Love of Jesus Christ.
“If any man love not Our Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema.” — 1 Cor. 16:22.
EIGHTEENTH DAY.
He who lives constantly united to God sees with the eyes of his soul Jesus dying on the cross. In the wounds of his Saviour he finds strength to suffer, not only with patience, but with joy. — St. Bonaventure.
St. Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, being condemned to be torn by wild beasts, wrote as follows to the Romans. His letter breathes an ardent desire for sufferings. “Suffer, my children,” he said, “that I be ground by the beasts, that I may become the wheat of Jesus Christ. I seek nothing but Him Who has died for me. The only object of my love is He Who was crucified for me, and the love I bear Him makes me desire to be crucified for Him.”
St. Gertrude said to Jesus Christ: “O my Saviour, Who hast loved me and hast suffered for me, I offer for Thy glory all that I have suffered, all that I suffer, and all that I shall suffer. Look upon the love which animates me; grant that it may be a pleasure to suffer because Thou hast willed that I should suffer, Thou Whom I love more than I love myself.”
Prayer.
O my Saviour, imprint deeply in my memory, my heart, and soul, Thy holy and sorrowful Passion. Grant that I may never forget what Thou hast suffered. In Thy wounds may I continually read the evil of sin and the greatness of Thy love. Thus in contemplating Thy sorrows, my heart may be penetrated with grief and with love for Thee.