Opening Prayer
Lord, you are the supreme Good, the entire Good, the only true and upright Good. You are the one who is always wholly desirable, without beginning or end, unchanging and beyond all words or understanding.
Let nothing hinder me and nothing separate me from your affection. Grant that I may desire nothing except my Creator, Redeemer, and Savior, holding you in my heart at all times and in every place.
Amen.
Matthew 20:20-28
20Then came to him the mother of the sons of Zebedee with her sons, adoring and asking something of him. 21Who said to her: What wilt thou? She saith to him: Say that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on thy left, in thy kingdom. 22And Jesus answering, said: You know not what you ask. Can you drink the chalice that I shall drink? They say to him: We can. 23He saith to them: My chalice indeed you shall drink; but to sit on my right or left hand, is not mine to give to you, but to them for whom it is prepared by my Father. 24And the ten hearing it, were moved with indignation against the two brethren. 25But Jesus called them to him, and said: You know that the princes of the Gentiles lord it over them; and they that are the greater, exercise power upon them. 26It shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be the greater among you, let him be your minister: 27And he that will be first among you, shall be your servant. 28Even as the Son of man is not come to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a redemption for many.
St. Augustine
St. Augustine uses the analogy of a “bridegroom and a ring”. If a bride “cherishes the ring more than the bridegroom”, she is guilty of adultery. Augustine evaluated that God forbids you to set your heart upon created things. The narrative of grace is that the very “pledge of love” (the gift) can “turn the heart away” if we aren’t careful. Augustine warns: “All the abundance I have that is not my God is only poverty”.
Just as a bride who cherishes her wedding ring but has no desire to see her husband’s face would be found guilty of a kind of adultery, so the soul must not let God’s pledges of love turn its heart away from Him. Practically, this means using the beauty of the world—a sunset or a good meal—as a scaffold to climb toward the Creator rather than a destination to stop at.
“Beware of loving the “ring” (the creation) more than the “Bridegroom” (the Creator). We must use the gifts of this world only to lead us back to the Giver.”
— St. Augustine
Mary and the Magisterium
Mary never cherished created things above the Giver. She admired the beauty of the world only to “love her Creator” more. She was the “faithful bride” who used the world as a “pledge of love” to bind her heart closer to God, never allowing the gift to turn her heart away from His face.
- If God took away my "ring" (my primary worldly comfort), would I still "long to see His face"?
- Am I "admirer of created things" only so that I may "love the Creator"?
Closing Prayer
My Creator, You are worthy to be loved above all things and all others.
Amen.
