Thursday, October 24 : Saint John of Avila

Alas, what is not our misery! We remain far from God and we suffer so little that we don’t even feel it! I believe that the cause of our lukewarmness lies in the fact that as long as we have not tasted God, we cannot know what it is to be hungry, nor what it is to be satisfied. This is why we are not hungry for him and that we never have enough of creatures. Our heart remains cold, it is divided between God and created things, it is lazy, without strength and has no taste for the things of God. Now the Lord wants at His service, not lukewarm souls, but hearts enkindled with the fire which he brought on earth and that he wants to see burning (cf. LC 12,49). For this fire to burn, he let himself be consumed on the cross. He wanted us to collect wood from the Cross, in order to warm us to His flame and respond with love to His immense love; Because it is just that we are cut with a sweet wound of love when we see that he is not only hurt, but put to death for our love. Yes, it’s just that we are the prey of the love of the one who gave himself out of love to cruel hands(…) If the fire begins to alight in us, take care to cover it for fear that the wind would not extinguish it. Hide it under the ashes of humility and silence, and he will not die. But above all, let’s approach the fire that is lit and burning, I mean Jesus Christ our Lord to the Blessed Sacrament. Let’s open our souls, the mouth of our desire and let’s run quench our thirst at the source of living water.

Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team