The love love of God lies in the grace-aided will

Gethsemani

"It would also be a grievous error to conceive the love of God as anything which essentially involves sense-emotion or feeling. The love love of God lies in the grace-aided will; it presupposes and the intellect insofar as the will needs its cooperation to love, for the will is a blind faculty; but in practice one need only attend to the will. A very high degree of love of God is quite compatible with an absence of any feeling of emotion, and even with the presence of a feeling of distaste for the service of God. We have only to remember our Lord's prayer in the Agony at Gethsemani to realize that. In fact, if one is going to achieve the heights of the spiritual life, it is necessary to pass through a stage where one's apparent spiritual activity is reduced to a dry act of willingness to conform one's self to God's Will, in the darkness of a sheer decision to believe in God without light of any sort. This does not mean that the emotions have not their part to play in the spiritual life. On the contrary, they can be a most effective aid to the real agent, which is the will working by faith."

The bond of all perfection is love

"On the cross, Christ 'summed up' in one sacrificial act His whole life and His whole love. In His life and death, He 'sums up' the whole life and destiny of His Church, and also the whole life and death of each member of that Church. There is, of course, individual diversity between the members but there is also a fundamental unity of pattern. To see it, one must first look below the surface of the individuating differences to observe the common pattern, and then stand back far enough from the complete unity to see it as a whole; for unless something of the consummation be glimpsed, there is difficulty in seeing the full significance of the individual destiny and of the common bond.

For the common bond - the bond of all perfection - is love, and the magnificence of the whole is the unity of love. The model according to which the whole is designed is the Blessed Trinity itself - that they may be one as we also are one. And the final consummation and achievement of the whole is summed up one one daring pregnant phrase of St Augustine: And there shall be one Christ loving Himself. For 'no one can love the Father unless he love the Son and he who loves the Son... loves also the members of the Son. And by loving he too becomes a member; through love he enters into the unity of the Body of Christ - and there shall be one Christ loving Himself - for when the members love one another, the body loves itself.'"

-- This Tremendous Lover by Fr Eugene M Boylan, ocso

I have but one desire: to see Thee reigning in me

"My Good Master... I have but one desire; it is to see Thee reigning in this being which Thou has given me and always more and more that this breath of my soul, which is part of God, remain pure with a divine purity, and that my body might be animated by Him to a completely spiritual life."


-- The Life of Gabrielle Lefebvre by Fr Le Crom




** Painting titled The Soul Guided by Christ by Francisco Martínez, photo © Michel Zabé

That this love may be so strong that never will anything stop it

"It would only be right, O my God, that each minute, each second, I should say to Thee without ceasing, O my Jesus I love Thee, and that thus I may fill, day and night, the emptiness and the fullness of my heart. But, alas, O my Jesus, my poor human nature hinders me from carrying out this incessant act of love. So condescend to consider, I beseech Thee, each word, each movement, each breath, as so many acts of love, which, beating in unison with Thy Heart, extending Thy reign, sanctifying Thy Name, they may be steps which lead me to Thee and make me taste the joys of the children of God.... That this love may be so strong that never will anything stop it, and that I may be able to cry, 'I have no longer anything, anything which has not been given.'"

-- The Life of Gabrielle Lefebvre by Fr Le Crom

I wish to be inflamed with a supreme love for You

“Ah, how great is your goodness my Jesus!  Although I have so deeply offended You, You still wish to clothe Yourself with human flesh, and to take on Yourself all my sins, in order to obtain their pardon for me.  I deserved to see You sitting in the tribunal of Divine Justice, as a judge angered against one capable of so many failings; and behold!  I find You, instead, in the bosom of Mary, a Savior full of indulgence for my sins.  O Lamb of God!  How efficacious the sweetness of Your love should be in softening the hardness of my heart!  I am more sorry for my sins than for any other evil.  I detest them with all my strength, because they are opposed to Your infinite bounty.  You deserve to be loved above any other good, O Divine Infant.  I wish to be inflamed with a supreme love for You, that I may have a true sorrow for my sins.  Deign to imprint on my heart such repentance that I may prefer to die rather than ever to offend You again.

            Holy Spirit, to You I have recourse; with the help of Your grace I firmly resolve never again to offend my Savior.” 

-- Bl Mary of the Angels, ocd

You greater than all the treasures of the earth

".....Oh Jesus, I see You greater than all the treasures of the earth. Yes, my sweetest God, my most lovable Jesus: to my eyes You are greater than the greatest treasures on earth. How gladly I would unite with Your Angels! How gladly I would be consumed in Your praises! How gladly I would remain always before You! But what do I say when I speak of You? ... I say what I can, never what I ought. And if I do not know how ... will I stay silent? No, because my Jesus must be loved, honored by everyone! ... Do not look at what I say with my mind, look inside of me."


-- Words of St Gemma Galgani during an ecstasy

Teach me how to praise Thee worthily

""Praise the Lord, O my soul, in my life I will praise the Lord; I will sing to my God as long as I shall be."[13] Who will grant, O God, to my full heart to fulfill before my death its desire for Thy praise? Who will grant me worthily to praise, in my day, the beloved Lord whom my soul loveth?

Ah, tender Lord, would that there issued from my heart as many sweet tones as ever have issued from sweet harpings, as many as there are leaves and blades of grass, would that they were all addressed on high to Thee in Thy heavenly court, so that a song of such a delightful and unheard of praise might burst from my heart, as would be pleasing to the eyes of my Lord, and full of joy to all the heavenly host!

Ah, beloved Lord, although I am not worthy to praise Thee, still my soul desires that the heavens should praise Thee, when, in their ravishing beauty and sublime splendour they are lit up with the multitude of glittering stars; and the fair delightful meadow, when, in all the bliss of summer it glistens afresh in blithesome beauty, in manifold flowery adornment; and all the sweet thoughts and fervent desires that ever a pure and affectionate heart conceived for Thee when it was encompassed by the refreshing summer delights of Thy illuminating Spirit.

Lord, when I but think of Thy high praise, my heart is ready to melt in my breast, my thoughts wander from me, speech fails me, and all knowledge escapes me. Something shines in my heart beyond the power of words, when I will needs praise Thee, O infinite Good; for, if I take the fairest creatures, the most exalted spirits, the purest beings, Thou yet surpassest them all unspeakably. If I enter the deep abyss of Thy goodness, there all praise disappears in its own littleness.

Lord, when I behold living forms of beauty, creatures gentle and engaging, they say to my heart: Oh, see how right gracious He is from whom we emanate, from whom all that is beautiful has issued! If I traverse heaven and earth, the universe and the abyss, wood and grove, mountain and valley, lo! they one and all fill my ears with a rich canticle of Thy unfathomable praise. Then, when I mark with what infinite beauty and harmony Thou orderest all things, both evil and good, I am dumb and speechless.

But, Lord, when I remember that Thou Thyself art this praiseworthy good which my soul has chosen out solely for herself, as her one only and undivided love, my heart, for praise, is like to burst within me, and to cease its throbbings. Oh, tender Lord, have regard, therefore, for the great and ardent desire of my heart and soul, and teach me how to praise Thee worthily, and how to serve Thee acceptably before I depart hence, for this is what my soul thirsts after in my body."

-- A little book of eternal wisdom by Bl Henry Suso, op

How well do we know Him?

"My concern with the Gospels is to see the Face which through all the centuries has looked out from them upon men. The object is not to prove something but to meet someone--that we should know Christ Jesus, know him as one person may know another. As Christians we love him, try to live by his law, would think it a glory to die for him. But how well do we know him?"

-- To Know Christ Jesus by Frank Sheed

Let us do everything we can to grow in holiness and to unite ourselves with Him

"Saint John tells us that God has given us a commandment; and the commandment, he tells us, is that we are to believe in the Name of His Son Jesus Christ and to love one another just as He commanded us. When we look at the commandment of Christ, it is to love one another as we have been loved by Him, which means to love in a self-sacrificing manner, to look at the crucifix and to be able to see how He loved us. Of course, in this holy season, we can also look at the manger and be able to see once again the way that He loved us. He gave everything; He sacrificed it all for us. He was willing to come into this world as one of us, to be born in the most humble of conditions, and to die in the most humble of conditions.

So when we consider His love for us and that we are first and foremost to believe in Him, which is the first critical point, it is to believe as we have spoken many times not only in Who He is but in what He is all about. That is, it is not enough to believe at an arm’s distance and say, “Well, I guess I can believe that Jesus is God.” So what? What difference does that make in our lives? We have to remember, as Saint James makes very clear, that even the devils believe and they tremble, but that does not get them out of hell. And so to believe in the Name of God’s only Son is to believe in the fullness of the Person of Jesus Christ – that He is the fullness of truth, that He is the way, that He is the life – and then we are to love as He has commanded us to love, which is to love one another and to love Him as He has loved us, to give ourselves entirely as He has given Himself to us, which is really the same thing as saying to believe wholly in Who He is, to have faith in Him, because to have that faith in Him is to believe everything that He is and that He teaches.

On one level, it is as simple as can be. He is not asking anything that is beyond our ability to do, but what He is asking, because of our sinful nature, is fairly heroic on our part. To die to self does not come naturally to any one of us; to live for others is not an easy thing for us either. In fact, even as much as we try sometimes to live for others, if we really dissect things that we do, we are probably going to find that in our attempt to live for others we are really seeking the self anyway. Somewhere underneath there, there is almost always going to be some element of selfishness. And so we realize that we are not loving the way that we have been commanded to love. It is to get the self out of the way and to be able to put ourselves at the service of others, to spend our lives for others, or, as Saint Paul says, “to be poured out like a libation” so that nothing is left of the self. When nothing is left of the self then it can be filled up with Jesus Himself, and then we can truly live the life of Christ.

That is possible only when we are already striving to live the life of Christ, that is, doing everything we can to grow in holiness and to unite ourselves with Him so that He can live in us and through us. It is to try to get ourselves out of the way and to love Him, first and foremost; and then, flowing from our love for Him, to love one another. That is our call. That is the commandment that Our Lord has given us and it is reiterated here by Saint John. It is made exceedingly clear for us. When it all boils down, it is two things: Believe in Jesus Christ, that is, the fullness of Jesus Christ (that includes the Church He founded and all that She teaches, because the Church is Jesus Christ) and love. That is all it comes down to. Or, Saint Augustine makes it even more easy as he says, “Love, and do what you will,” because love never does what is wrong. Love always seeks the truth and it always seeks what is best. Therefore, if we just simply focus on the love, to love as we have been loved, everything else will fall into place. But it still means to get the self out of the way and to love as we have been commanded."

-- From a homily by Fr. Robert Altier, ocds (January 5, 2004)

Surrender to Love

"Seeing that God was not loved, she, Thérèse, would 'make reparation' too. The Love of God, Merciful Love, was not known. So seldom did people have recourse to Mercy; everyone appealed to Justice. They kept accounts with God, while he wished to give himself according to his own exigencies. Thérèse said to herself. "God has so much Love to give, and he can't do it; people present only their own merits, and these are so paltry." She therefore presented herself before God, saying: "Give me this love; I accept to be a victim of Love that is, to receive all the Love which others do not receive because they will not let you Love them as you wish. Such was her confidence in the Mercy which exceeds justice."

She then dreamt of making her offering to Merciful Love. But it was not directly in order to receive Love, it was 'to please God"-, it was so that God might have the opportunity to give himself as intensely as he desired. She would be a victim of Love, she accepted to be consumed by Love, if only God could have his way. Her object was to please him, no to be a saint; it was not even directly to give him to others, but only to please him. Her offering was God-centered. Thérèse looked only at God and she lived by this Love. She wanted to delight God, to give him joy, to let him Love. 

In the Gospels she also pondered the scene with the children. To enter God's kingdom, one must be a child. True, one must also be a saint. But who is greater? The smaller, because it is the weaker. Not by reason of any merits, but because the child, in its weakness and poverty, offers God the widest vessel, capable of holding all. Here we have the essence of St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus' mystical theology. 

She also found in St. John of the Cross the most distant horizons of Love, In the Living Flame and the Spiritual Canticle he describes in a rich and comprehensive way the working of God's Love in the soul. These descriptions correspond clearly to Thérèse's experience"

-- God is Love by Fr. Marie-Eugene of the Child Jesus, ocd

Jesus is drawing you into sharing His affections as Son for the Father

"Commune, my soul, through Jesus Hostia, with the infinite complacency of this Father in the Son whom He contemplates, in His Word, His Thought, all His Glory; in whom He admires His own image and the splendor of His adorable perfections, the spotless mirror of His being, issue of His love.

You are, at this moment, the heaven of infinite delight for the Father and the Son. As at the Jordan, as on Thabor, nay, more appropriately than there, since you live in Jesus, the Father repeats over His Son: This day I have begotten thee. This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Beyond doubt, He repeats these words over you whom Jesus causes to participate in this paternal affection.

To this limitless love of the Father for His Son, the Son makes a similar return of love, eternal and infinite like unto His Father's. O, what a love is this! What an embrace, what a caress and kiss! This mutual love of each for the other is the Holy Spirit Himself. What a consummation, then, in the unity of this Spirit!

At this moment, Jesus is drawing you into sharing His affections as Son for the Father. He communicates them to you; He causes you to love God as He Himself loves Him. His heart becomes your heart, aspiring to this caress, this embrace.

Christian soul, do you not feel the fire of love devouring the heart of the Son of God, enveloping you with its own flames?"

-- Pledge of Glory: Meditations on the Eucharist and the Trinity by Dom Eugene Vandeur

Merge yourself into this divine fellowship of the Three Persons

"Lord Jesus, I say it and repeat once again: Thou art my God! I may call Thee so, for Thy Eucharist is Thy sacred humanity whole and entire, subsisting only in God, in the Word whom Thou art, one with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

Indeed, I cannot cry out to Thee: My God, without calling at the same time upon that Father, that Son and Holy Spirit. It is even impossible for me to separate You, the three adorable Persons, when, O Jesus, I call Thee: My God! There is, there can only be, a single God, One in essence, Three in Persons.

When I receive Thee it is therefore impossible to do so without receiving the Father and the Holy Spirit. I am in the Father, Thou tellest us, and the Father in me... He hath not left me alone. But wherever You are, Father and Son, the two, there must necessarily also be the Holy Spirit, for without the Three together, there would no longer be God.

Is it not especially at this moment, now that I know Thou art in me, in the depths of my being, that the very sweet promise of Thy heart is fulfilled: If any one love me, ... my Father will love him, and we will come to him and will make our abode with him?

I am the abode of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit; I am their temple, nay even the most secret sanctuary of that temple. Can I doubt it without calling in question the truth of the Gospel? Believe it, O my soul; believe it in the fullness of unwavering faith. Then, by that faith which disengages you from all things, immerse yourself in this mystery of the Father engendering His Son, the mystery of the Father and the Son from whom proceeds the Holy Spirit.

While you are in Jesus Christ who gratifies your hunger and thirst with all that He is, Man and God, merge yourself into this divine fellowship of the Three Persons, adoring the God, One in substance in the Trinity of these Persons.

Let yourself be absorbed in this mystery expressing in you an eternal Utterance, His only Utterance, entirely like, entirely equal to Himself, in which He speaks Himself, all that He is and all that He has, all His infinite perfections; essential, living Utterance known as His Word, or again His Son, Son of God, the only Son of the Father."

-- Pledge of Glory: Meditations on the Eucharist and the Trinity by Dom Eugene Vandeur

The very center of my heart can only say: My God!

"My God!... What more can I say? I am mute in Thy presence; for I am in Thee and Thou in me; Thy silence is irresistibly borne in upon my soul.

When the lightning flash illumines the world, preceding by an instant the thunderbolt, the earth shakes and trembles. Here is absolute calm, gentle peace, the peace which Thou art, Lord; it is the impressive silence that characterizes every manifestation of Thy love. Light of Light, Thou penetratest the last fibers of my whole being so that even its shadows are no obstacle thereto. My God!


I adore in Thee the brightness of eternal light, the unspotted mirror of God's majesty and the image of His goodness, yet am I not dazzled or blinded, but quite the contrary. I feel that I am within the radiance of eternal life, pured forth profusely from the unparalleled splendor of Thy countenance, as the sun shineth in his power, I am enfolded in the shining whiteness of Thy garment, as if in the divine cloud of the Spirit, out of which the Father will speak. My God!


Yes, it is a great vision with which I am blessed at this moment, something of the one that remains the end of my redemption on that day when I shall contemplate Thee finally, face to face, in Thy glory which will be mine as well. Here, all consists in faith, in hope, in hidden love, burning in the depths of my soul. I cannot speak of it; Thou wilt have it so, until Thou be risen in me on the day of Thy last triumph.

My God, my God! I hold my peace, imposing silence even upon my faculties, memory, imagination, reasoning power. My love alone speaks to Thee in words beyond expression, at the very center of my heart; it can only say: My God!"


-- Pledge of Glory: Meditations on the Eucharist and the Trinity by Dom Eugene Vandeur

It is you I desire and seek; it is you I am claiming

"This eternal beauty, ever supremely loving, is so intent on winning man's friendship that for this very purpose he has written a book in which he describes his own excellence and his desire for man's friendship. This book reads like a letter written by a lover to win the affections of his loved one, for in it he expresses such ardent desires for the heart of man, such tender longings for man's friendship, such loving invitations and promises, that you would say he could not possibly be the sovereign Lord of heaven and earth and at the same time need the friendship of man to be happy.

In his pursuit of man, he hastens along the highways, or scales the loftiest mountain peaks, or waits at the city gates, or goes into the public squares and among the gatherings of people, proclaiming at the top of his voice, "You children of men, it is you I have been calling so persistently; it is you I am addressing; it is you I desire and seek; it is you I am claiming. Listen, draw close to me, for I want to make you happy" (Prov. 8:4). And the better to attract men, Wisdom says to them, "It is through me and through my grace that kings reign, princes rule, monarchs and sovereigns bear the sceptre and crown, I inspire legislators with the ability to enact just laws for the good of their people. I give magistrates the courage to administer justice fairly and fearlessly."

"I love those who love me and those who seek me diligently find me," and in finding me they will find good things in abundance. "For riches, glory, honours, dignities, real pleasure and true virtue are found in me; and it is far better for a man to possess me than to possess all the gold and silver, all the precious stones, and all the wealth of the whole universe. Those who come to me, I will lead along the paths of justice and prudence. I will enrich them with the inheritance due to rightful children and fulfil their greatest desires (cf. Prov. 8:15-21). Rest assured, it is my greatest pleasure and purest delight to converse and to abide with the children of men" (cf. Prov. 8:31).

"And now, my children, listen to me. Happy are those who keep my ways. Hear my instructions, be wise and do not ignore them. Happy is the man who listens to me, watching at my gates every day, waiting beside my door. He who finds me finds life and obtains salvation from the Lord, but he who sins against me, wounds his own soul. All who hate me love death" (Prov. 8:32-36).

Even though eternal Wisdom has spoken so kindly and so reassuringly to win the friendship of men, he still fears that they, filled with awe at his glorious state and sovereign majesty, will not dare approach him. That is why he tells them that "he is easily accessible, is quickly recognised by those who love him and is found by those who seek him; that he hastens to meet those who desire him and that anyone who rises early to look for him will have no trouble, for he will find him sitting at his door, waiting for him" (Wisd. 6:13b- 15)."

-- Eternal Wisdom's letter of love by St Louis de Montfort

In Him was revealed the fountain of all the gifts of grace

"Then, once more, by the Incarnation God placed Himself in like manner within the range of our hearts. There is nothing in the whole history of the world more fearful than the corruption of the heart of man under false conceptions of God. Heathenism is man without God, and for that reason corrupted. There is not a passion or a vice of human nature which was not deified by the pagan world. The very adorations which they paid to the monstrous gods of their own conception were, like their idols, horrible and not to be described. Therefore God, for the purification and sanctification of the human heart, placed Himself within the sphere of our affections: He has made it easy to know Him, and therefore easy to love Him. He revealed Himself of old to Prophets, to Patriarchs, and to His own people.


The personal nature of God was known and understood by the line of the faithful at all times, and especially by the family of Israel, to whom God gave a large and abundant revelation of Himself in His divine personality by His incomprehensible Name, ' I am who am.' The power, the love, the mercy of God—all these great moral attributes were revealed to them. But that He might make them more intimate with the heart of God, He took for Himself a nature like our own; He came as a man into the midst of men; He came to gaze upon men with a human countenance, to speak to men with a human voice, to love men with a human heart, that men might see, united in His Person, the Creator and the creature, the Infinite and the finite, the Divine and the human, that is, in the hypostatic union of manhood with God. In Him was revealed the fountain of all the gifts of grace: the fountain of life which in eternity was in the bosom of God, on the eternal Hills. The River of life came down through the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and from Him has spread to all nations. 'The Word was made flesh, and dwelt amongst us; and we saw His glory, the glory of the Only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.' He revealed thereby the divine characteristics of love, pity, compassion, mercy, tenderness, long-suffering, and generosity. The Word made flesh bore upon Him the whole impress and delineation of God. The eternal character of God shone through the transparent perfections of His human character. It was the human interpretation of the divine nature. And what was the character so revealed? In one word, it was ' God is charity.' The essence of God is charity, and the essence of God is Himself. God is charity; and that Charity was incarnate, and that Charity came and was passible among men. He came to weep over the sins of men, to weep at the grave of the dead, to weep over the sins of Jerusalem, to suffer, to hunger, to thirst, to be in agony, and to be crucified. What, then, is our conception of the Divine Nature through the Incarnation? Love, sorrowing, suffering, and dying for us. It is not possible for the eternal perfections of the love of God to be more intelligible than God has made them by the Incarnation of His Son. ' No man hath seen God,' indeed, 'at any time; but the Only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father,' and Who was made man for us, to suffer and to sorrow and to die, 'hath declared Him.'"

-- The Glories of the Sacred Heart by Henry Cardinal Edward

Serve God in Justice, strength and humility

"It is certain that the love of God does not consist in experiencing sweetness or tenderness of heart but in truly serving God in Justice, strength and humility."


-- St Teresa of Avila

He is a beggar of love

"Are you afraid of the eyes of God? Pay attention! How can you stop just like that and fool yourself uttering pretexts and reservations in your own solitude? You stay there, calmed, with all the excuses you invent, putting before you I don't know what obligations that seem more urgent than the Love of God?

Look, the Lord calls your your door. He is a beggar of love. And don't [let] these words scandalize you. The truest [thing] is that He has come before you, calling your silence and your intimacy... You leave Him alone instead of your occupations?"

-- En Presencia de la eternidad by Alberto Justo, OP
translated by ocdsister

** Painting by Greg Olsen

Infinite Love

Because of the great,
infinite love which God has for all humankind,
he makes no distinction in love between the blessed soul of Christ
and the lowliest of the souls that are to be saved....
We should highly rejoice that God dwells in our soul
and still more highly should we rejoice that our soul dwells in God.
Our soul is made to be God's dwelling place,
and the dwelling place of our soul
is God who was never made.


 -- Julian of Norwich

God dwells within me and I am in God

"Thus did Jesus speak. And who is Jesus but He who declares Himself to the God when, in the face of Jews who would stone Him on that very account, He replies:  I and the Father are one.

The One who at this moment lives in my breast, then, is He, a God; He is my God. A God dwells within me and I am in God. Can it be possible? Is it true? Yes, quite possible; my faith reiterates it to me unto satiety. There is nothing truer than that truth.

This God who is within me, I can and must call my God by every claim, a God who is my very own. It is this thought, the thought of a God, of my God in me which, at this moment, wrenches me free of myself and submerges me in Him.

O my God! What can I say to Thee now, how can I express at once greater respect, fear and love than by this cry of my soul: My God!

I forget myself entirely, to the extent that a creature may lose self-consciousness, so as to think of my God, believe in Him, cling to Him alone, at this most sacred instant of my day when, aware of Thy presence in me I can only say to Thee: My God! ... My God!

Far from me then, at this hour, be all other thought and care, every worry, grief and even joy; away, my heart, with pleasant memories, legitimate enjoyments, permissible satisfactions; let the silence of all things invade my being; may my interior faculties be still and recollect themselves.

I am in God; God is in me. My God! Yes, I believe that Thou art here, in the innermost depths of my being. My God! 

I possess our Lord Jesus Christ within me. His flesh sustains me; His blood slakes my thirst; His soul is profoundly united to mine. His humanity fuses with my humanity somewhat as a wax taper runs down and melts into another taper. But this sacred humanity is that of the Word, the Word that was in the beginning; it is that of God, the God whom I adore devoutly, the hidden God."

-- Pledge of Glory: Eucharistic Meditations based on the Prayer of Sister Elizabeth of the Trinity by Dom Eugene Vandeur

You have a function as a member of the Body of Christ

"Your elevation remains in the secret of God; undoubtedly, He will not tell you anything. Do what is in your hand[s]. Love, offer often to God the unrivaled sanctity of Jesus, of Mary, and of the living and departed saints: all of that belongs to you, beneficiary of the Communion of Saints. Offer Him the global sanctity of the Mystical Body of Christ: this is what glorifies God. You are a member of that Body, perhaps the least noble, but not without a function. Say with conviction and serenity: 'Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for me, a poor sinner.' And live in peace under the protecting wings of the God that loves you."


-- Carthusian writings