy will, my God! That is enough: the rest will take care of itself.
This is blind and passive obedience; we obey for no other reason than that God is our Master. Our Lord acted in the same way all His life. "I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do. ... I do nothing of Myself, but as the Father hath taught Me, these things I speak."[5] He came down to earth, not of Himself but sent by His Father, to do in all things, freely and lovingly, His holy will.
How shall you know the will of God? In the first place, you have your duties to perform, all the duties of your state of life, whatever they may be. When duty is silent, in your moments of leisure, you will do even more if you love God; you will do what will please Him most. The loving soul says: "I wish to love God more than myself. Of two acts that bring me to Him, one is harder for me but more pleasing to our Lord; so I will do that." And there is no inward struggle, no hesitation. Such a soul wishes beforehand, in all things, to do what pleases God most. He who gives reluctantly has not true family spirit. Hilarem datorem diligit Deus.[6] ---- "God loveth a cheerful giver." If you do what pleases you most and costs you least, you are satisfying your own self-love. Nothing is too hard for the soul that loves. When it costs you dear to give a certain gift to God, it would be better not to give it than to give unwillingly. I am not speaking here of the carnal nature of man. It is always complaining and must complain, for you are torturing it by depriving it of all it desires. Let it cry out, therefore. But the superior will, the spiritual man, must give without regret. How many difficult sacrifices we make in the natural life! And we make them without reproaching those who ask them of us. Surely, God deserves that we act toward Him with the same generosity!
Finally, the loving soul is able to put all its love into acts that call for sacrifice. Herein lies the very perfection of love. Heretofore, the soul, though it did not seek itself, still found itself. For to work for the glory of God is heartening and consoling. And there is happiness in submitting our will to God's will. It gives us a feeling of safety, and we go on our way untroubled, filled with a Divine peace. Close conformity to the will of God appeases the curiosity of the mind, tranquilizes the affections of the heart, even quiets the senses. We may suffer momentarily from one thing or another, but peace really reigns inwardly, for there is war only where God is not in command.
But now, pure love finds its exercise in acts of immolation. The basic principle is that pure love is born only from the sacrifice of the entire self in all things; voluntary sacrifice and suffering are its essence. Our Lord expressed the same thing in these words: "Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends."[7]
When the soul has given itself up to God, He makes it suffer, and will make it suffer constantly. This will be hard! In order to take complete possession of the soul, God annihilates it, as it were, and takes its place. And as it is continually assailed by the temptation to find itself again, God gives combat, makes it suffer; He effaces the spirit, stifles the heart.
When the spirit will not surrender unconditionally, God plunges it into darkness, into temptations against faith, and hope, and confidence. All peace is lost until the mind surrenders and totally renounces its own lights. Against such a state, the director can do nothing. He reasons; he discourses on the goodness of God, which the soul, alas, can no longer see. It is terrified by the past and trembles for the present. What is to be done? Accept everything. God wills this state for you and does not tell you why. He is waiting for you to say to Him: "I am nothing but sin; I give myself up to Thee; do with me as Thou wilt. Thou desirest me to suffer inner turmoil and torture? Very well; that is my desire, too. Unable to see any good actions to offer Thee, I shall bring to Thee the misery Thou showest me. Though I shall not love my misery, nevertheless I shall glorify Thee by it." And the good God is still with you at that very moment. He wishes you to be like this; what does anything else matter? Above all, do not examine your state too closely, thinking God is abandoning you, wondering what will become of you; you might lose your mind. God wants to know whether you love Him more than your own will, spiritualized though it be. So be at peace. Even tormented as you are, you glorify Him. And do you desire any other thing than His glory?
And your heart, so tender by nature! Awhile ago it was in paradise; now it is cold and suffering. It will seem like blasphemy to say, "My God, I love Thee!" What shall you do? Will you reason with your heart, force it? That will but serve to aggravate your trouble. Then say to God: "When I felt the sweetness of love for Thee, O my God, I was very happy. Now I am in a land of desolation, where no water is. But oh, I will love Thee more than I love the sweetness of Thy love! My heart tells me I do not love Thee; but I will love Thee in spite of my heart. I will love Thee with my will!"
God sends these terrible trials upon every soul He wishes to draw to Himself, and He does it not for Himself, but to help us win greater merit. He loves to see us increase in merit and in glory: therefore He makes us suffer. You will know this state comes from God if it persists in spite of all the means you employ against it. Then you must say to God: "Thou wilt have me to love Thee more than my entire spiritual life? So be it. I will let myself be buried alive!" We must come to this if we wish to be united to God. He wants gold, not earth nor alloy. Union with God is welded in fire. When God brings the soul to this way of life, it acquires an incredible inner liberty, a liberty independent of every religious practice, of every particular religious state. Its state is its life. Who, then, can bring the soul out of a state to which it has been brought by God Himself?
"What!" you say. "Deprive oneself of all action, of all initiative? Why, one would become stupid!" No, it is God's way with chosen souls. Does He not give them all possible love? Be content to love yourself as God loves you and entrust yourself wholly to Him.
Say to Him with Saint Bonaventure: "I know Thou lovest me more than I can love myself;
therefore I will give no thought to myself any more; I will occupy my thoughts entirely with Thee" ---- Scio quia plus quam ego me diligis. De me igitur amplius non curabo, sed solum tuis deliciis inhaerebo: et tu mei curam habeto."[8]
1. On the love God, Ch. VI.
2. Osee 2:19.
3. Gen. 2:24.
4. Saint Bernard, 83rd Sermon.
5. John 17:4; 8:28.
6. 2 Cor. 9:7.
7. John 15:13.
8. Stimulus amoris.
(Source: http://www.catholictradition.org/Christ/perfection-love.htm)
My God, I love Thee; not because
I hope for Heav’n thereby,
Nor yet because who love Thee not
May eternally die.
Thou, O my Jesus, Thou didst me
Upon the cross embrace;
For me didst bear the nails and spear,
And manifold disgrace.
And griefs and torments numberless,
And sweat of agony;
E’en death itself; and all for man
Who was Thine enemy.
Then why, O blessèd Jesus Christ
Should I not love Thee well?
Not for the hope of winning Heaven,
Nor of escaping hell.
Not with the hope of gaining aught,
Nor seeking a reward,
But as Thyself hast lovèd me,
O everlasting Lord!
E’en so I love Thee, and will love,
And in Thy praise will sing,
Solely because Thou art my God,
And my eternal King.
(http://nethymnal.org/htm/m/y/mygodilt.htm)
(Other English translations here: http://users.ipfw.edu/jehle/poesia/ACRISTEN.HTM)
No me mueve, mi Dios, para quererte
el cielo que me tienes prometido,
ni me mueve el infierno tan temido
para dejar por eso de ofenderte.
Tú me mueves, Señor, muéveme el verte
clavado en una cruz y escarnecido,
muéveme ver tu cuerpo tan herido,
muévenme tus afrentas y tu muerte.
Muéveme, en fin, tu amor, y en tal manera,
que aunque no hubiera cielo, yo te amara,
y aunque no hubiera infierno, te temiera.
No me tienes que dar porque te quiera,
pues aunque lo que espero no esperara,
lo mismo que te quiero te quisiera.
(http://www.franciscanos.org/oracion/nomemueve.html)
(Words: Author unknown (O Deus, ego amo te); translated from Latin to English by Edward Caswall, Lyra Catholica, 1849. The original is reportedly a Spanish sonnet which begins, No me mueve, mi Dios, para quererte; it appeared in Diepenbrock’s Geistlicher Blumenstrauss (1829), attributed to Francis Xavier. It also appeared in the Poesias of Teresa de Je sus (1515-1582), showing her as the author, but was not in in her Libros (Lisbon: 1616), Obras (Lis bon: 1654), or Opera (Köln, Germany: 1686). Julian believed the Latin form was probably by Xavier or by a German Jesuit. A translation of the Latin lyrics was published in 1668 in Heilige Seelenlust, by Johann Scheffler, crediting Xavier as the author. Source: http://nethymnal.org/htm/m/y/mygodilt.htm)
Longing to see God
E libro «Proslógion» sancti Ansélmi epíscopi
(Cap. 1: Opera omnia, Edit. Schmitt, Seccovii, 1938, 1, 97-100)
|
Desiderium contemplandi Deum
|
One way of doing things as God wishes is to do them in charity. (…) But do you know what I mean by doing things in charity? It means to do things in God, for God is charity; quite simply, to do them for God; it means doing them in God's grace, for sin separates us from the charity of God. [p. 77]
(St Vincent de Paul. From Jacques Delarue, The Holiness of Vincent de Paul, Geoffrey Chapman Ltd, London 1960, 132 pp)
Effúndam super vos aquam mundam, et mundabímini ab ómnibus inquinaméntis vestris, et ab univérsis idólis vestris mundábo vos. Et dabo vobis cor novum et spíritum novum ponam in médio vestri et áuferam cor lapídeum de carne vestra et dabo vobis cor cárneum; et spíritum meum ponam in médio vestri et fáciam, ut in præcéptis meis ambulétis et iudícia mea custodiátis et operémini.
I shall pour clean water over you and you will be cleansed; I shall cleanse you of all your defilement and all your idols. I shall give you a new heart, and put a new spirit in you; I shall remove the heart of stone from your bodies and give you a heart of flesh instead. I shall put my spirit in you, and make you keep my laws and sincerely respect my observances.
(Ezekiel 36:25 - 27)
Sero te amávi, pulchritúdo tam antíqua et tam nova, sero te amávi!
Et ecce intus eras
et ego foris et ibi te quærébam
et in ista formósa quæ fecísti,
defórmis irruébam.
Mecum eras, et tecum non eram.
Ea me tenébant longe a te,
quæ si in te non essent, non essent.
Vocásti et clamásti et rupísti surditátem meam,
coruscásti, splenduísti et fugásti cæcitátem meam,
flagrásti, et duxi spíritum et anhélo tibi,
gustávi et esúrio et sítio.
Tetigísti me, et exársi in pacem tuam.
Late have I loved you, Beauty so ancient and so new, late have I loved you!
Lo, you were within,
but I outside, seeking there for you,
and upon the shapely things you have made
I rushed headlong – I, misshapen.
You were with me, but I was not with you.
They held me back far from you,
those things which would have no being,
were they not in you.
You called, shouted, broke through my deafness;
you flared, blazed, banished my blindness;
you lavished your fragrance, I gasped; and now I pant for you;
I tasted you, and now I hunger and thirst;
you touched me, and I burned for your peace.
(St Augustine, Confessions, Bk 10)
Let us sing to the Lord a song of love
Sing to the Lord a new song; his praise is in the assembly of the saints. We are urged to sing a new song to the Lord, as new men who have learned a new song. A song is a thing of joy; more profoundly, it is a thing of love. Anyone, therefore, who has learned to love the new life has learned to sing a new song, and the new song reminds us of our new life. The new man, the new song, the new covenant, all belong to the one kingdom of God, and so the new man will sing a new song and will belong to the new covenant.
There is not one who does not love something, but the question is, what to love. The psalms do not tell us not to love, but to choose the object of our love. But how can we choose unless we are first chosen? We cannot love unless someone has loved us first. [Quia nec dilígimus, nisi prius diligámur.] Listen to the apostle John: We love him, because he first loved us. The source of man’s love for God can only be found in the fact that God loved him first. He has given us himself as the object of our love, and he has also given us its source. What this source is you may learn more clearly from the apostle Paul who tells us: The love of God has been poured into our hearts. This love is not something we generate ourselves; it comes to us through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
Since we have such an assurance, then, let us love God with the love he has given us. As John tells us more fully: God is love, and whoever dwells in love dwells in God, and God in him. It is not enough to say: Love is from God. Which of us would dare to pronounce the words of Scripture: God is love? He alone could say it who knew what it was to have God dwelling within him. God offers us a short route to the possession of himself. He cries out: Love me and you will have me for you would be unable to love me if you did not possess me already.
My dear brothers and sons, fruit of the true faith and holy seed of heaven, all you who have been born again in Christ and whose life is from above, listen to me; or rather, listen to the Holy Spirit saying through me: Sing to the Lord a new song. Look, you tell me, I am singing. Yes indeed, you are singing; you are singing clearly, I can hear you. But make sure that your life does not contradict your words. Sing with your voices, your hearts, your lips and your lives [Cantáte vócibus, cantáte córdibus, cantate óribus, cantáte móribus]: Sing to the Lord a new song’.
Now it is your unquestioned desire to sing of him whom you love, but you ask me how to sing his praises. You have heard the words: Sing to the Lord a new song, and you wish to know what praises to sing. The answer is: His praise is in the assembly of the saints; it is in the singers themselves. If you desire to praise him, then live what you express [vos estóte quod dicátis]. Live good lives, and you yourselves will be his praise [Laus ipsíus estis, si bene vivátis].
(St Augustine, Sermon 34:1-3,5-6; CCL 41, 424-426)
Hold fast to God, the one true good
Where a man’s heart is, there is his treasure also. God is not accustomed to refusing a good gift to those who ask for one. Since he is good, and especially to those who are faithful to him, let us hold fast to him with all our soul, our heart, our strength, and so enjoy his light and see his glory and possess the grace of supernatural joy. Let us reach out with our hearts to possess that good, let us exist in it and live in it, let us hold fast to it, that good which is beyond all we can know or see and is marked by perpetual peace and tranquillity, a peace which is beyond all we can know or understand.
This is the good that permeates creation. In it we all live, on it we all depend. It has nothing above it; it is divine. No one is good but God alone. What is good is therefore divine, what is divine is therefore good. Scripture says: When you open your hand all things will be filled with goodness. It is through God’s goodness that all that is truly good is given us, and in it there is no admixture of evil.
These good things are promised by Scripture to those who are faithful: The good things of the land will be your food.
...
Let us take refuge from this world. You can do this in spirit, even if you are kept here in the body. You can at the same time be here and present to the Lord. Your soul must hold fast to him, you must follow after him in your thoughts, you must tread his ways by faith, not in outward show. You must take refuge in him. He is your refuge and your strength. David addresses him in these words: I fled to you for refuge, and I was not disappointed.
Since God is our refuge, God who is in heaven and above the heavens, we must take refuge from this world in that place where there is peace, where there is rest from toil, where we can celebrate the great sabbath, as Moses said: The sabbaths of the land will provide you with food. To rest in the Lord and to see his joy is like a banquet, and full of gladness and tranquillity.
Let us take refuge like deer beside the fountain of waters. Let our soul thirst, as David thirsted, for the fountain. What is that fountain? Listen to David: With you is the fountain of life. Let my soul say to this fountain: When shall I come and see you face to face? For the fountain is God himself.
(Saint Ambrose, bishop. From the Treatise on Flight from the World)
O Jesus, only love of my heart,
I wish to suffer what I suffer
and all Thou wilt have me suffer,
for Thy pure love
not because of the merits I may acquire,
nor for the rewards Thou hast promised me
but only to please Thee,
to praise Thee,
to bless Thee as well in sorrow as in joy.
(Blessed Mother Teresa, Come Be My Light, p 124)
I beg you, most loving Savior,
to reveal yourself to us who beseech you,
so that knowing you, we may love you only,
love you alone,
desire you alone,
contemplate you alone by day and night,
and ever hold you in our thoughts.
May your charity possess all our inward parts,
and your love own us all,
and may your affection fill our senses.
(St Columban)
Why must we give ourselves fully to God? Because God has given Himself to us. If God who owes nothing to us is ready to impart to us no less than Himself, shall we answer with just a fraction of ourselves? To give ourselves fully to God is a means of receiving God Himself. I for God and God for me. I live for God and give up my own self, and in this way induce God to live for me. Therefore to possess God we must allow Him to possess our soul.
(Blessed Mother Teresa, The Private Writings of the "Saint of Calcutta")