Our obligations to love Jesus Christ

I. He who loves, wishes to be loved. "When," says St. Bernard, "God loves, He desires nothing else than to be loved." The Redeemer said: I am come to cast fire on the earth and what will I but that it be kindled? (Luke xii. 49). God wishes nothing else from us than to be loved. Hence the holy Church prays in the following words: "We beseech Thee, O Lord, that Thy spirit may inflame us with that fire Jesus Christ cast upon the earth, and which He ardently wished to be kindled."

Ah, what have not the Saints, inflamed with this fire, accomplished! They have abandoned all things — delights, honours, the purple and the sceptre — that They might burn with this holy fire. But you will ask what are you to do, that you too may be inflamed with the love of Jesus Christ. Imitate David: In my meditation a fire shall flame out (Ps. xxxviii. 4). Meditation is the blessed furnace in which the holy fire of Divine love is kindled. Make Mental Prayer every day; meditate on the Passion of Jesus Christ, and doubt not but you too shall burn with this blessed flame.

St. Paul says, that Jesus Christ died for us to make Himself the Master of the hearts of all. To this end Christ died and rose again, that he might be lord both of the dead and of the living (Rom. xiv. 9). He wished, says the Apostle, to give His life for all men, that not even one should live any longer to himself, but that all might live only to that God Who condescended to die for them. And Christ died for all, that they also who live may not now live to themselves, but unto him who died for them (2 Cor. v. 15).

Ah! to correspond to the love of this God, it would be necessary that another God should die for Him, as Jesus Christ died for us. O ingratitude of men! A God has condescended to give His life for their salvation, and they will not even think of what He has done for them! If each of you thought frequently on the sufferings of the Redeemer, and on the love which He has shown to us in His Passion, how could you but love Him with your whole hearts? To him who with a lively Faith sees the Son of God suspended by three nails on an infamous gibbet, every wound of Jesus speaks and says: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God. Love, O man, thy Lord and thy God Who has loved thee so intensely. Who can resist such tender invitations? "The Wounds of Jesus Christ," says St. Bonaventure, "wound the hardest hearts, and inflame frozen souls."

II. Oh, si scires mysterium crucis! Oh, if thou didst know the mystery of the Cross! said St. Andrew the Apostle to the tyrant by whom he was tempted to deny Jesus Christ. O tyrant, if you knew the love which your Saviour has shown you by dying on the Cross for your salvation, instead of tempting me, you would abandon all the goods of this earth to give yourself to the love of Jesus Christ.

Henceforth meditate every day on the Passion of Jesus Christ, for at least a quarter of an hour. Let each one procure a Crucifix, and keep it in his room, and from time to time glance at it, saying: "Ah, my Jesus, Thou hast died for me, and yet I do not love Thee!"

Had a person suffered for a friend injuries, buffets, and prisons, he would be greatly pleased to find that the friend remembered and spoke of him with gratitude. But he would be greatly displeased if the friend for whom these trials had been borne, were unwilling to think or hear of his sufferings. Thus frequent Meditation on His Passion is very pleasing to our Redeemer; but the neglect of it greatly provokes His displeasure.

Oh, how great will be the consolation we shall receive in our last moments from the sorrows and death of Jesus Christ, if, during life, we shall have frequently meditated on them with love! Let us not wait till others, at the hour of death, place in our hands the Crucifix; let us not wait till they remind us of all that Jesus Christ suffered for us. Let us during life embrace Jesus Christ crucified and keep ourselves always united to Him, that we may live and die with Him. He who practises devotion to the Passion of our Lord, cannot but be devoted to the sorrows of Mary, the remembrance of which will be to us a source of great consolation at the hour of death.

Oh, how profitable and sweet to meditate on Jesus on the Cross! How happy the death of him who dies in the embraces of Jesus crucified, accepting death with cheerfulness for the love of that God Who has died for love of us!