Thursday, July 21 : Saint Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

If we are to love God fully in heaven we must first of all love him fully on earth. The degree of love we have for God at the end of our life will be the measure of our love for God during eternity. Would we like to gain the certainty of never being separated from this sovereign Good in the present life? Let us compel Him ever more with the bonds of our love, saying with the Bride in the Song of Songs: “I found him whom my soul loves: I took hold of him and will not let him go” (3,4). How has the consecrated Bride taken hold of her Beloved? “With the arms of charity,” William answers…; “It is with the arms of charity that we take hold of God,” Saint Ambrose repeats. Happy, then, is the one who can exclaim together with Saint Paulinus: “Let the rich possess their riches, let kings possess their kingdoms: our glory, our wealth and the kingdom that is ours is Christ!” And with Saint Ignatius: “Only grant me your love and your grace and I shall be rich enough.” Make me love you and may I be loved by you; I neither wish for, nor need wish for anything besides.

maronite readings – rosary,team