AS THE HOLY SPIRIT, who is uncreated love, is the indissoluble bond which binds the Father to the eternal Word, so He also unites the soul with God. "Charity is a virtue," says St. Augustine, "uniting us with God." Hence, full of joy, St. Laurence Justinian exclaims: Love, your bond has such strength that it is able to bind even God and unite Him to our souls. The bonds of the world are bonds of death; but the bonds of God are bonds of life and salvation (Ecclus. 6:31), because the bonds of God by means of love unite us to God, Who is our true and only life.
Before the coming of Jesus Christ, men fled from God and being attached to the earth refused to unite themselves to their Creator. But a loving God has drawn them to Himself by the bonds of love as He promised through the prophet Osee: "I will draw them with the cords of Adam, with the bands of love" (11:4). These bands are the benefits, the lights, the calls to His love, the promises of paradise which He makes to us, the gift which He has bestowed upon us of Jesus Christ in the sacrifice of the cross and in the sacrament of the altar, and finally, the gift of His Holy Spirit.
Therefore the prophet exclaims, "Loose the bonds from off thy neck, O captive daughter of Sion" (Isa 52:2). Oh my soul, you who are created for heaven, loose yourself from the bonds of earth, and unite yourself to God by the bonds of holy love: "Have charity, which is the bond of perfection" (Col. 3:14). Love is a bond which unites with herself all other virtues and makes the soul perfect. "Love, and do what thou wilt," said St. Augustine. Love God, and do what you wish, because he who loves God tries to avoid causing any displeasure to his beloved and seeks in all things to please Him.
Affections and Prayers
O my dear Jesus, Thou hast put me under a sweet obligation to love Thee, and how much it has cost Thee to win my love! I would be an ungrateful wretch if I loved Thee little after that, or if I let creatures share my heart with Thee Who hast given Thy life and Thy blood for me.
I wish to detach myself from everything and place all my affections in Thee alone. But I am weak and unable to realize this desire. Thou Who has inspired it, help me to bring it into effect.
O my beloved Jesus, pierce my heart with the arrows of Thy love so that it may sigh ever after Thee and be melted in Thee! Thou alone I seek, Thou alone may I always seek. None but Thee may I desire and find! My Jesus, I desire only Thee and nothing more. Grant that I may repeat it always during my life, and especially at the moment of my death; I desire only Thee and nothing more.
O my mother Mary, from henceforward make me desire nothing but God.
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