Saturday, August 24 : Saint Charles de Foucauld

Love does not consist in feeling that one loves but in wanting to love. When we want to love then we love; when we want to love more than anything, we love more than anything. If we chance to give way to temptation this is because our love is too weak, not because it does not exist. Then we must weep like Saint Peter, repent like Saint Peter…, but also like him, say three times over: “I love you; I love you; you know that, in spite of my weaknesses and sins, I love you” (cf. Jn 21:15f.). As for the love that Jesus has for us, he has proved it to us sufficiently for us to believe in it without feeling it. To feel that we love him and he loves us would be heaven, but heaven, except at rare moments and with rare exceptions, is not for this world. Let us frequently recount the twofold history of the graces God has given us personally since our birth and of our infidelities. There we will find… reason for losing ourselves in a boundless trust in his love. He loves us because he is good, not because we are good – don’t mothers love their wayward children? And we will find something with which to bury ourselves in humility and self-mistrust. Let us try to reclaim our sins by loving our neighbor and by the good we have done to our neighbor. Charity towards our neighbor, attempts to do good to others, are an excellent remedy for counteracting temptation. This is to move from mere defense to counter-attack.

maronite readings – rosary,team