Jesus Teaches Us to Love His Mother (I)

Love is experienced in two ways: first, the most sweet and transforming feelings in the presence of the beloved. Jesus showed this kind of love to His Mother in his past deeds of affection, giving sweet looks and embraces, both spiritual and physical, to His holy Mother. The second kind of feeling is bitter, afflicting and troubling. This kind of love increases merit. It is experienced when the beloved mysteriously departs or is lost, so that the soul, totally dependent on the beloved, cannot rest, always jealously anxious lest the beloved should depart because of some offense and always unsure of herself, unless she be restored by the attention of the beloved; in which case she abandons herself completely to him, forsaking herself. From which it follows that the soul wanders about, seeking her beloved and asking help from every creature in order to find the one her soul loves (cf. Song 3:3).