of St Margaret Mary
carnet-de-careme-2017-vf-1-lg.pdf (sacrecoeur-paray.org)
The prophets
“I will open your tombs
And I’ll get you out! Oracle of the Lord.
And I’ll bring you back to the land of Israel ” Ez 37,12
Return to the Promised Land, where flow
water and honey, where man can love his
God and love his brother.
We enter the time of the Passion and we contemplate Jesus who will, on the one hand, open the doors
of this double reconciliation, and on the other hand show us the way to be true
sons of the Father, true brothers.
With Claude, let’s go back to charity, as love of neighbour.
5th Sunday
The Commandment of Love
“To love as we want to be loved by men, love as we love each other
ourselves, to love us as Jesus Christ loved, here, gentlemen, are the three rules that
contain the duties of charity that wemust have for our brothers ”
5th Monday
Universal Charity
“I say that charity should be universal and that no man should be excluded
of our love. How we wish to be loved by everyone and
that not a single enemy would be able to disturb the rest of our life, it is just
that we love everyone in return. And it is true that the hatred of one
alone of our brothers, when we would have for all the others the feelings
the most charitable, entirely destroys charity. The motive of charity is
universal. As to lose faith, it is enough to doubt a single point of the
religion, also to lose charity, it is enough for one man to be banished from
our heart “
5th Tuesday
Charity, such a favorable law!
“The reason why God ordained that charity should be universal is
that He apprehended that we were generally unloved by all the
world. He wanted by this to acquire all our hearts, whereas if He had allowed each man to hate only one man, I would undoubtedly be the object of the hatred of many… what ingratitude, if we were the first
to despise a rule that is so favorable to us! Let us admit, however, gentlemen,
that it is observed by very few people… There are Christians who, so far
from loving everyone, love no one but themselves and their interests. »
5th Wednesday
The charity of Christ
“ Jesus Christ prescribes a third and even higher charity for us: to love you as I have loved you myself. Saint John Chrysostom says that by this precept we are commanded to warn our brethren in benevolence and
not to expect that they have merited our friendship by benefits or that they
have made themselves worthy by their virtue! »
5th Thursday
Charity test
“So, Christian Company, do you want to assure yourself of the fruit of your labors and
solidly found the edifice of your sanctification? Enter from time to time into
your heart, and see if charity reigns there, if it regulates all its movements. It
will not be so difficult for you to recognize it by this admirable character as
says Saint Paul: charity is patient, it is good, it is not envious of the
property of others, not even property of the soul, it harms no one either by its
actions nor by her speeches, she even fears to do so by her silence… ”
5th Friday
The testimony of charity
“I was telling you earlier that we have no love for God if we
do not love our brothers; but it is certain that we have no love
for our brothers if we do not bring them to love God. And if this virtue
missing, alas! what are we, Christian listeners?
Saint Augustine says that the Church is composed of mysterious stones which are
the faithful. These stones are drawn from the quarry by baptism, they are
squared and polished by the instructions and by the doctrine of Jesus Christ. But
they are in the building only through the charity which binds them together. A Christian
he who is not united to his brothers by charity falsely bears the name of Christian. »
5th Saturday
ask for charity
“Divine Spirit of love and charity, do not allow your Spouse to fall
in such great opprobrium as this one; don’t let us
thus renounce the glory of your first disciples, who were also our first masters, and may the lack of this beautiful virtue make one doubt whether we are the true children of the apostles. Give us a heart that embraces all our
brothers in a perfect charity which makes but one heart of all those who have
only one religion, and a zeal which still extends to those of a different religion, so that, having loved our neighbor here below as we wish to be loved, as we love ourselves, as Jesus Christ
loved us, that is to say universally, sincerely, solidly, we
loved perfectly and eternally in Heaven. Amen! »