Page:Sermons for all the Sundays in the year.djvu/53

 be kindled ?" God wishes nothing else from us than to be loved. Hence the holy Church prays in the following words: " We beseech thee, Lord, that thy Spirit may inflame us with that fire which Jesus Christ cast upon the Earth, and which he vehemently wished to be kindled. * Ah ! what have not the saints, inflamed with this fire, accomplished ! They have abandoned all things delights, honours, the purple and the sceptre that they might burn with this holy fire. But you will ask what are you to do, that you too may be inflamed with the love of Jesus Christ. Imitate David: " In my meditation a fire shall flame out" (Ps. xxxviii). Meditation is the blessed furnace in which the holy fire of divine love is kindled. Make mental prayer every day, meditate on the passion of Jesus Christ, and doubt not but you too shall burn with this blessed flame.

11. St. Paul says, that Jesus Christ died for us to make himself the master of the hearts of all. " To this end Christ died and rose again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living." (Rom. xiv. 9.) He wished, says the Apostle, to give his life for all men, without a single exception, that not even one should live any longer to himself, but that all might live only to that God who condescended to die for them. " And Christ died for all, that they also who live may not now live to themselves, but unto him who died for them." (2 Cor. v. 15.)

12. Ah! to correspond to the love of this God, it would be necessary that another God should die for him, as Jesus Christ died for us. ingratitude of men ! A God has condescended to give his life for their salvation, and they will not even think on what he has even done for them ! Ah ! if each of you thought frequently on the sufferings of the Redeemer., and on the love which he has shown to us in his passion, how could you but love him with your whole hearts? To him who sees with a lively faith the Son of God suspended by three nails on an infamous gibbet, every wound of Jesus speaks and says: " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God." Love, man, thy Lord and thy God, who has loved thee so intensely. "Who can resist such tender expressions ? " The wounds of Jesus Christ," says St. Bona-