+Consider that no one --- whether friend or brother, father or mother, lover or spouse -- loves you more than your God. And Divine Grace is the inestimable treasure through which vile creatures and servants like ourselves become dear friends of our Creator. "For she is an infinite treasure to men, which they that use become friends of God." It was for the purpose of increasing our confidence that "He emptied Himself," so to speak, humbling Himself to the point of becoming man in order to live in familiar converse with us. "He conversed with us." He went so far as to become a little Babe and to live in poverty and die on a Cross for our sake. He even placed Himself under the species of bread so as to be with us always and in the most intimate union. "He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My Blood abideth in Me and I in Him."In short, so great is God's love for you that He seems to love no one but you. And therefore you should love no one but Him. You should be able to say to Him: "My Beloved to me and I to Him." My God has given Himself entirely to me, and I give my whole self to Him; He has chosen me for His beloved, and I choose Him from among all for my only love. "My Beloved is white and ruddy, chosen out of thousands."
Often, therefore, speak to God in these words: O my Lord, why hast Thou loved me so much? What good dost Thou find in my poor self? Hast Thou forgotten the injuries I have done Thee? But since Thou hast treated me with so much love --- for instead of condemning me to Hell, Thou hast given me graces without number --- I will henceforth love no one but Thee, my God and my All. What grieves me most in my past offences, O my loving God, is not so much the punishment I have desired, as the displeasure I have given Thee, Who art worthy of infinite love. But Thou dost never reject a repentant and humble heart. "A contrite and humble heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise." Now indeed I wish for no one else but Thee alone in this life and in the next. "What have I in Heaven? And besides Thee, what do I desire upon earth? Thou art the God of my heart and the God that is my portion forever." Thou alone art and wilt always be the only Lord of my heart and will; Thou alone my only good, my Heaven, my hope, my all. "The God of my heart and the God that is my portion forever."
In short, so great is God's love for you that He seems to love no one but you. And therefore you should love no one but Him. You should be able to say to Him: "My Beloved to me and I to Him." My God has given Himself entirely to me, and I give my whole self to Him; He has chosen me for His beloved, and I choose Him from among all for my only love. "My Beloved is white and ruddy, chosen out of thousands."
Often, therefore, speak to God in these words: O my Lord, why hast Thou loved me so much? What good dost Thou find in my poor self? Hast Thou forgotten the injuries I have done Thee? But since Thou hast treated me with so much love --- for instead of condemning me to Hell, Thou hast given me graces without number --- I will henceforth love no one but Thee, my God and my All. What grives me most in my past offences, O my loving God, is not so much the punishment I have desered, as the displeasure I have given Thee, Who art worthy of infinite love. But Thou dost never reject a repentant and humble heart. "A contrite and humble heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise." Now indeed I wish for no one else but Thee alone in this life and in the next. "What have I in Heaven? And besides Thee, what do I desire upon earth? Thou art the God of my heart and the God that is my portion forever." Thou alone art and wilt always be the only Lord of my heart and will; Thou alone my only good, my Heaven, my hope, my all. "The God of my heart and the God that is my portion forever." +
On the Feast of St. Alphonsus Liguori, 2009
Sancte Alphonsus, ora pro nobis.
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