Lest You Remain

Societies and Orders, brought together by one Spirit, and the love of one God, would live in the most perfect love. ( Inspectio Cordis ) 5 “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son” (John 3:16). Occupy your thoughts with contemplating the love of God for people, a love which is so great, that neither human nor angelic tongue may express it, nor any mind comprehend it. Even if you had overlooked other acts of love, and if nothing else had been revealed to us except for the truth that, for the salvation of all mankind, God decided and gave His one and only Son as a holocaust, this alone would suffice to prove the infi- nite, disinterested and incomprehensible love. Contemplate how much love God gives you every day, how much He gave you at the beginning of the world. Out of love to you, He created an immense universe. He placed bright stars in the sky to give you the light that you need. Out of love for you, He created such a variety of birds and reptiles and numerous shoals of fish in the waters. He painted the earth with beauty and adorned it with a diversity of trees, flowers and herbs, out of love to you. Do your eyes lack anything to admire? Can your heart long for anything else to satisfy it? Does your soul lack anything to refresh it? Evidently the Most Merciful Father believed that what He did out of love for you would have been insufficient and paltry, had he not sacrificed His One and Only Son to death for your salvation. The Great God so loved the world, so loved mankind and so loved you, the ungrateful one! Feel ashamed and blush for shame, that you have done nothing out of disinter- ested love for Him, that you have not performed any act worth remembering, that you have not devoted yourself to practicing any serious virtue. Moreover, if you inspect your heart more carefully, you will see that you returned evil for good, hate for love, offenses for blessings, ingratitude for graces. It is revealed through your serious trespasses, the infinite number of which, you will see during a careful self- examination. Therefore, for the sake of the Everlasting God, promise now, to mourn, not only for your trespasses, but also for those of others, and through sufficient atone- ment, to reconcile with the majesty of God! ( Inspectio Cordis ) Fr. Founder’s Selected Thoughts on the Religious Life 139