Sunday, October 25 : St Hildegard of Bingen
In harmony, love assigns to all things their proper measure… For true love—wholly divine—there exists a good far more precious and desirable than anything else. It draws all who seek it, gathering them around itself. In its justice, it values the merits of heavenly desires and spiritual yearnings—divinely inspired—just as highly as the deeds of one who strengthens himself in the love of God. This is evident to those who love God with a perfect love: “I, the Lord, search the heart and test the mind, to give to each according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.” (Jeremiah 17:10) True lovers of God must seek no one but Him under false pretenses. They reject any prompting of their own concupiscence that would draw them toward another object. Alas, all too often, man seeks and carries out his own will, as demonstrated by the temptation of Adam. Yet, he cannot serve both God and the devil, for the devil hates what God loves, and vice versa. So it is with man: the flesh delights in sin while the soul thirsts for righteousness; hence the violent struggle between them. Man’s strength is exhausted in this combat, for the servant is compelled to serve his master. Either the flesh subdues the soul for sin, or the soul subjugates the flesh and accomplishes what is good. When man follows the desire of his soul out of love for God, he renounces himself and lives as a stranger on this earth. (…) Once he has turned toward the good and his wounds have been washed in the blood of the Lamb, the angelic hosts, beholding this healing, sing the praises of the wondrous God. Let the man who fears God, who loves Him, set his heart to heed these words!
Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team
