Tuesday, September 17 : Saint Anselm

Since to reign in heaven is nothing other than to cleave to God and all the saints through love with single-minded will, such that all together express one and the same power: love God more than yourself and you will already begin to lay hold of what you desire to possess perfectly in heaven. Make your peace with both God and with others – at least, unless these latter separate themselves from God – and already you will begin to reign together with God and the saints. Because, to the extent that you bring yourself into harmony with the will of both God and men, God and the saints will be in harmony with your will. And so, if you wish to become a king in heaven, love God and love others as you ought and you will be worthy of becoming what you desire. However, you won’t be able to possess this love perfectly until you empty your heart of every other love… Indeed, that is why those who fill their hearts with love for God and neighbor have no other will but that of God – or of some other person provided it is not contrary to God. That is why they are faithful to prayer and to conversing about and keeping heaven in mind. For it is their happiness to desire God and to speak of him whom they love, to hear him spoken about and to bear him in mind. That too, is why they rejoice with those who are joyful and weep with those who weep (Rom 12:15), they have compassion for the unfortunate and give to the poor, for they love others as themselves… Yes indeed, this is how “the whole Law and the prophets” depend on these two commandments of love.

Roman Extraordinary (Tridentine) Daily Readings – rosary,team