Friday, June 7, 2013

The Invisible Wound of Love


(From St. Bonaventure, Of the Mystic Life, Chapter 30):

"'...For to this end was your side pierced, that an entry might be open to us. To this end was your Heart wounded, that in it we might be able to dwell secure from alarms from without. And it was wounded none the less on this account that, through the visible wound, we might see the invisible wound of love.'  How could this ardor be better shown than by his allowing not only his body, but even his very Heart itself, to be wounded by a lance? And so, the wound in his flesh shows forth the wound in his spirit. Who does not love that Heart, so deeply wounded? Who would not return love for love to one so greatly loving? Who would not embrace One so pure? And so still abiding in the flesh, let us, in so far as we are able, return love for love to that which loves us, embrace our wounded One, whose hands and feet, side and Heart, have been pierced by wicked vinedressers; and let us pray that he may deign to bind our hearts, still hard and impenitent, with the chain of his love, and wound them with the dart thereof." 

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