“Totally love Him, Who gave Himself totally for your love.”
— St. Clare of Assisi
Morning Offering – Love Him
Daily Reflection – Life is About Love
Morning Offering – A Tiny Spark of God’s Love
“If a tiny spark of God’s love already burns within you, do not expose it to the wind, for it may get blown out… Stay quiet with God. Do not spend your time in useless chatter… Do not give yourself to others so completely that you have nothing left for yourself.”
— St. Charles Borromeo
Daily Reflection – Love is a Choice
Meditation of the Day – Love is a Strong Force
“Love is a strong force — a great good in every way; it alone can make our burdens light, and alone it bears in equal balance what is pleasing and displeasing. It carries a burden and does not feel it; it makes all that is bitter taste sweet. … Nothing is sweeter than love, nothing higher, nothing stronger, nothing larger, nothing more joyful, nothing fuller, nothing better in heaven or on earth; for love is born of God and can find its rest only in God above all He has created. Such lovers fly high, run swiftly and rejoice. Their souls are free; they give all for all and have all in all. For they rest in One supreme Goodness above all things, from Whom all other good flows and proceeds. They look not only at the gifts, but at the Giver, Who is above all gifts.”— Thomas à Kempis, p. 108
Morning Offering – I See Clearly
“I see clearly with the interior eye, that the sweet God loves with a pure love the creature that He has created, and has a hatred for nothing but sin, which is more opposed to Him than can be thought or imagined.”
— St. Catherine of Genoa
Daily Meditation – Ask and It Shall Be Given
“In the spiritual life there are two great principles which should never be forgotten: Without grace we can do nothing; with it we can do all things. Sometimes it anticipates our desires; ordinarily, God waits till we ask for it. This is a general law thus expressed by Our Lord: ‘Ask, and it shall be given to you.’ Prayer is, therefore, not only a precept, it is a necessity. God places the treasure of His graces at our disposal, and its key is prayer. You desire more faith, more hope, more love; ‘ask, and it shall be given to you.’ Your good resolutions remain sterile, resulting always in the same failures: ‘ask, and it shall be given to you’. Precepts are numerous, virtue painful, temptation seductive, the enemy ruthless, the will weak: ‘ask, and it shall be given to you.'”— Rev. Dom Vitalis Lehodey p. xv
Meditation of the Day – January 28th
“God cannot cease to love me. That is the most startling fact that our doctrine reveals. Sinner or saint He loves and cannot well help Himself. Magdalen in her sin, Magdalen in her sainthood, was loved by God. The difference between her position made some difference also in the effect of that love on her, but the love was the same, since it was the Holy Spirit who is the love of the Father and the Son. Whatever I do, I am loved. But then, if I sin, am I unworthy of love? Yes, but I am unworthy always. Nor can God love me for what I am, since, in that case, I would compel His love, force His will by something external to Himself. In fact, really if I came to consider, I would find that I was not loved by God because I was good, but that I was good because God loved me. My improvement does not cause God to love me, but is the effect of God’s having loved me.”— Fr. Bede Jarrett, p. 51
Meditation of the Day – January 25th
“Since all our love for God is ultimately a response to His love for us, we can never love Him in the same way He loves us, namely, gratuitously. Since we are fundamentally dependent on God and in His debt for our creation and redemption, our love is always owed to Him, a duty, a response to His love. But we can love our neighbor in the same way that He loves us, gratuitously—not because of anything the neighbor has done for us or because of anything that we owe him, but simply because love has been freely given to us. We thereby greatly please the Father. God the Father tells Catherine [of Siena]: This is why I have put you among your neighbors: so that you can do for them what you cannot do for me—that is, love them without any concern for thanks and without looking for any profit for yourself. And whatever you do for them I will consider done for me.”
– Ralph Martin, p. 261
Sermon Notes – Love Totally
“Love Totally and Without Reservation”
Father Peter Fitzgibbons
November 10-11, 2018
Scripture: Mark 12: 38-44
38) In the course of his teaching he said,p “Beware of the scribes, who like to go around in long robes and accept greetings in the marketplaces, 39) seats of honor in synagogues, and places of honor at banquets.40) They devour the houses of widows and, as a pretext, recite lengthy prayers. They will receive a very severe condemnation.” 41) He sat down opposite the treasury and observed how the crowd put money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. 42) A poor widow also came and put in two small coins worth a few cents. 43) Calling his disciples to himself, he said to them, “Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the other contributors to the treasury. 44) For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood.”
Teachers tend to repeat the points of the lesson they want their students to remember. Our Lord teaches us again and again that we must love Him and His people. The Ten Commandments are basic instructions on how to love, while the Catechism contains more in-depth instructions. In neither can you love totally and without reservation until you give up the love of self.
So, what does that kind of love look like? In John 15:13, Jesus said, “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” In Matthew 18:21, Jesus tells Peter that he must forgive his brother “Not seven times; I say, seventy time seven times.” We can also find that kind of love on the crucifix. His Passion is a reminder of just how much He loves us. Christ said “Father forgive them, they know not what they do (Luke 23:34). Every Mass is a total expression and outpouring of His love. It shows us how much we are loved and how much we are to love others.
We don’t pay close enough attention to the lessons Christ teaches us. Often, we forget the lessons already learned about who and how we are to love. It’s as if we have Attention Deficit Disorder. As fallen people, we try to figure out how much we can get away with and do as little as possible and still get into heaven. However, I doubt that you would be very happy if your spouse said s/he loved you only partially.
How will you apply this message to your life? Will you give up your love of self? Will you love totally and without reservation?
Father’s After-Thoughts….
Veterans’ Day is Monday. George Orwell said: “People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.” On June 6, 1944, D-Day, our soldiers crossed the English Channel and landed on the beaches of Normandy, France to help liberate Western Europe from the German Nazis. A soldier once told me that the water was bloody when they made their way up to the beach. Another said that they had to step over dead bodies in the water to get to shore.
Some say that time heals all wounds; but that is not true…at least for many combat veterans. Their wounds are deep and, many times, are kept hidden for a lifetime. It becomes much more difficult, even impossible to cope with the pain when their wives are no longer there to help. Since the Civil War, 20 veterans commit suicide every day. Please pray for those who have served and who are still serving in combat zones that they find peace and solace. And, when you meet a veteran, be sure to thank them for their service.