A szeretetért
Petition for Divine Love
The soul asks God to kindle the fire of love, implant the new commandment, and grant love for enemies and forgiveness.
Lord God, you loved us so much that you gave your only Son for us, and through his afflictions, labors, and torments, you redeemed us—your ungrateful and rebellious servants.✦1 Therefore, for the sake of your boundless love, I ask you: kindle in my heart that fire which your holy Son brought into the world.✦ Write and implant in my soul your new commandment, in which you charged us to love you above all things, and to love our neighbors as ourselves and as members of that one living body—not only in word and with the tongue, but in truth and in deed.✦✦✦✦2 Grant, Lord God, that I may love not only those who wish me well, but for your sake my enemies as well, and that, following the example of your holy Son, I may pray with a pure heart for those who wish me harm. Take out of me, Lord, all hatred, envy, and hardness toward my neighbor, so that the bond of perfection—true love—may dwell in me; and as you forgive our sins, so may we also truly forgive those who have sinned against us.
Meditation on God's Unfailing Love
The soul reflects on God's surpassing beauty, the insufficiency of worldly goods, and the reasons to love God who created, redeemed, and promised Himself as reward.
And may I love You, Lord, with so steadfast and fervent a heart that neither life nor death, neither poverty nor riches, neither joy nor trouble may tear me away from Your love.✦ Who wouldn't love You, Lord—You who are the inexhaustible fountainhead of every beauty, gladness, riches, and delight? All worldly beauty is only a faint shadow of Your beauty; the goods of earthly creatures are only tiny crumbs from Your table, full of many defects, and they can't satisfy my soul.✦3 Therefore return to your rest, O my soul, and love only the One who fills and satisfies you with every good—who has loved you from everlasting, and has loved you far more than a mother loves her only son.✦✦ If even fierce lions love those who do them good, why then, O my ungrateful and hard heart, don't you love your Lord and God, who made you lord of the earth, the sea, and every created thing?✦4 Who set you free by the terrible suffering of His only Son?✦ Who promised Himself as the reward of your love? May I love You, Lord—You who first loved me. You loved me with an everlasting love and created me for Yourself; when I had fallen, You lifted me up; when I had died, You brought me back to life again with the precious blood of that true pelican, our Lord.✦✦✦5
Surrender to Love's Flame
The soul offers its heart completely, desires to be consumed by love, renounces worldly desires, and closes with a doxology and amen.
For all of this, Lord, I owe it to you to give you my heart completely—and not just once, but countless times. So grant this, my sweet God: that my soul may catch fire and be consumed by your love, and that I may truly say with Saint Paul: I live, yet it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.✦ Lord, what else do I want from you on earth or in heaven?✦ My heart and my body melt away, O God of my heart, in your love.✦ Lord, put out in me the fire of worldly desires with the fire of your love. Soften my will to yours, and harden it against the world's desires. Through our beloved Lord and Redeemer, who lives and reigns.6 Amen.
Read the original Hungarian
Úristen, ki annyira szeretél minket, hogy egyetlenegy Fiadat értünk adnád, az ő nyavalyái, fáradsági, kínszenvedési által minket, háládatlan és pártos szolgáidat megváltottál. Ezért a te véghetetlen szerelmedért kérlek, gerjeszd fel szívemben ama tüzet, melyet szent Fiad a világra hozott. Írd és oltsd bé lelkembe új parancsolatodat, melyben azt hagyád, hogy téged mindenekfelett, felebarátinkat, mint magunkat és azon egy élő testnek tagjait, szeressük, nemcsak szóval és nyelvvel, hanem valósággal és cselekedettel.
Adjad, Uram Isten, hogy nemcsak jóakaróimat, de teéretted, ellenségimet is szeressem, és a te szent Fiad példáját követvén, imádkozzam tiszta szűvel gonoszakaróimért. Végy ki, Uram, énbelőlem minden gyűlölséget, irigységet és felebarátom ellen való nehézséget, hogy a tekéletességnek kötele, az igaz szeretet lakozzék bennem: és miképpen te megbocsátod vétkeinket, úgy mi is igazán megbocsássunk ellenünk vétetteknek.
Téged pedig, Uram, oly állhatatos és buzgó szűvel szeresselek, hogy sem élet sem halál, sem szegénység sem gazdagság, sem öröm sem háborúság el ne szakasszon szerelmedtűl. Ki nem szeretne téged, Uram, aki minden szépségnek, vigasságnak, gazdagságnak, gyönyörűségnek elfogyhatatlan kútfeje vagy? Csak kicsiny árnyéka a te szépségednek minden világi szépség; csak asztalodnak apró morzsaléki evilági állatok jóvolta, melyben sok fogyatkozások vannak, és meg nem elégíthetik lelkemet. Azért térülj a te nyugodalmadhoz, oh én lelkem, és csak azt szeressed, aki minden jóval bétölt és megelégít; aki téged öröktűl fogva szeretett, és sokkal inkább szeretett, hogysem az anya szereti egyetlenegy fiát. Ha még a fene oroszlánok is szeretik véle jótévőket; miért nem szereted tehát, oh én háládatlan és kemény szívem, a te Uradat Istenedet, ki téged a földnek, tengernek és minden teremtett állatnak urává tett? Ki az ő egyetlenegy Fiának iszonyú kínjával megszabadított téged? Ki önnönmagát ígírte jutalmául szeretetednek? Szeresselek téged, Uram, ki elébb szerettél engem, örökkévaló szeretettel szerettél engem és tennenmagádért teremtél engem; mikor elestem volna, felemeltél engem; mikor meghóltam volna, viszont megelevenítél engem, amaz igaz pelikán madárnak, a mi Urunknak drága vérével.
Mindezekért, Uram, tartozom, hogy teljességgel néked adjam szívemet: és nem egyszer, hanem számtalanszor tartozom. Adjad azért, én édes Istenem, hogy az én lelkem gerjedezzen és megemésztessék szerelmedtűl: és igazán azt mondhassam Szent Pállal: Élek én, de immár nem én, hanem él énbennem Krisztus. Uram, mit kívánok egyebet tőled e földön vagy az égben? Elolvad az én szívem és testem, oh én szívemnek Istene, a te szerelmedben. Oltsd el, Uram, a te szerelmed tüzével bennem evilági kívánságoknak tüzét. Lágyítsd meg akaratomat a te akaratodra, keményítsd meg evilági kívánságokra. A mi szerelmetes Urunk és Megváltónkért, ki él és uralkodik. Amen.
Scripture echoes
- ↩John.3.16 — For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but have eternal life.
- ↩Luke.12.49 — I came to cast fire upon the earth, and what do I wish? If only it were already kindled!
- ↩John.13.34 — A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
- ↩Matt.22.37-Matt.22.39;Mark.12.30-Mark.12.31;Deut.6.5;Lev.19.18 — And he said to him, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' Matt.22.38 — This is the great and first commandment. Matt.22.39 — And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Mark.12.30 — And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. Mark.12.31 — The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these. Deut.6.5 — And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. Lev.19.18 — You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.
- ↩1Cor.12.12-1Cor.12.27;Rom.12.4-Rom.12.5 — For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so also is Christ. 1Cor.12.13 — For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. 1Cor.12.14 — For the body is not one member, but many. 1Cor.12.15 — If the foot should say, 'Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,' it is not for that reason any less a part of the body. 1Cor.12.16 — And if the ear should say, 'Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,' it is not for that reason any less a part of the body. 1Cor.12.17 — If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? 1Cor.12.18 — But now God has placed each one of the members in the body just as he desired. 1Cor.12.19 — If they were all one member, where would the body be? 1Cor.12.20 — Now there are many parts, but one body. 1Cor.12.21 — The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you," nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you." 1Cor.12.22 — On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are in fact indispensable. 1Cor.12.23 — and the parts of the body that we consider less honorable, we clothe with greater honor; and our unpresentable parts receive greater propriety, 1Cor.12.24 — but our presentable parts have no such need. Rather, God has composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, 1Cor.12.25 — so that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. 1Cor.12.26 — And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. 1Cor.12.27 — Now you are the body of Christ, and individually members of it. Rom.12.4 — For just as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, Rom.12.5 — So we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
- ↩1John.3.18 — Little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and truth.
- ↩Rom.8.38-Rom.8.39 — For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor rulers, neither the present nor the future, nor powers Rom.8.39 — nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord
- ↩Matt.15.27;Mark.7.28 — She said, "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table. Mark.7.28 — But she answered him, 'Yes, Lord; and even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs.'
- ↩Ps.116.7;Ps.116.7 — Return, my soul, to your rest, for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you. Ps.116.7 — Return, my soul, to your rest, for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you.
- ↩Isa.49.15 — Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.
- ↩Gen.1.26-Gen.1.28 — Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." Gen.1.27 — So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Gen.1.28 — And God blessed them, and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.'
- ↩John.3.16 — For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but have eternal life.
- ↩1John.4.19 — We love because he first loved us.
- ↩Jer.31.3 — From far away the LORD appeared to me. And with everlasting love I have loved you; therefore I have drawn you with steadfast kindness.
- ↩1Pet.1.18-1Pet.1.19 — knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things—silver or gold—from your futile way of life handed down from your fathers, 1Pet.1.19 — but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot
- ↩Gal.2.20 — I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
- ↩Ps.73.25;Ps.73.25 — Whom have I in heaven but you? And with you I desire nothing on earth. Ps.73.25 — Whom have I in heaven but you? And with you I desire nothing on earth.
- ↩Ps.73.26;Ps.73.26 — My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Ps.73.26 — My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
Notes
- 1 ↩Early modern pártos means factious/disloyal/rebellious (taking sides against one's lord), not merely 'partisan' in a modern political sense.
- 2 ↩Old Hungarian oltsd be: engraft/inoculate/implant; rendered 'implant' for modern readability while keeping the writing-and-grafting double image.
- 3 ↩Early modern állatok here means created beings/creatures, not animals in the modern zoological sense; rendered as 'creatures'.
- 4 ↩teremtett állatnak rendered as 'created thing/creature' (early modern sense of állat), not zoological 'animal'.
- 5 ↩igaz pelikán madár is the medieval Christological pelican emblem (Christ feeding His young with His own blood); retained as 'true pelican' rather than paraphrased away.
- 6 ↩Hungarian -ért marks the standard through-Christ / for-the-sake-of closing formula; rendered as Through to match liturgical English. The source ends without the fuller forever-and-ever clause.
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