John of Cross “In the evening of life, we will be judged on love alone.”

THURSDAY 3^rd June

Mk. 12:28-34

There is no commandment greater than these

MEDITATION OF THE DAY from MAGNIFICAT Missalette

“You shall love"

• Love is the soul's inclination, strength, and power in making its way to God, for love unites it with God. The more degrees of love it has, the more deeply it enters into God and centers itself in him. We can say that there are as many centers in God possible to the soul, each one deeper than the other, as there are degrees of love of God possible to it...
  
  
• Once it has attained the final degree, God's love will have arrived at wounding the soul in its ultimate and deepest center, which is to transform and clarify it in its whole being, power, and strength, and accord ing to its capacity, until it appears to be God.
  
  
• When light shines upon a clean and pure crystal, we find that the more intense the degree of light, the more light the crystal has concentrated within it and the brighter it becomes; it can become so brilliant due to the abundance of light it receives that it seems to be all light. And then the crystal is undistinguish able from the light, since it is illumined according to its full capacity, which is to appear to be light.
  
  
• When the soul asserts that the flame of love wounds it in its deepest center, it means that insofar as the Holy Spirit reaches its substance, power, and strength, he assails and wounds it.

SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS

Saint John of the Cross (+ 1591) is called the Mystical Doctor.