Category: 21.v.22 Easter V

Love is strong as death-{Cant. viii. 6). As there is no created power that can resist death, so with the soul that loves God there is no difficulty that love cannot overcome. O my Jesus, send Thy Holy Spirit that He may come and strengthen me to do and suffer something for Thy love before death overtakes me.

Love is strong as death-{Cant. viii. 6). As there is no created power that can resist death, so with the soul that loves God there is no difficulty that love cannot overcome. O my Jesus, send Thy Holy Spirit that He may come and strengthen me to do and suffer something for Thy love before death overtakes me.

The second means of perfection is the resolution to belong wholly to God. Many are called to perfection; they are urged on towards it by grace, they conceive a desire of it; but because they never really resolve. to acquire it, they live and die in the ill-odour of their tepid and imperfect life.

Divine Love fertilizes the good desires, the holy purposes, and the good works of our souls, and these are the flowers and fruits which the grace of the Holy Ghost produces. O holy and Divine Spirit, I will no longer live to myself. I will spend all these days that remain to me of life in loving and pleasing Thee.

The second means of perfection is the resolution to belong wholly to God. Many are called to perfection; they are urged on towards it by grace, they conceive a desire of it; but because they never really resolve. to acquire it, they live and die in the ill-odour of their tepid and imperfect life.

Divine Love fertilizes the good desires, the holy purposes, and the good works of our souls, and these are the flowers and fruits which the grace of the Holy Ghost produces. O holy and Divine Spirit, I will no longer live to myself. I will spend all these days that remain to me of life in loving and pleasing Thee.

Certainly, it is a hard thing for a soul grown lukewarm to resume her ancient fervour; but our Lord has said, that what man cannot do, God can very Well do. The things that are impossible with man, are possible with God-(Luke xviii. 27). Whoever prays and employs the means is sure to accomplish his desire.

In his Epistle to the Christians of Smyrna, St. Ignatius, Martyr, says that the priesthood is the most sublime of all created dignities: “The apex of dignities is the priesthood.” St. Ephrem calls it an infinite dignity: “The priesthood is an astounding miracle, great, immense, and infinite.”