Basking in the Flame of God’s Infinite Love
[Jesus] I know not how to love you as much as I ought. My Jesus, he who does not love cannot live … May I be entirely lost in love … and may I be nothing more than flames of love. May your passion… be my guide for all eternity, all fire and flames. (OOCC, X, pp. 226 - 227; STA, 541)
As the children of the heavenly Father we are called to love him and relish his love deep in our being. For God has loved us with an everlasting love and has called us as his own. Responding to the fire and flames of God’s love has been always difficult for a human person. He always finds himself in diverse situations where he has to make the choice between love of God and love of the world. St. Vincent Pallotti, being caught up in this tug-of- war, often found fault with himself, saying that he did not know how to love God as much as he wanted. At the same time, he was conscious of the truth that he who did not love could not live a genuine and Christian life. St. Vincent wished to be lost entirely in the love of God. He desired to become nothing more than a flame of God’s love. The contemplation and imitation of the passion of Jesus did help him to make a joyful response of love to God. Living with an ardent desire to love God, to live with him, and to enjoy his presence, St. Vincent Pallotti made attempts to surrender himself to God, thereby basking in the genuine Love of God.
Do I recognize that I am called to love God and enjoy his love? Do I believe that he who does not love cannot live? Do I make a joyful response to the love of God by my contemplation on the passion of Jesus? Do I bask in God’s love every day of my life?
With age-old love I have loved you; so I have kept my mercy towards you. Again I shall restore you, and you shall be rebuilt. (Jer. 31: 3 - 4)