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Show If JP: V B002C 3. CHAPTER V. j Of the Wonderful Effect of Divine I Love. I bless rhee, O Heavenly Father, Father of my Lord Jesus Chriet, because be-cause Thou h'aet vouchsafed to be mindful of me, poor as I am. O, Father of mercies, and God of all consolation, I give thanks to Thee that sometimes Thou art pleaeed to cherish with Thy consolation me, who am unworthy un-worthy of any conjugation. I blerfs and glorify Thee evermore, together with Thy only begotten Son and the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, forever for-ever ?.:id ever. O Lord God, my Holy Lover, when Thou shalt come into my heart, all that is within me ahall be filled with Joy. Thou art my glory and the exultation exul-tation of my heart. Thou art my hope and my refuge in the dav of my tribulation. 2. But because as 1 am as yet weak In love and imperfect in virtue, therefore there-fore do I stand in need of being strengthened and comforted by Thee. Wherefore do Thou visit me often, and instruc t me in Thy holy discipline. Free me from evil passnons, and cure my heart of all disorderly affection, so that inwardly healed and well purified, I may become apt 'to love, courageous to suffer, and tJteadfast to persevere. 3. A great thing is love a great good every way, which a.lone lightens all that is burdensome, and be'areth equal ly all that is unequal. For it carrieCh a burden without being be-ing burdened, andi nmketh all else that Ai bj:ter tweet and savory. The noble love of Jesus impelleth us 10 do groat things, and exciteth us always al-ways to desire that is the more perfect. per-fect. Love will tend upwards, and not be detained by thing's beneath. Love will beat liberty, and free from all worldly affection, that its interior vision be nlct hiindere'd; thiat it suffer ttself not to be entangled wi th any temporal tem-poral intere.li, or cas'l down by m'i&for-tune. m'i&for-tune. Nothing its sweeter than love, nothing noth-ing stronger, nothing higher, nothing wider, nia'tnmg more pleasant, notninj fuller or better in heaven or in earth; for love is born of God, and cannot rett but in God, above all created thinsi3. 4. The lover fliethy runneth and re-Julceth re-Julceth he is free, and cannot be restrained. re-strained. He giveDh all for aJl, and hath all In all. because he resteth in one sovereign G'eod above all, from whom all good I fioweth and nroceedeth. He looketh not at his gifts, but turn-eth turn-eth hiir.eelf above all goods-, to the Giver. Love often knoweth ho measure, but groweth fervent above all measure. Love ' feeletlh no burden, thinketh n'othing of labors, would willingly do more than it can, complaiineth not of Impossibility, because it conceiveth that it may and can do all things. It can achieve anything, and it doth perform and effect many things, where he t'hat loveth . not fainieth and falleith prostrate. o. Love watcheth, and sleeping, slum-bererh slum-bererh not. When weary it is not tired; when nt rattened it is not constrained; when frightened is not disturbed; but, like a vivi'd flame and a burning torch, it nbunteth upwards, and securely paes-eth paes-eth 'throu2rh all. Whosoever loveth knoweth the cry of this voice. ,. A loud cry in the ears of God is that ardent affection of the sou'l which saith, O, my God, my Love, Thou art all mine, and I am all Thine. 6. Enlarge Thou me in love, that I may learn to taste with the interior mouth of the heart how sweet it i's to love, and to be dissolved and to bathe in love. Let me be pcesefeed by love, mounting mount-ing up above myself through excests ol fervor and eestacy. Leit me sing the canticle of love, let me follow Thee, my Beloved, on higli, lest my soul quite lose herself in Thy praises, jubilant in Thy love. Lft me love Thee more tlhan myseilf and mysel fonly for Thee, and all others in Thee, who truly love Thee, as the Jaw of iove commandeth, which shineth forth from Thee. 7. Love is swift, sincere, pious, pleasant pleas-ant and delightful; etiong, patient, faithful, prudent, long-suffering, courageous cour-ageous and never seeking itself. For where a man seeketh himself, (there he falleth from love. Love is circumspect, humble, upright; rot sc?t, not light, not intent upon Vain thing:: is sober, chaste, steadfast, quiet keepei'h a guard over all the e-eriaes. Love is submissive and obedient to superioiis: in its own eyes mean and contemptible, devout and thankful to God, always trusting and hoping in Him, even When it tasteth not the rel-jt'h rel-jt'h cf God's sweetness; for there is no living in love without some sorrow. 8. Whosover is not ready to suffer all things, and to ftand resigned to the will of Hia Beloved, ii? not worthy to be called a lover. lie that loveth must willingly embrace em-brace all that in hard and bitter for the eiake of his Beloved, and never suffer suf-fer ihimaelf to be turned away from Him by any contrary occurrences whatsoever. what-soever. CHAPTER VI. OF THE PROOF OF A TRUE LOVER My sen, thou art not yet a valiant and a true lover. Why, O Lord? Because thou fallest off from what thou hast begun upon meeting with a little adversity, and too eagerly aeek-eth aeek-eth after consolation. A valiant lover standeth h':s ground In temptations, and yieldeth not to the crafty persuasions of the enemy. Aa I pleaae him. in when in prosperity, prosper-ity, so I difiplease him not in adversity. A prudent lover comiiderth not er much 'the gift af the lover as the love of the giver. He looketh more at the good will than the value, and letteth every gift beneath the beloved. A generous lover resteth not in the gift, but in Me, above every gift. Ail, therefore, is not lost, if sometimes some-times thou hast not that feeling (of devotion) towards Me or My Saints which thou wouldst have. That good and delightful affection which thou sometimes percelveth is the effect of present grace, and' a certain foretaets of thy heavenly country, upon which thou oughteet not to lean, too much, because it goeth and cometh. But to fight against the evil motions of the mind which arise, and to despise the suggestion of the devil, is a sign of virtue and of great merit. 3. Let not, therefore, fitrange phantasies phant-asies of whatever kind suggested trouble thee. Keep thy resolution firm and- thy intention upright towards God. Neither is it am illusion, because sometimes thou art rapt in ecstasy, and presently returned to the accustomed fooleries of the heart. For theye thou rather unwillingly bearesit with than occasionest; and a long as they displease thee, and thou resiatest them, it is not merit and not loss. 4. Know that the old enemy striveth by all means to hinder thy desire after good and to draw thee from every devout de-vout exercisie. namely, from' the veneration vener-ation of the Saints, from the pious remembrance re-membrance of My Passion, from the profitable calling to mind of thy sins, from watchfulness over thy own heart, and from a firm, purpose of advancing in virtue. He suggesteth many evil thoughts that he may cause thee tediousneast and horror, that he may call thee away from prayer and holy reading. He is di'spleased with humble confession, confes-sion, and if he could, he would cause thee to cease from communion, Give no credit to him, care not for him, although he often eet for thee a snare of deception. Charge him with it when he stugge.slts wicked and unclean thingsi, and say to him-: Begone unclean spirit; be ashamed miserable wretch, most unclean art thou to suggest such things in my ear. Depart from' me thou most wicked seducer; se-ducer; thou Shalt have no part in me; but Jesus will be with me as a valiant warrior, andl thou shalt stand confounded. con-founded. I prefer to die andi undergo any torment whatsoever, rather than consent to thee. Hold thy peace and be silent; I will hear thee no further, although thou many times molest me. The Lord is ray light and my salvation; sal-vation; whom shall I fear? If whole armiea should stand together 8 gainsit me, my heart shall not fear. The Lord! is my Helper and my Redeemer, Re-deemer, j 5. Fight like a good soldier, and if sometimes thou fall through frailty, resume re-sume greater courage than before, confiding con-fiding in My more abundant grace. But take every care against vain complacency compla-cency and pride. Through this many are ldl into error, and' sometimes fall into almost incurable blindness. Let this. fall cf the proud, foolishly presuming on t'i igelves, serve thee as a warning and ktp thee always humble. |