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You may perhaps know from your own experience what homesickness is—that vague, indefinite longing for home, for the beloved members of your family circle. The saints also knew what homesickness is, but in their case this feeling was of a widely different nature. They did not long for earthly things, for creatures, or for some special country; they longed for the heavenly country, for the land of bliss and pure delight, where those things are to be found of which the Apostle writes: “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love Him.” So eagerly did the saints long for heaven that they awaited the coming of death with holy impatience.
God does not require of us that we should feel as they did, but He does require that we should love Him, and seek to serve Him faithfully. He requires this more especially of the young, according to the exhortation of Holy Scripture: “Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth.” Therefore do you, my daughter, love God and serve Him faithfully in the bright days of youth.
The first reason why you ought to do this is because God requires special service at the hands of the young, since such service is more acceptable to Him than that rendered later in life. We read in the Old Testament that He commanded the Israelites to offer all first fruits to Him: the first flowers in spring, the first fruits in autumn, the first born of man and beast. The earliest period of man’s life is in like manner the most pleasing to Him, and therefore does He desire to be faithfully served by you.
Therefore do not think and say, as too many foolish, thoughtless young people do: “When I am old it will surely be time enough to think about God, to love and serve Him and work for Him. At present I really have not time to occupy myself with such serious matters; I must enjoy the pleasures suitable to my age as long as I can, for they vanish like a flash of lightning and the sunny days of youth and light-hearted happiness can never return.”
Do not think and talk in this manner; it is a presumptuous and dangerous way of speaking, and one which may entail bitter repentance in after life. Many an elderly woman have I known to lament that she had been so reckless when young, had not sought to avoid dangerous occasions, nor striven to love and serve God. The following anecdote was recently related to me. A woman was lying on her deathbed. She received a visit from a friend who was much attached to her, and who inquired whether there was anything she could do for her? “Alas! my darling,” exclaimed the poor invalid, if only you could give me back my youth, that I might make better use of it!”
You, dear daughter, still have your bright, joyous youth. Employ it in such a manner as you will wish you had done when you are stretched upon your deathbed; employ it in the love and service of God.
Meditate upon your past life. You will perceive how the gracious and fatherly hand of God has ordered all things with loving care. He gave you—so, at least, I confidently hope—pious parents, who led you to take delight even in your earliest years in all that is good and true, chose you from among a thousand others; His gentle voice spoke to your heart, inviting you to love Him. He guided your every step, He enabled you to preserve your innocence, that fairest of all fair flowers.
Yet more has He done for you! He bestowed on you the inestimable benefit of a thoroughly good training. Under the parental roof the inexhaustible love of a tender mother, the wholesome severity of a judicious father, worked together, with the blessing of God, to educate you wisely and well. Perhaps you have also been fortunate enough to finish your studies in some excellent Catholic academy or college. Thus has God given proof of His special love and care for you. Be grateful to Him, love and serve Him!
But you may ask why and how you are to love Him? After all that I have said about the goodness of God in your regard, about the graces and benefits He has bestowed upon you, is it necessary that I should entreat and urge you to love Him? Will you not obey the injunction of Holy Scripture: “Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth.” Will you scorn the love and goodness of your heavenly Father, will you despise His benefits and blessings? I am sure you are not capable of acting in such a manner: your heart is not a heart of stone; on the contrary, young girls are as a rule especially open to affection. If you were at any time obliged to live at a distance from your father and mother, did you not long for them and keenly feel the separation from them? How painful must be the feelings of an orphan girl, for whom no kind father cares any longer, on whom no affectionate mother can any more gaze with a loving eye, for whom there exists no fond maternal heart into which the sad tale of every sorrow and anxiety can be poured.
But if you had lost not only your parents, but all who loved you, there would always remain One to love you; for then would the fatherly heart of God still feel for you, then would His ever-watchful eye keep guard over you, His gracious hand protect and lead and guide you aright! Seek therefore to love this heavenly Father as you ought.
You may perhaps say: “It is my great desire to love God, but how can I do this, as I cannot see Him, nor feel His love for me?” Now tell me whether, if you were on some distant island of the ocean without any hope of ever seeing your beloved mother again, should you on this account cease to love her? Would not the love you feel for her be rather doubled in proportion to the distance which separated you from her?
Well then, remember that though you cannot see God, who is better than any earthly father can ever be, and though as yet you have never seen Him, nevertheless you experience His love and goodness day by day. Love God with your whole heart, because He is infinitely good.
At the same time you must bear in mind the exhortation of St. John: “My little children, let us not love in word, nor in tongue, but in deed, and in truth.” Thus you perceive that you must prove your love for God by your actions, by your whole manner of life, in a word, by doing His holy will. Sermons, religious instructions, and pious books, will teach you what His will is. Ignorance of the will of God is not so frequently to be met with as the disinclination tho observe it. May His grace strengthen you, and may His love abide with you forever.
I Love Thee,
O Thou Lord Most High.
(Hymn of St. Ignatius.)
1. I love Thee, O Thou Lord most high,
Because Thou first hast loved me;
I seek no other liberty
But that of being bound to Thee.
2. May memory no thought suggest
But shall to Thy pure glory tend;
My understanding find no rest
Except in Thee, its only end.
3. My God, I here protest to Thee
No other will I have than Thine;
Whatever Thou hast giv’n to me
I here again to Thee resign.
4. All mine is Thine; say but the word,
Whate’er Thou willest shall be done:
I know Thy love, all gracious Lord—
I know it seeks my good alone.
5. Apart from Thee all things are nought
Then grant, O my supremest Bliss,
Grant me to love Thee as I ought—
Thou givest all in giving this.
The Rose—Love of Our Neighbor.