The practice of the love of Jesus Christ - 073

XXXVIII.-HE THAT LOVES JESUS CHRIST WISHES WHAT JESUS CHRIST WISHES

I. God wishes us to love Him with our whole heart: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart -(Matt. xxii. 37). That person loves Jesus Christ with his whole heart who says to Him with the Apostle: Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?-(Acts ix. 6). Lord, signify to me what Thou wilt have me do; for I desire to perform all. And let us be persuaded that whilst we desire what God desires, we desire what is best for ourselves; for assuredly God only wishes what is best for us. St. Vincent de Paul said: “Conformity with the will of God is the treasure of a Christian and the remedy for all evils; since it comprises abnegation of self and union with God and all virtues.” In this, then, is all perfection: Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? Jesus Christ promises us that not a hair of your head shall perish-(Luke xxi. 18), which is as much as to say, that the Lord rewards us for every good thought we have of pleasing Him, and for every tribulation embraced with patience in conformity to His holy will. St. Teresa says: “The Lord never sends a trial without remunerating it with some favour as often as we accept it with resignation. “

II. But our conformity to the Divine will must be entire, without any reserve, and constant, without withdrawal. In this consists the height of perfection; and to this, I repeat, all our thoughts, all our desires, all our works, and all our prayers ought to tend. Some souls given to prayer, on reading of the ecstasies of St. Teresa and St. Philip Neri, come to wish to enjoy themselves these supernatural unions. Such wishes must be banished as contrary to humility; if we really desire to be saints, we must aspire after true union with God, which is to unite our will entirely to the will of God. St. Teresa said: “Those persons are deceived who fancy that union with God consists in ecstasies, raptures, and sensible enjoyments of Him. It consists in nothing else than submitting our will to the will of God; and this submission is perfect when our will is detached from everything, and so completely united with that of God that all its movements depend solely on the will of God. This is the real and essential union which I have always sought after, and continually beg of the Lord.” And then she adds: “Oh, how many of us say this, and seem to ourselves to desire nothing besides this; but, miserable creatures that we are, how few of us attain to it.” Such, indeed, is the undeniable truth; many of us say: O Lord! I give Thee my will, I desire nothing but what Thou desirest,-but, in the event of some trying occurrence, we know not how to yield calmly to the Divine will. And this is the source of our continually complaining that we are unfortunate in the world, and that we are the butt of every misfortune, and so of our dragging on an unhappy life.