How We Can Fulfil the Greatest Commandment
- SAINT JOHN EUDES
We shall never be able to understand adequately and esteem at its full value the inconceivable grace our Lord has granted us through the gift of his divine heart.
Let us picture someone who was such a favourite of a king that he could truthfully say: "The king's heart belongs to me." What happiness and joy to be so favoured! But we have infinitely more than the heart of an earthly king. We have the heart of the King of kings, who loves us so ardently that each one of us can truly say: "The heart of Jesus belongs to me." Yes, this admirable heart is mine. It is mine because the eternal Father has given it to me; it is mine because the Blessed Virgin has given it to me; it is mine because he himself has given it to me, not only to be my refuge and shelter in my needs, to be my oracle and my treasure, but also to be the model and rule of my life and of my actions.
What happiness and what wealth to possess the divine heart of Jesus! What a treasure to have at our disposal! How great is our obligation, O my Saviour, because of your incomprehensible goodness! You ask the eternal Father to make us one with him and with you, as you and he are one. Consequently, you wish us to be one in heart with you and with your adorable Father. You have made us children of your heavenly Father; you have given us your divine heart, so that we may love the Father with your very own heart. You have assured us that the adorable Father loves us even as he loves you. You love us with the same heart with which the Father loves you: As the Father has loved me, I also have loved you. Thus you give us your heart that we may love the Father and yourself with the same heart and with the same love with which you love us.
O my Saviour, extend the power of your eternal arm to separate me from myself and unite me to you. Pluck out my miserable heart and replace it with your own, enabling me to say: I will give praise to you, O Lord, with my whole heart. I will praise you and love you, my Lord, with my whole heart—with the great heart of Jesus, which is my own heart. O all-lovable and all-loving heart of my Saviour, be the heart of my heart, the soul of my soul, the spirit of my spirit, the life of my life and the sole principle of all my thoughts, words, and actions.
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Acknowledgement
Saint John Eudes. "How We Can Fulfil the Greatest Commandment," excerpt from Meditations on Various Subjects. P.J. Kenedy, (1947).
Reprinted under fair use. Image credit: Carl Bloch, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
The Author
Saint John Eudes († 1680) was largely responsible for initiating and popularising devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Copyright © 1947 P.J. Kenedy
