God has loved each one of us since the beginning of time. He has willed our being into existence and like a tender mother, watches over us day and night. Reflect with St. Francis de Sales on the eternal love God has for the souls of mankind.
Destined to Life and Love Eternal
CONSIDER the eternal love which God has borne towards you; for already, long before Jesus Christ had suffered for you on the cross as man, His Divine Majesty destined you to life and loved you infinitely. But when did He begin to love you? When He began to be God. And when did He begin to be God? Never; He has always been, without beginning and without end; and thus He has always loved you, and it is from all eternity that His love prepared for you the graces and favors which He has given you. He says by the prophet: “I have loved thee,” (speaking to you as to everyone else) “with an everlasting love, and I have mercifully drawn thee to Me.” Among other things, He has thought of making you take good resolutions to love and serve Him.
Oh, how amiable is this great God who, of His infinite goodness, has given His Son as a redemption for the whole world! Yes, alas! For all in general, but still in particular for me, who am the chief of sinners. Ah! He loved me; I say, He loved me, me, that is myself, such as I am, and delivered Himself to His Passion for me.
We must consider the divine benefits in their first and eternal origin. O God! My Theotime, how can we have worthy or sufficient love for the infinite goodness of our Creator, who from all eternity designed to create us, to preserve, govern, redeem, save, and glorify, all in general, and each one of us in particular? Who was I when I was not—I, I say, who, being now something, am nothing but a mere contemptible worm of the earth? And yet God, from the abyss of His eternity, thought thoughts of benediction on me. Thus He meditated and appointed the hour of my birth, of my Baptism, of all the inspirations which He would give me, and in a word of all the benefits which He would bestow upon and offer me. Alas! Is there any sweetness like this sweetness?
God Prepared All for Our Salvation
In its love and mercy the Divine Goodness prepared all means, general and particular, for our salvation. Yes, indeed, as a mother prepares the cradle, the linens, the swathing bands, and even a nourishment, for the infant to which she is about to give birth, so Our Lord, in the desire of bringing us forth to salvation and of making us His children, prepared on the tree of the cross all that was requisite for us: our spiritual cradle, our linens, our swathing bands, our nourishment, and all else that was necessary for us. These are the means, the attractions, the graces, by which He conducts our souls and draws them to His perfection.
Our Names Are Fixed Upon His Heart
We must consider the divine benefits in their second meritorious source; for do you not know, Theotime, that the high priest of the Law carried on his shoulders and breast the names of the children of Israel, that is to say, precious stones on which the names of the chiefs of Israel were engraved? Behold Jesus, our great Bishop, and look upon Him from the moment of His conception; consider that He carries us on His shoulders, accepting the charge of redeeming us by His death, even the death of the cross. O Theotime, Theotime! This soul of the Saviour knew us all by our name and our surname; but, above all, on the day of His Passion, when He offered His tears, His prayers, His blood, and His life for us all, He darted forth in particular for you these thoughts of love: “Alas! O my Eternal Father, I take upon me and charge myself with all the sins of poor Theotime, to suffer torments and death, that he may be acquitted of them, and that he may not perish, but may live. May I die, provided he lives! May I be crucified, provided he be glorified!” O sovereign love of the Heart of Jesus, what heart can ever praise Thee sufficiently?
Thus, within His breast, maternal breast, the divine Heart foresaw, arranged, merited, and impetrated all the blessings we possess, not only in general for all, but in particular for each one; and His paps of sweetness prepared for us the milk of His motions, His inspirations, and His sweetnesses, by which He draws, conducts, and nourishes our souls to eternal life. Benefits will not affect us, if we do not regard the eternal Will that destined them, and the Heart of the Saviour that merited them for us by so many pains, especially during His Passion and death.
The Divine Love, seated on the Heart of the Saviour, as on a royal throne, beholds through the window of His pierced side all the hearts of the children of men; for Our Lord, being the King of Hearts, keeps His eyes always fixed on hearts. But as those who look through lattices see and are not seen, so the divine love of this Heart, or rather the Heart of this divine love, always sees ours clearly, but we do not see it, we only get a glimpse of it. For, O God! If we were to see it as it is, we should die of love for it.
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This article is taken from a chapter in St. Francis de Sales Signature Set Volume II: Consoling Thoughts by Saint Francis de Sales which is available from TAN Books.
