Quote/s of the Day – 18 April – Maundy Thursday
Love, or the name of God
St John Climacus (579-649)
The Ladder of Divine Ascent; 30,6-9.21.16
God is love. (1Jn 4:8) So he who wishes to define this, tries with bleary eyes to measure the sand in the ocean.
Love, by reason of its nature, is a resemblance to God, as far as that is possible for mortals. In its activity it is inebriation of the soul and by its distinctive property, it is a fountain of faith, an abyss of patience, a sea of humility.
Love is essentially the banishment, of every kind of contrary, for love thinks no evil. Love, dispassion and adoption, are distinguished, as sons from one another, by name and name only. Just as light, fire and flame combine to form one power, it is the same with love, dispassion and adoption.
He who has perfectly united his feeling to God is mystically led by Him to an understanding of His words. But without this union, it is difficult to speak about God.
If the face of a loved one, clearly and completely changes us and makes us cheerful, joyous and carefree, what will the face of the Lord not do, when He makes His presence felt, invisibly in a soul?
“Love wakes much and sleeps little
and, in sleeping, does not sleep.
It faints but is not weary;
it is restricted in its liberty
and is great freedom.
It sees reasons to fear
and does not fear
but, like an ember or a spark of fire,
flames always upward,
by the fervour of its love, toward God
and through the special help of grace,
is delivered from all perils and dangers.”
Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471)
AnaStpaul 