Salesian Literature

Invocation 

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Holy Mother of God, chalice of matchless choice, Queen of charity: never was creature so loveable, so loving, so beloved.  You were to give the Son a mother’s love in time, to echo the love which the Father had for him in eternity.

 

Jesus, my Saviour, what greater patron can I seek for words of mine than your beloved Mother? To her loving heart I commend this book.

 

Gracious Mother, it is impossible not to picture beside you, in a place of honour, one whom your Son in his love for you so often graced with the title of father.  Heaven united to him to you in a marriage of the heart, not of the flesh, to be your support, your companion in the task of caring for a Child who was God.

 

Great St. Joseph, beloved spouse of the Mother of love incarnate: how often you carried heaven and earth in your arms!  How often your soul melted with joy as a Child’s hands stroked your face, a Child’s lips caressed you, a Child’s voice whispered your name, called you father!

 

Of old, in the Lord’s temple, Mary and Joseph, peerless pair, if I dare hope that what I have written about love may illuminate and enkindle the hearts of the children of the light (Lk. 16:8), where better can I lay it than at your feet?

 

Beloved Mother of the well-beloved Son; beloved spouse of the well-beloved Mother: humbly I dedicate this little work of love to your intense affection for the Child you bore.  I entreat you, through the heart of your dear Jesus who is king of all hearts, to inspire me and all who read this book (through your all-powerful intercession with the Holy Spirit) to offer ourselves, our loves, as holocausts to God.  Inspire us so to live and die that we may come to life again eternally, that we may burn with the fire of charity which our Lord, your Son, so greatly wished to kindle in our hearts(Lk. 12:49);  for which he worked, for which he longed unceasingly, until it brought him to death, death on a cross (Phil. 2:8).

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A TREATISE ON THE LOVE OF GOD

 

Invocation