Sunday, July 5 : Saint Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort
“O the depth, the immensity and the incomprehensibility of the Wisdom of God” (Rom. 11:33) : Generationem ejus quis enarrabit? (Is. 53:8; Acts 8:33). Who is the angel so enlightened, who is the man rash enough as to attempt to give us an adequate explanation of the origin of eternal Wisdom? … He is the substantial and eternal idea of divine beauty which was shown to St. John the Evangelist in his ecstatic vision on the island of Patmos, when he exclaimed, “In the beginning was the Word – the Son of God, or eternal Wisdom – and the Word was in God and the Word was God” (Jn. 1:1). This eternal beauty, ever supremely loving, is so intent on winning man’s friendship that for this very purpose he has written a book in which he describes his own excellence and his desire for man’s friendship. This book reads like a letter written by a lover to win the affections of his loved one, for in it he expresses such ardent desires for the heart of man, such tender longings for man’s friendship, such loving invitations and promises, that you would say he could not possibly be the sovereign Lord of heaven and earth and at the same time need the friendship of man to be happy… Finally, in order to draw closer to men and give them a more convincing proof of his love, eternal Wisdom went so far as to become man, even to become a little child, to embrace poverty and to die upon a cross for them. How many times while here on earth could he be heard pleading, “Come to me, come to me, all of you. Do not be afraid, it is I. Why are you afraid? I am just like you; I love you. Are you afraid because you are sinners? But they are the very ones I am looking for; I am the friend of sinners. If it is because you have strayed from the fold through your own fault, then I am the good shepherd. If it is because you are weighted down with sin, covered with grime and utterly dejected, then that is just why you should come to me for I will unburden you, purify you and console you.”
Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team
