I
Love because I Love, I Love that I may Love
Love is sufficient of itself, it gives pleasure by
itself and because of itself. It is its own merit, its own reward. Love looks
for no cause outside itself, no effect beyond itself. Its profit lies in its
practice. I love because I love, I love that I may love. Love is a great thing
so long as it continually returns to its fountainhead, flows back to its
source, always drawing from there the water which constantly replenishes it. Of
all the movements, sensations and feelings of the soul, love is the only one in
which the creature can respond to the Creator and make some sort of similar
return however unequal though it be. For when God loves, all he desires is to
be loved in return; the sole purpose of his love is to be loved, in the
knowledge that those who love him are made happy by their love of him.
The Bridegroom’s love, or rather the love which is the
Bridegroom, asks in return nothing but faithful love. Let the beloved, then,
love in return. Should not a bride love, and above all, Love’s bride? Could it
be that Love not be loved?
Rightly then does she give up all other feelings and
give herself wholly to love alone; in giving love back, all she can do is to
respond to love. And when she has poured out her whole being in love, what is
that in comparison with the unceasing torrent of that original source? Clearly,
lover and Love, soul and Word, bride and Bridegroom, creature and Creator do
not flow with the same volume; one might as well equate a thirsty man with the
fountain.
What then of the bride’s hope, her aching desire, her
passionate love, her confident assurance? Is all this to wilt just because she
cannot match stride for stride with her giant, any more than she can vie with
honey for sweetness, rival the lamb for gentleness, show herself as white as
the lily, burn as bright as the sun, be equal in love with him who is Love? No.
It is true that the creature loves less because she is less. But if she loves
with her whole being, nothing is lacking where everything is given. To love so
ardently then is to share the marriage bond; she cannot love so much and not be
totally loved, and it is in the perfect union of two hearts that complete and
total marriage consists. Or are we to doubt that the soul is loved by the Word
first and with a greater love?
Source: The Liturgy of the Hours – Office of Readings
From a Sermon by Saint
Bernard, abbot
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for your interest in our blog! Your comment will be viewed shortly to be added to our blog. :)