fire upon the earth; " and what must have been the latent intensity of that fire that could enkindle and sustain such a mighty conflagration!
Brethren, you will ask me what this love is, and how you are to know whether you possess it or not. Love of Jesus is never a product of our own industry. It is a garment, so precious that it can be woven only by the hand of God Himself. It is a delicate tropical plant, which will not flourish in the frigid climate of our hearts unless planted therein and nourished by the celestial gardener. But it is ours to cooperate, not in word alone, not in sentiment nor in tearful emotion, but in an honest and persevering effort to do the will of God in deed and in truth. " If any man loves Me," says Our Lord, " he will keep My commandments." " Love God above all things and thy neighbor as thyself " is an epitome of the Decalogue, and since, in the Sacred Heart, God and humanity are inseparably blended, therefore the love and the imitation of the Sacred Heart is the whole law and the prophets. This devotion is the surest mark of predestination; it is peculiarly the devotion of the saints, for by it they are made participants of the divine nature here and hereafter. " If any man love Me," says Christ, " My Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our abode with him here, and we will manifest ourselves to him hereafter in the happy kingdom of the blessed."
