AS THE FATHER LOVES
"Sicut dilexit me Pater, et ego dilexi vos;
manete in dilectione mea. ...
Hoc est praeceptum meum,
ut diligatis invicem,
sicut dilexi vos."
(Jn 15:9,12)
"But God, who is rich in mercy,
out of the great love with which he loved us,
even when we were dead through our trespasses,
made us alive together with Christ
(by grace you have been saved),
and raised us up with him,
and made us sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
that in the coming ages
he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace
in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus."
(Eph 2:4-7)
LOVE BOTH HUMAN AND DIVINE
"We are in love with Love.
That is why our Lord doesn't want us to be dry, stiff, lifeless.
he wants us to be steeped in his tenderness!"
(St Josemaria, TheForge 492)
HOLINESS AND CHARITY GO TOGETHER
"The holier a confessor is,
the gentler he will be.
Because he has a clear understanding of human weakness,
he will be less shocked by other people's faults."
(St John of the Cross)
LOVE DOES NOT TIRE
"When I am tired,
when I can do no more,
I think of my children
and of the souls that await us,
and I renew my effort in the interior life."
(St Josemaria)
DROWN EVIL OUT
"Do not be overcome by evil,
but overcome evil with good."
"Noli vinci a malo,
sed vince in bono malum."
(Rom 12:21)
We have to let God drown out the evil in us
so we can drown out the evil around us.
ST PAUL'S LITANY OF CHARITY--TIPS FOR EXAMINATION
"Caritas patiens est,
benigna est caritas,
non aemulatur,
non agit superbe,
non inflatur,
non est ambitiosa,
non quaerit, quae sua sunt,
non irritatur,
non cogitat malum,
non gaudet super iniquitatem,
congaudet autem veritati;
omnia suffert,
omnia credit,
omnia sperat,
omnia sustinet."
"Love is patient
and kind;
love is not jealous
or boastful;
it is not arrogant or rude.
Love does not insist on its own way;
it is not irritable
or resentful;
it does not rejoice at wrong,
but rejoices in the right.
Love bears all things,
believes all things,
hopes all things,
endures all things."
(I Cor 13:4-7)
LEARNING FROM THE MASTER
"Only in prayer,
and through prayer,
do we learn to serve others."
(St Josemaria, The Forge 72)
"I will not stop repeating it
until it is deeply engraved in your soul:
Piety, piety, piety!
For if you lack charity
it will be for want of interior life,
not for any defect of character."
(St Josemaria, The Forge 79)
THE WOMAN WHO HAS LOVED MOST
"Eia Mater, fons amoris
Me sentire vim doloris,
Fac ut tecum lugeam"
"O thou Mother! Fount of love,
Touch my spirit from above,
Make me with Thee mourn."
"Fac, ut ardeat cor meum
In amando Christum deum,
Ut sibi complaceam."
"Make me feel as thou hast felt
;
Make my soul to glow and melt
with the love of Christ, my Lord."
(Hymn Stabat Mater)