Salesian Literature

Chapter 3  :  The desire for charity demands the suppression of all other desires

​

Why is it, do you think, that hounds lose the scent more frequently at springtide than at other seasons?  Huntsmen and naturalists tell us that it is owing to strong scents of varied blossoms stifling those of the quarry.  No less certainly souls never without a swarm of desires, plans and projects can detect little trace of the footsteps of God, their heart’s love, who is compared to the gazelle and the fawn (cf. Cant. 2:9).

 

Lilies bloom early or late, depending on the depth of their setting.  Plant them three fingers down, and they bloom in a very short time; six or nine fingers down, and they come up proportionately later.  Let a heart aspiring to love God bury itself deeply in earthly matters, it will be late and troublesome blossoming into love; but, if this world concerns it only as much as circumstances demand, you will soon see its love in flower, all fragrance (cf. Cant. 2:13).

 

In this way the saints sought solitude, to be free from worldly preoccupations, to apply themselves eagerly to loving God.  Souls bent on loving God in good earnest keep their minds off worldly gossip, to engage them wholeheartedly in meditation upon the things of God.  Everything is subordinated to one aim: loving God, and God alone.  Desire something without reference to God, and your desire for him is that much less.

​

Back to Top

​