PRAYERS TO OUR LADY

" I BELIEVE IN LOVE" Day Two, Part Two---Love for Love

Excerpts from the book “I believe in love”.

By Father Jean C.J. d’Elbee

DAY 2

PART TWO

LOVE FOR LOVE

IN OUR TIME, WHEN HATRED IS SPREADING IN THE WORLD IN A TERRIFYING WAY, WE MUST WITHSTAND ITS ASSAULTS, ITS INUNDATING WAVES, WITH A RAMPART OF LOVE. IN THE FACE OF COMMUNISM, NEO PAGANISM, MATERIALISM, MODERNISM, GOVERNMENTS WITHOUT GOD, WHAT CAN WE, “THE LITTLE FLOCK” DO IN OUR WEAKNESS (AND SMALLNESS)? WE HAVE ALL THE POWER OF LOVE AT OUR DISPOSAL, THE OMNIPOTENCE OF JESUS WHO SAID “ HAVE CONFIDENCE, I HAVE OVERCOME THE WORLD”. THE VICTORY DEPENDS ON OUR FAITH IN HIM, ON OUR HOPE, ON OUR CHARITY.

I WANT TO PUT YOU ON GUARD RIGHT NOW AGAINST THE DANGER OF SENSIBLE LOVE.

HOW OFTEN I HAVE HEARD THE OBJECTION, “I TELL JESUS I LOVE HIM, BUT I DON’T FEEL IT. IT SEEMS TO ME I AM NOT BEING SINCERE.”

NOT TO DOUBT THAT YOU LOVE HIM WHEN YOU FEEL COLD AND ARID DEMANDS GREAT FAITH, THE FORGETTING OF YOURSELF, AND A TRUE UNDERSTANDING OF SANCTITY.

THE GREATEST SAINTS PASSED THROUGH THE DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL, PAINFUL PERIODS OF DRYNESS. YET IN THOSE HOURS OF PURIFICATION THEY LOVED.

LOVE IS NOT SENSIBLE PIETY. NEVER FORGET THIS DISTINCTION. HOLINESS IS A DISPOSITION OF THE SOUL, OF THE HEART, AND, ABOVE ALL, OF THE WILL, TOWARD GOD; THE SENSE MAY PLAY A ROLE BUT THAT IS NOT NECESSARY.

LITTLE THERESE WRITES THAT DRYNESS WAS HER DAILY BREAD, BUT THAT SHE WAS NEVERTHELESS THE HAPPIEST OF CREATURES. SHE DEFINED SANCTITY AS “A DISPOSITION OF THE HEART WHICH MAKES US HUMBLE AND SMALL IN THE ARMS OF GOD, CONSCIENCE OF OUR WEAKNESS, AND CONFIDENT TO THE POINT OF AUDACITY IN THE GOODNESS OF OUR FATHER”.

LOVE IS THE UNITING OF OUR WILL TO THE WILL OF GOD. IT IS ABANDONING OURSELVES TOTALLY INTO HIS HANDS, AS A HABITUAL DISPOSITION, EVEN IF WE FEEL NOTHING. WHEN JESUS SEES THIS DISPOSITION IN OUR HEARTS, HE LOOKS ON US AS HIS CHERISHED CHILDREN.

IS NOT A FATHER VERY INDULGENT TOWARD HIS CHILD? HE FINDS EXCUSES FOR HIS CHILD'S FAILINGS AND HE ADMIRES THE LEAST OF HIS GOOD QUALITIES. JESUS IS LIKE THIS WITH THOSE WHO ARE HIS CHILDREN, BECAUSE THEY SINCERELY WANT TO BE SUCH.

OH HOW I WOULD LOVE IT IF AT THE END OF THIS CONFERENCE AND, EVEN MORE, AT THE END OF THIS RETREAT YOU WERE ABLE TO CRY OUT WITH THE PSALMIST, “LORD, YOU HAVE OPENED MY HEART, AND I RUN IN THE WAY OF YOUR COMMANDMENTS.