Quote of the day, 21 July: St. Raphael Kalinowski

‘Do you love me? Do you love me?’ [Cf. Jn 21:15-17]. Love gives strength to do the will of God in every situation, to avoid everything that might displease Him, to work and to suffer for His glory.

St. Teresa wanted to suffer or to die; St. Magdalen de Pazzi did not want to die, but to suffer.

Love is strong as death [Sg 8:6]. And just as nothing can resist death, love gives strength to triumph over every challenge. Then you don’t feel pain, and if you do you welcome it. From this fire of God’s love the flame of love of neighbor arises.

Anyone who loves God with all his heart desires that God be loved by all and this desire pervades his whole life. #StRaphaelKalinowski

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But who is able to achieve such a degree of perfect love, which will free our soul from attachment to any earthly goods and completely unite our will with God’s will?

When the Divine Savior again asks us for our hearts, let us ask Him to take them to Himself; only He can purify them and light the fire of holy love and an ardent desire to be detached from everything and to want only His holy will.

Timothy Tierney, O.C.D.

Chapter 8, Vicar Provincial for the Carmelite nuns (1901)

Tierney, T  2016,  Saint Raphael Kalinowski: Apprenticed to Sainthood in Siberia,  Balboa Press,  Bloomington, IN