Meditation for February 1, Undivided Love

"There are three degrees of perfection:
The first, to detest evil for love of the Beloved;
the second, to do good for the sake of the Beloved whom we wish to please;
and the highest of all, to love only the Beloved." (St. Albert the Great.)

I must aspire to this highest degree of perfection if I wish to ar­rive at the ideal demanded by my religious life in its noblest and fullest sense.

I must permit not even the appearance of a division of my heart's affections. "Love only the Beloved." Jesus has a right to all. I have no room for another love.

When St. Agnes was asked to give herself to earthly love she an­swered, "That is impossible, I have already given my heart; I be­long to someone else; I am no longer free."

Virginal love demands this uncompromising spirit which is its most beautiful character. A young wife is not only faithful to her husband, but she attempts even the impossible to prove her love. It requires only little things to reveal love - a bouquet here, a lit­tle attention there... mere trifles in themselves--but they are the eloquent language of that magnificent force - love.

We would do well to add to the words of St. Albert, "love only the Beloved" the counsel, "neglect nothing to show your love to your Beloved."

"O Jesus, Love of my soul, grant that I may know how to prove my love with more than words. You wish not merely beautiful, emotional words, but actions which are the living, effective proofs of the divine. exclusiveness of a tried love."

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Adapted from Meditations for Religious
by Father Raoul Plus, S.J. (© 1939, Frederick Pustet Co.)