Love is born

"Love is born of ardent prayer, be therefore first of all a soul of prayer.” –St. Peter Eynard

Love is born of knowledge.  You cannot love what you do not know.  The more you know, the more you understand, the more you will love.  If you wish to love God, pray.  Speak with Him, spend time with Him, discover Him! The more you know the more you will fall in love.  The same is true of your spouse.  If you wish to love him more, you must spend time in his presence and seek deeper and deeper understanding. 

Emptying and filling

For your love to be an eternal exchange, you must be emptying yourself while your lover is filling you, and you must fill your lover while he is emptying himself filling you.  In this way neither of your treasures is lost and each of you is full always.  This giving and receiving must be mutual and simultaneous, or you will find yourselves exhausted!  If you are not receiving until you have completely given, then you will be empty! Then you cannot give to your lover, who now full gives completely but can receive nothing because you have nothing to give; now he is empty.  No wonder you have so much strife in your relationship! Learn to give and receive at the same time.  This requires, as always, communication and trust. 

In-laws

"Honor your father-in-law and mother-in-law; they are now your parents.” Tobit 10:12

Such is the parting wisdom of Raguel to his daughter Sarah.  And you would do well to accept it! If you and your spouse are one, then you are he and he is you.  Your parents are each other’s parents now.

Every action with Love

Performing every action with love requires you to be in the present moment at all times, for God Himself is Love, and He is found only in the present moment.

Men who weep

"Raguel sprang up and kissed him, shedding tears of joy. But when he heard that Tobit has lost his eyesight, he was grieved and wept aloud…He continued to weep in the arms of his kinsman Tobiah.” Tobit 7:6-7

How rich and deep were the souls of holy men of the past! See how they weep with joy, with sorrow, are quick to express their affections. Where have they gone? Truly, a man of strength and deep love for God would weep in these occaisions of celebration and true sorrow. Men, do not confuse the weak petty emotions of tepid souls today with the deep, rich, strong movements in fervent souls. Grow close to God, and do not fear the latter, for it is good and holy.

Love allows choice

You may think that your obsession with putting virtue in another, in controlling their environment, in keeping them from doing the wrong thing, is loving them.  You fool! Love must go hand in hand with freedom, or it is not love.  Love allows the other the choice to love, because if it is not a choice, then it is not love.

God’s gift to woman

Note that God has written on the woman’s heart a deep longing to be found beautiful, to be delighted in! Praise our Lord that He has then created in man one who will delight in her!  Men, do not forget that your struggles with visual stimulation are a fight for that which is good and pure.  That same thing which can draw you to sin is meant to draw you to your wife and fulfill the deep longing in her heart.  Do not fail her! Give yourself to God that He might rightly order His creation.