love calls for love in return

Eph 1:11-14; Ps 33 Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own; Luke 12:1-7


Words of the doctor from spain, St Teresa of Avila

"whenever we think of Christ we should recall the love that led him to bestow on us so many graces and favors, and also the great love God showed in giving us in Christ a pledge of his love; for love calls for love in return.

Let us strive to keep this always before our eyes and to rouse ourselves to love him. For if at some time the lord should grant us the grace of impressing his love on our hearts, all will become easy for us and we shall accompolish great things quickly and withut effort."


For love calls for love in return!

What love should we recall? What love should we seek to return?

St. Paul in Galatians 2:19-20 shares with us this reality.

First in spanish just becasue I like the way it sounds in spansih, "Vivo de la fe en el Hijo de Dios, que me amo hasta entregarse por mi....it is a life of faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me....

entregarse in spanish means to surrender, hand over, to devote oneself to...Jesus surrender his life as an act of devotion to each of us...This is the love we are called to recall, this is the love we desire to be impressed upon our hearts.

This is why the crucifix is prominent in every Catholic Church. Our Mother, the church, does not want us to lose sight of such a gift, such great devotion that when seen should stir not guilt but deep appreciation and a deeper desire to return the favor with a life lived in faith in the Son of God.

Here we discover our worth, as JEsus says in the gospel, "we are worth more than many sparrows."

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. May we always be the bird in the hand of Christ whose gentle caress teaches us how to soar in love.

(the picture above is of the pillow St Teresa would lay her head upon when she would rest....nothing like a 4x6 to get that necessary 6 hours of shut eye)