Salesian Literature

Chapter 14  :  Our zeal or jealousy for our Lord

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The advantage of the things we use in this world are so weak and paltry that if one person enjoys them, another goes without.  Human friendship is so limited, so frail, that the more we share it with some, the less we have for others.  That is why we are jealous, annoyed to find that we have rivals or equals.

 

God’s heart is so rich in love, his goodness infinite, that he can be shared by all men without diminution on anyone’s part; infinite goodness is never impoverished, though it fill every human heart; for, when all are fully gratified, infinity is still entire, undiminished in any way.  The sun smiles no less upon one rose among a myriad other flowers than if it shone for that alone.  So God lavishes his love no less upon one soul, though he is also loving countless others, than if he loved that one alone. His love suffers no less of intensity for having so many rays; it is boundless as ever.

 

But what exactly is the zeal or jealousy we should manifest for God?

 

Its first function is to hate, flee from, prevent, loathe, repel, oppose and allay – if possible – everything that is contrary to God’s will, to his glory or to the reverence due to his name. 

 

It was zeal consuming our Lord’s heart that caused him to drive out the buyers and sellers from the temple, to avenge their irreverence, the profanation they were committing (cf. Jn. 2:14-17).

 

Secondly, zeal makes us ardently jealous for the purity of those souls wedded to Jesus Christ, in imitation of St. Paul: After all, my jealousy on your behalf is the jealousy of God himself; I have betrothed you to Christ, so that no other but he should claim you, his bride without spot, and now I am anxious about you (2 Cor. 11:2).

 

Look at the zeal of Jacob’s sons, when they learned their sister Dina had been raped (cf. Gen. 34).  Think of Job’s zeal, concerned lest his children had offended God (cf. Job 1:5).  Take St. Paul’s zeal for his kinsmen by race and his brethren in Christ; it was ever his wish to be doomed to separation from Christ, if that would benefit them (Rom. 9:3).  Look at the zeal Moses showed towards his people; he was ready, in some sense, to have his name blotted out form the book of life (cf. Ex. 32:32).

 

Thirdly, in human jealousy we are afraid that someone else will gain possession of what we love.  The zeal we have for God, on the contrary, makes us afraid more than anything that we are not utterly his.  Human jealousy makes us afraid of not being loved enough; Christian jealousy troubles us with the fear of not being sufficiently loving.

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