Meditation for February 13, Knowledge Inspires Love

I cannot bestow my affections freely upon persons or things be­fore I have come to know them well. Love implies knowledge.

Love is inflamed in the heart and grows more profound in propor­tion as the endearing traits and noble characteristics of the beloved unfold themselves.

In his study of the states of prayer, Bossuet declares, "I propose as a foundation that the principle of real adoration is true knowl­edge. Prayer is an act of the reason." He does not mean that it is solely an act of reason, since, he says elsewhere, "Knowledge must turn to love"; to love is to desire the beloved. But it is a known fact that the heart is not inflamed and the will is not fixed until the reason has been enlightened.

I must be alert and make every effort to acquire a better under­standing of my faith. If my spiritual life is not based upon doc­trine, it is completely out of balance and lacks a firm foundation. It totters easily and when fervor cools, the whole spiritual edifice topples because the principles which should have served as its basis do not exist.

I thank God for the solidity of the religious training I have re­ceived and continue to receive through my participation in com­munity life. I will lovingly study my faith and seek to understand more thoroughly its important dogmas together with the moral and spiritual obligations which they impose.

I will try to know Our Lord better both in His human nature and His Mystical Body, that is as He was during His life in Palestine and as He now exists in the members of His Church. The great marvel of Catholicism is that it not only teaches doctrine but also requires the gift of oneself to a Person, the Person of the Savior. The more I know Jesus, the more I shall love Him. I will neglect nothing that would help me to know Him better.
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Adapted from Meditations for Religious
by Father Raoul Plus, S.J. (© 1939, Frederick Pustet Co.)