Sirach,
Chapter 33, Verse 1
No evil can harm the one who fears
the LORD; through trials, again and again he is rescued.
What
is love? In his text On Loving God, St. Bernard surveys the four types
of love that Christians experience as they grow in their relationship with God:
loving one's self, selfish love, loving God as God, and loving one's self in
God. St. Bernard reminds us that not only did God give us life, but He gave us
Himself. For indeed, "God deserves to be loved very much, yea,
boundlessly, because He loved us first, He infinite and we nothing, loved us,
miserable sinners, with a love so great and so free." St. Bernard reminds
us that we are indebted to God for his love and His sacrifice. Not only should
we love God because it is what He deserves, but also because loving God does
not go without reward. Loving God is to our advantage. The Lord rewards those
who love Him with the blessed state of the heavenly Fatherland, where sorrow
and sadness cannot enter. St. Bernard's medieval prose is poetic and full of
clever imagery. His work is as beautiful as it is knowledgeable.
Emmalon Davis, CCEL Staff Writer
Of the first degree of love: wherein manloves God for self's sake[1]
Love is one of the four natural
affections, which it is needless to name since everyone knows them. And because
love is natural, it is only right to love the Author of nature first of all.
Hence comes the first and great commandment, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God.'
But nature is so frail and weak that necessity compels her to love herself
first; and this is carnal love, wherewith man loves himself first and
selfishly, as it is written, That was not first which is spiritual but that
which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual' (I Cor. 15.46). This
is not as the precept ordains but as nature directs: No man ever yet hated his
own flesh' (Eph. 5.29). But if, as is likely, this same love should grow
excessive and, refusing to be contained within the restraining banks of
necessity, should overflow into the fields of voluptuousness, then a command
checks the flood, as if by a dike: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself'.
And this is right: for he who shares our nature should share our love, itself
the fruit of nature.
Wherefore if a man find it a burden, I
will not say only to relieve his brother's needs, but to minister to his
brother's pleasures, let him mortify those same affections in himself, lest he
become a transgressor. He may cherish himself as tenderly as he chooses, if
only he remembers to show the same indulgence to his neighbor. This is the curb
of temperance imposed on thee, O man, by the law of life and conscience, lest
thou shouldest follow thine own lusts to destruction, or become enslaved by
those passions which are the enemies of thy true welfare. Far better divide
thine enjoyments with thy neighbor than with these enemies. And if, after the
counsel of the son of Sirach, thou goest not after thy desires but refrainest
thyself from thine appetites (Ecclus. 18.30); if according to the apostolic
precept having food and raiment thou art therewith content (I Tim. 6.8), then
thou wilt find it easy to abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the
soul, and to divide with thy neighbors what thou hast refused to thine own
desires. That is a temperate and righteous love which practices self-denial in
order to minister to a brother's necessity. So our selfish love grows truly
social, when it includes our neighbors in its circle.
But if thou art reduced to want by such
benevolence, what then? What indeed, except to pray with all confidence unto
Him who giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not (James 1.5), who openeth
His hand and filleth all things living with plenteousness (Ps. 145.16). For
doubtless He that giveth to most men more than they need will not fail thee as
to the necessaries of life, even as He hath promised: Seek ye the Kingdom of
God, and all those things shall be added unto you' (Luke 12.31). God freely
promises all things needful to those who deny themselves for love of their
neighbors; and to bear the yoke of modesty and sobriety, rather than to let sin
reign in our mortal body (Rom. 6.12), that is indeed to seek the Kingdom of God
and to implore His aid against the tyranny of sin. It is surely justice to
share our natural gifts with those who share our nature.
But
if we are to love our neighbors as we ought, we must have regard to God also:
for it is only in God that we can pay that debt of love aright. Now a man
cannot love his neighbor in God, except he love God Himself; wherefore we must
love God first, in order to love our neighbors in Him. This too, like all good
things, is the Lord's doing, that we should love Him, for He hath endowed us
with the possibility of love. He who created nature sustains it; nature is so
constituted that its Maker is its protector for ever. Without Him nature could
not have begun to be; without Him it could not subsist at all. That we might
not be ignorant of this, or vainly attribute to ourselves the beneficence of
our Creator, God has determined in the depths of His wise counsel that we
should be subject to tribulations. So when man's strength fails and God comes
to his aid, it is meet and right that man, rescued by God's hand, should
glorify Him, as it is written, Call upon Me in the time of trouble; so will I
hear thee, and thou shalt praise Me' (Ps. 50.15). In such wise man, animal and
carnal by nature, and loving only himself, begins to love God by reason of that
very self-love; since he learns that in God he can accomplish all things that
are good, and that without God he can do nothing.
Voluntary Fasting
It is customary for some Christians to voluntarily begin fasting in preparation for the Great Fast of Lent. Their fasts become progressively more ascetic, culminating in the abstinence of meat beginning on the Thursday before Ash Wednesday. The name for this period, which begins on Thursday and ends the day before Ash Wednesday, is "Carnival," from the Latin carne levarium, meaning "removal of meat."
NOVENA TO THE HOLY FACE
DAILY PREPARATORY PRAYER
We now implore all the Angels and Saints to intercede for us as we pray this Holy Novena to the Most Holy Face of Jesus and for the glory of the most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
(Start novena)
Third Day
You are just when you pass sentence on me, blameless when you give judgment. You know I was born guilty, a sinner from the moment of conception.
Prayer of Pope Pius IX
O Jesus! Cast upon us a look of mercy; turn your Face towards each of us as you did to Veronica; not that we may see it with our bodily eyes, for this we do not deserve, but turn it towards our hearts, so that, remembering you, we may ever draw from this fountain of strength the vigor necessary to sustain the combats of life. Amen. Mary, Our Mother, and Saint Joseph, pray for us.
Through the merits of your precious blood and your Holy Face, O Jesus, grant us our petition, Pardon and Mercy.
Prayer of Saint Francis
All highest, glorious God, cast your light into the darkness of our hearts, give us true faith, firm hope, perfect charity and profound humility, so that with wisdom, courage and perception, O Lord, we may do what is truly your holy will. Amen.
To the Angels and Saints
We salute you, through the Holy Face and Sacred Heart of Jesus, O all you Holy Angels and Saints of God. We rejoice in your glory, and we give thanks to our Lord for all the benefits which He has showered upon you; we praise Him and glorify Him, and offer you for an increase of your joy and honor, the most Holy Face and gentle Heart of Jesus. Pray that we may become formed according to the heart of God. Amen.
Pray (1) Our Father, three (3) Hail
Mary’s, one (1) Glory Be.
O Bleeding Face, O Face Divine, be every adoration Thine. (Three times)
O Bleeding Face, O Face Divine, be every adoration Thine. (Three times)
[1]
On Loving God, Chap. VIII. St. Bernard of Clairvaux
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