The Feast Day of Love

Alexandra Clark | The Daily Knight

Holy Thursday with Saint John the Apostle (DiscalcedCarmel.org)

You heard that right. Love has a feastday! Know what it is? If you are like me, you might think that day is Good Friday, that Sacred Day where Love Himself was Crucified for the Love of us, but no, that is not the answer. Let us look into this beautiful scene where Christ explains His Love for man and the feast day of Love:

"Today is my great day, the day of Love... It's feast day." Our Lord said on the morning of Holy Thursday. "Today is the day on which I give My Self to souls that I may be for them just what they wish: If they will look on Me as their father, I shall be a father to them... If they desire Me as their Beloved, I shall be their Beloved..... if they need strength, I will be their strength, and if they long to console Me, I will let them console Me.......All I want is to give Myself to them....And to fill them with Graces prepared for them....I cannot withhold them any longer."

How beautiful! Christ wishes to gives us everything and to be what we need. He wishes to be our all. Can we see His burning Heart that loves us so much? His Love has driven Him not only to die for the Love of us, but to give Itself as food for our soul...to be able to be with us....to be one with us! Love gives itself to its own. Yes, for Christ goes on further:

"Love gives itself as food to its own and this food is a substance which gives them their life and sustains them. Love humbles itself before its own... And in doing so raises them to the highest dignity. Love surrenders itself and totality, It gives in profusion and without reserve. With enthusiasm, with a vehemence It is sacrificed, It is immolated, is given for those It loves... The Holy Eucharist is Love to the extreme of folly." It looked as if our Lord at that moment was unable to restrain the burning effusions of His Heart, then His voice changed and He spoke with gravity saying: "This Love Will lead me to my death!..." In the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, we follow Love to His death....a death for the love of us, a death that saves us and sanctifies us, but Love was not done there pouring Itself out for you and me. No, it was just the beginning, for as the prayers of Mass continue to prepare for Christ's Sacrifice they are also preparing for that precious moment of union. That union in Holy Communion!

Just think that at the Offertory, as the priest pours wine into the chalice at Holy Mass, we are preparing for that Union with Love, which Christ here so lovingly explained above. The wine is said to represent Jesus Christ and the water the people. The wine is not blessed, since it will soon be changed into the Blood of Christ at the Consecration; the sign of the Cross is made over the water, as representing the people who need to be blessed before they are united with Jesus Christ. The mingling of water with wine is also said to represent the union of the people with Jesus Christ (Council of Trent, Sess. xxii. c. 7.) This second prayer of Offertory is a beautiful prayer reminding us of what God has done for our poor human nature, raising us up and restoring us with His Divine Love: Deus, qui humánæ substántiæ dignitátem mirabiliter condidísti, et mirabilius reformásti: da nobis per hujus aquæ et vini mystérium, ejus divinitátis esse consórtes, qui humanitátis nostræ fieri dignátus est párticeps, Jesus Christus Filius tuus Dóminus noster: Qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitáte Spíritus Sancti Deus, per ómnia sæcula sæculórum. Amen. O God, who established the nature of man in wondrous dignity, and still more admirably restored it, grant that by the mystery of this water and wine, may we come to share in His Divinity, who humbled himself to share in our humanity, Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord. who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen. Thank God for His everlasting ardent Love for us! May the Pure Love of God reign in our souls! And may we come to share in His Divinity, who humbled Himself to share in our humanity, Jesus Christ! Veni Domine Jesu! Excerpts from the beginning taken from the book: The Way of Divine Love, by Sister Josefa Menendez.