Friends of God, 277
“I am the Mother of fair love, and of fear, and of knowledge
and of holy hope.” These are the lessons which Mary reminds us of today. The
lesson of fair love, of living a clean life, of having a sensitive and
passionate heart, so that we may learn to be faithful in our service to the
Church. This is no ordinary love. It is Love itself. There is no room here for
betrayal, or calculation, or forgetfulness. It is a fair, a beautiful love,
because its beginning and end is God, who is thrice Holy, who is all Beauty,
all Goodness and all Greatness.
But there is also a reference to fear. For myself, the only
fear I can imagine is that of turning away from Love. God Our Lord certainly
does not want us to be inhibited, timid or lukewarm about our dedication to him.
He wants us to be daring, courageous and refined. When the sacred text speaks
of fear here I am reminded of a complaint we find elsewhere in Scripture, “I
searched for my heart’s love, but found him not.” This can happen, if one has
not yet fully understood what it means to love God. Then our hearts can be
swayed by things which do not lead to Our Lord and so we lose sight of him. At
other times it may be Our Lord who hides himself. He knows the reason why. In
such cases, he will be encouraging us to seek him more earnestly and, when we
find him, we shall be able to cry out with joy, “I took hold of him and I will
never let him go.”
The Way, 144
The spotless purity of John’s whole life makes him strong
before the Cross. The other apostles fly from Golgotha: he, with the Mother of
Christ, remains. Don’t forget that purity strengthens and invigorates the
character.
Friends of God, 183
This heart of ours was born to love. But when it is not
given something pure, clean and noble to love, it takes revenge and fills
itself with squalor. True love of God, and consequently purity of life, is as
far removed from sensuality as it is from insensitivity, and as far from
sentimentality as it is from heartlessness or hard-heartedness.
The Way, 902
Why don’t you give yourself to God once and for all...
really..., now?
Christ is Passing By, 187
Mary, the holy Mother of our King, the Queen of our heart,
looks after us as only she knows how. Mother of mercy, throne of grace: we ask
you to help us compose, verse by verse, the simple poem of charity in our own
life and the lives of the people around us; it is “like a river of peace.” For
you are a sea of inexhaustible mercy: “All streams run to the sea, but the sea
is never full.”
PRAYER At this very moment, you should trustingly beg Our
Lady, as you accompany her in the solitude of your heart, without saying
anything out loud: “Mother, this poor heart of mine rebels so foolishly! If you
don’t protect me...” And she will help you to keep it pure and to follow the
way to which God has called you. Friends of God, 180
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