Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart

For to this end Christ died and rose again, that he might be the Lord both of the dead and of the living. (Rom. xiv. 9). The Saints, contemplating the death of Jesus Christ, thought it little to give their life and all things for the love of so loving a God. How many Martyrs have sacrificed their lives for Him! How many tender Virgins, renouncing the nuptials of the great, have gone with joy to death to make some return for the affection of a God Who died for their sake! And what have you done for Jesus' sake?

I. But one thing is necessary. (Luke x. 42). What is this one thing necessary? It is not necessary to acquire riches, nor to obtain dignities, nor to gain a great name. The only thing necessary is to love God. Whatever is not done for the love of God is lost. This is the greatest and the First Commandment of the Divine Law. To the Pharisee who asked which was the great Commandment of the Law, Jesus Christ answered: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart... This is the greatest and first commandment. (Matt. xxii. 37, 38). But this, the greatest of the commandments, is the most despised by men: there are few who fulfil it. The greater part of men love relatives, friends, and even brute animals, but do not love God. Of these St. John says that they have not life — that they are dead. He that loveth not abideth in death (1 Jo. iii. 14). St. Bernard says that the reward of a soul is estimated by the measure of her love for God.

Let us consider, then, how dear to us should be this command to love God with our whole heart. What object more noble, more magnificent, more powerful, more rich, more beautiful, more bountiful, more merciful, more grateful, more amiable, or more loving than Himself could God give us to love?

Who more noble than God? Some boast of a family nobility of five hundred or a thousand years; but the nobility of God our Father is eternal. He is the Lord of all. Before God all the Angels in Heaven, and all the nobles on earth are but as a drop of water or a grain of dust. Behold the Gentiles are but as a drop of a bucket — behold the islands are as a little dust (Is. xl. 15).

Who more powerful than God? He can do whatsoever He wills. By an act of His will He created this world, and by another act He can destroy it when He pleases.

Who more wealthy? He possesses all the riches of Heaven and earth.

Who more beautiful? Before the beauty of God all the beauties of creatures fade away.

Who more bountiful? St. Augustine says that God has a greater desire to do good to us than we have to receive it.

Who more merciful? If the most impious sinner on earth humble himself before God, and repent of his sins, God instantly pardons and embraces him.

Who more grateful? He does not leave unrewarded the smallest act we perform for His sake.

Who more amiable? God is so amiable that, by barely seeing and loving Him in Heaven, the Saints feel a joy which makes them perfectly happy and content for all eternity. The greatest of the torments of the damned arises from knowing that this God is so amiable, and that they cannot love Him.

O Infinite Goodness! O Infinite Love! My enamoured Jesus, fill my heart with Thy love so that I may forget myself, and think of nothing but of loving and pleasing Thee. I now consecrate to Thee my body, my soul, my will, my liberty. Till now I have sought to gratify myself to Thy great displeasure. I am exceedingly sorry, my crucified Love. I will henceforth seek nothing but Thee, my God and my All.

II. And who is more loving than God? In the Old Law men might doubt whether God loved them with a tender love; but, after seeing Him die on a Cross for us, how can we doubt the tenderness and the ardent affection with which He loves us? Let us raise our eyes and look at Jesus, the true Son of God, fastened with nails to a gibbet, and let us consider the intensity of the love which He bears us. That Cross, those Wounds, says St. Bernard, cry out, and proclaim to us that He truly loves us. And what more could He do to convince us of His great love than to lead a life of sorrow for thirty-three years, and afterwards die in torments on the infamous tree of the Cross, in order to wash away our sins with His own Blood? Christ also hath loved us, and hath delivered himself up for us. (Ephes. v. 2). Who hath loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood. (Apoc. i. 5). "How," says St. Philip Neri, "is it possible for him who believes in God to love anything but God?" Contemplating God's love towards men, St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi began one day to ring the bell, saying that she wished to invite all nations of the earth to love so loving a God. St. Francis de Sales used to say with tears: "To love our God it would be necessary to have an infinite love; and we throw away our love on vain, contemptible things."

Alas, my Jesus, how many times have I renounced Thy friendship and made myself a slave of Satan, dishonouring Thy Infinite Majesty! I grieve above all things for having so grievously insulted Thee. Ah, my God, bind my will to Thy feet with the sweet cords of Thy holy love, that it may wish for nothing but what pleases Thee. May I take Thy Will as the sole guide of my life. I renounce everything. Thou alone art sufficient for me.