De amore Jesu super omnia.

The Blessedness of Loving Jesus Alone

The soul is called to love Jesus above all created things, for only his love endures when all else fails and all companions depart.

Blessed is the one who understands what it means to love Jesus and to despise himself for God's sake. You must give up the beloved for the sake of the Beloved, because Jesus wants to be loved alone above all things.¹ Love of created things is deceptive and unstable; love of Jesus is blessed and enduring.² Whoever clings to a creature will fall with it in its frailty; whoever embraces Jesus will be made firm in him.³ Love him, and hold him as your friend — the one who, when all others leave you, will not abandon you, nor will he let you perish in the end.⁴⁵ At some point you must be separated from everyone, whether you want it or not.

Jesus Claims the Undivided Heart

Jesus desires the heart as his sole throne, and only by emptying it of all creaturely trust can the soul welcome him as its true and faithful helper.

Hold fast to Jesus in life and in death, and entrust yourself to his faithfulness, for when all others fail you, he alone can help you. Your Beloved is of such a nature that he will not welcome another, but wants to have your heart for himself alone — to sit upon it as a king sits upon his own throne.⁶ If you could empty yourself of every creature, Jesus would gladly make his home with you. You'll find nearly everything lost if you place your trust in anyone other than Jesus. Do not trust or lean on a windy reed, because 'all flesh is grass, and all its glory like the flower of the grass' — and that flower will fall.^✦⁷

Seeking Jesus or Seeking Self

The soul that looks to outward appearances or seeks its own comfort in others finds only loss, but the one who seeks Jesus finds him, while the one who seeks only self finds destruction.

You're quickly deceived if you look only at the outward appearance of people. But if you seek your own comfort and gain in others, you'll often find it is to your loss. If you seek Jesus in everything, you'll surely find Jesus. But if you seek yourself, you'll find yourself as well — but to your own destruction. For a person who does not seek Jesus is more harmful to himself than the whole world and all his enemies combined.

Read the original Latin

Beatus qui intelligit quid sit amare Jesum, et contemnere se ipsum propter Deum. Oportet dilectum propter dilectum relinquere, quia Jesus vult solus super omnia amari. Dilectio creaturæ fallax et instabilis, dilectio Jesu felix et perseverabilis. Qui adhæret creaturæ, cadet cum labili, qui amplectitur Jesum, firmabitur in Eum. Illum dilige, et amicum tene tibi, qui omnibus recedentibus te non relinquet, nec patietur in fine perire. Ab omnibus oportet aliquando te separari, sive velis, sive nolis.

Tene te apud Jesum vivens et moriens et illius fidelitati te committe, qui omnibus deficientibus solus potest te adjuvare. Dilectus tuus talis est naturæ, ut alienum non velit admittere, sed solus vult cor tuum habere, et tanquam rex in proprio throno sedere. Si scires te ab omni creatura evacuare, Jesus libenter tecum habitaret. Pene totum perditum invenies, quidquid extra Jesum in hominibus posueris. Non confidas, nec innitaris super calamum ventosum, quia omnis caro fœnum, et omnis gloria ejus et flos fœni cadet.

Cito deciperis, si ad externam hominum apparentiam tantum aspexeris. Si autem tuum in aliis quæris solatium, et lucrum, sæpe senties detrimentum. Si quæris in omnibus Jesum, invenies utique Jesum. Si autem quæris te ipsum, invenies etiam te ipsum, sed ad tuam perniciem. Plus enim homo nocivior est sibi, si Jesum non quærit, quam totus mundus, et omnes sui adversarii.

Scripture echoes

↩Isa.40.6 — A voice says, "Cry out!" And I said, "What shall I cry?" All flesh is grass, and all its faithfulness is like the flower of the field.

Notes

1 ↩dilectum propter dilectum: the first dilectum refers to a created beloved (person), the second to Jesus as the Beloved. The repetition is preserved to capture the wordplay.
2 ↩perseverabilis is a rare form; rendered as 'enduring' to capture the sense of lasting perseverance.
3 ↩cum labili: ablative of attendant circumstance, rendered 'with it in its frailty' to capture the sense of falling alongside the unstable creature.
4 ↩omnibus recedentibus: ablative absolute, rendered 'when all others leave you' for natural English flow.
5 ↩patietur in fine perire: deponent future, rendered 'will let you perish' — the sense is that Jesus will not allow your final destruction.
6 ↩cor rendered as 'heart' per lexeme policy for inner attention, desire, and will.
7 ↩Quotation from Isaiah 40:6 (Vulgate: omnis caro foenum, et omnis gloria ejus quasi flos agri). The Latin text reads 'flos foeni' rather than the Vulgate's 'flos agri'; the sense is the same.