Of the Sentiment of Love of God

THE third sentiment that we should excite and call forth from meditation on the mysteries of the Passion is the love of God. There is nothing that moves us more to love than to see ourselves loved; there are no irons nor chains that bind a man hand and foot so fast as that. The soul considering and pondering very leisurely and attentively the sovereign love of Christ, which shines out so much here, must be inflamed and set on fire with the love of Him Who has loved her so much. The Apostle and Evangelist St. John says: In this the love of God hath appeared in our regard, that God hath sent his only-begotten Son into the world that. we may live by him (I John iv. 9). And the Evangelist St. Luke, on account of the greatness of this love, calls it an excess of love. When the Lord was transfigured in presence of His three disciples, he says that there appeared there Elias and Moses, and they spoke of the excess that he was to accomplish in Jerusalem, the excess that was of His Passion and death. With great reason did he call it an excess of love. On one account, because He died for His enemies. It is great love that goes the length of giving one’s life for one’s friends, so much so that the Savior of the world says that no greater love can be shown than that. Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends (John xv. 18). But the love of the Son of God for us has gone beyond that, going so far as to lay it down for His enemies. So says the Apostle St. Paul: What most commendeth God’s love for us is this, that when we were sinners, Christ died for us (Rom. v. 8-9).

Secondly, he calls it an excess of love because one single drop of the blood that He shed in His circumcision or in His sweat of blood in the Garden, and the least work that He ever did for our redemption, was enough as a most just atonement, in strict rigor of justice, for all the world and for a thousand worlds, as the saints say, because it was a work of infinite value for being the work of an infinite God. But His infinite bounty and mercy was not content with that, but would give all His blood and His life for us. So the Apostle St. Paul calls it an excessive love—nimiam caritatem (Eph. ii. 4), as being a love infinitely exceeding all possible utterance and thought. And the Prophet Zachary, father of the glorious Baptist, speaking of this benefit, was not content with saying that it proceeded from the mercy of God, but went so far as to say that it proceeded from the heart of His mercy, and the innermost heart at that—per viscera misericordiae (Luke i. 78).

Who, then, will not love One Who has loved him so much? So the Beloved Disciple: Let us then love God, because God hath loved us first (I John iv. 19). Let us answer at least by a return of love and take care to show our love in the way in which He has shown His to us, that is, by deeds that cost us much, for in such is love best discovered and brought to light. So St. Ambrose says: “I owe Thee more, O Lord, for what Thou hast done in redeeming me than for what Thou hast done in creating me.” Creation was a great benefit, but after all it cost Thee no labor; all that Thou hadst to do was to speak, and the thing was done. He spoke, and things were made; he commanded, and they were created (Psalm cxlviii. 5). But redemption cost Him more than a word; it cost Him His blood and His life. Let us, then, show the love we bear Him, not in words, but in deeds. Little children, let us love not in word or lips, but in deed and truth, says St. John (I John iii. 18). The Son of God has shown us the love He bore us by being despised and brought low for our sake; let us show Him the love we bear Him by desiring to be despised and made small account of for His sake, and rejoicing when any occasion of humiliation and mortification offers itself. He showed us the love He bore us by offering Himself entirely in sacrifice to the eternal Father on the Cross, leaving nothing unsacrificed, but giving all for our love. Let us also show the love that we bear Him by offering ourselves and making ourselves over to Him entirely, giving Him our whole heart, desiring that His will and not our will be done in us in all things. In this is shown love, not in words or lip-worship, saying: “Lord, I love Thee much.” So the saints explain the saying of St. James: Patience hath a perfect work (i. 4), since he who embraces and takes well labor, mortification, and humiliation bears witness that the love he feels is not a prating love, but a working, genuine love, failing not in time of temptation and tribulation, which is the time in which true friends are proved.

This is one of the chiefest fruits that we are to try and gather from meditation on the Passion. We should try to work this well in meditation, particularly by offering ourselves entirely and with our whole heart to God to do with us what He likes, as He likes, when He likes, and in such fashion as He likes, descending herein to particular difficult cases that may occur, leaving out no place or office or station, however mean and lowly it be, to which we do not offer ourselves for His love. This is an exercise of great profit and very high perfection, and a great sign of genuine love.