A reflection for the Gospel today, Feb. 10, 2010
Saint John of the Cross (1542-1591), Carmelite, Doctor of the Church
Counsels and maxims
«A pure heart create for me, O God » (Ps 51[50],12)
Purity of heart corresponds to the degree of love and grace of God. Therefore, when our Savior calls blessed those who are pure in heart (Mt 5,8), he speaks of those who are filled with love, since blessedness is bestowed on us according to the degree of our love. He who truly loves God is not ashamed of what he does for God before the world, nor does he hide it away in confusion though the whole world should scorn him. He who truly loves God considers the loss of all created things to be a gain and reward, together with the loss of himself for love of God… He that with pure love works for God
not only does not care whether or not it is known by others, but does not even do these things that God Himself might know it… It is a great thing to exercise oneself much in holy love, for the soul who has attained the perfection and fulfilment of love is not held back, whether in this life or the next, from seeing the face of God. He whose heart is pure profits equally from being raised up or cast down to become ever more pure. Whereas the impure heart is useless for anything except to produce still more fruits of impurity. In everything the heart draws out a knowledge of God that is flavorsome, chaste, pure, spiritual, full of joy and love.
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See, O Lord, how impure and imperfect, poor and lowly and unworthy we are; Look at Your people and see our sufferings, our loneliness, our hunger, our thirst, our pain, our destituteness, our sickness, our nakedness. Lord, You Whose Name is Mercy, hear our cries and heal Your people. Help us, and carry us, O Lord, carry us like a little child too feeble to walk. We are weak and imperfect, O Lord, and only would it be possible for us to become holy like You, if we do not rely on our own merits- for we have none, O Jesus- but trust fully in You who is Virtue and Holiness. You alone, O God, can create a clean heart for me. You alone can raise me to Yourself and make me holy. Amen+
*Inspired by a prayer of St. Therese of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face
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I considered that I was born for glory… After seven years in religious life, I still am weak and imperfect. I always feel, however, the same bold confidence of becoming a great saint because I don’t count on my own merits since I have none, but I trust in Him who is Virtue and Holiness. God alone, content with my weak efforts, will raise me to Himself and make me a saint, clothing me in His infinite merits. -St. Therese of the Child Jesus, Story of a Soul