Thursday, June 2 : Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus

I want to be able to say to you, O my God: “I have glorified you on earth; I have finished the work you gave me to do. I have manifested your name to those whom you have given me (…). Father, I will that where I am these also whom you have given me may be with me, and that the world may know that you have loved them as you have loved me” (cf. Jn 17:4 f.). Yes, Lord, this is what I would like to repeat after you before flying into your arms. Perhaps this is boldness? No, for a long time you permitted me to be bold with You. You have said to me as the father of the prodigal son said to his older son: “Everything that is mine is yours” (Lk 15:31). Your words, O Jesus, are mine, then, and I can make use of them to draw upon the souls united to me the favors of the heavenly Father. (…) Your love has gone before me, and it has grown with me, and now it is an abyss whose depths I cannot fathom. Love attracts love, and, my Jesus, my love leaps toward yours; it would like to fill the abyss which attracts it, but alas! it is not even like a drop of dew lost in the ocean! For me to love you as you love me, I would have to borrow your own love, and then only would I be at rest. O my Jesus, it is perhaps an illusion but it seems to me that you cannot fill a soul with more love than the love with which You have filled mine; it is for this reason that I dare to ask you to love those whom you have given me with the love with which you loved me. One day, in heaven if I discover you love them more than me, I shall rejoice at this, recognizing that these souls merit your love much more than I do; but here on earth, I cannot conceive a greater immensity of love than the one which it has pleased you to give me freely, without any merit on my part.
Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team