Mary wants us to love God as she does, Mary: Day 123

Mary wants us to love God as she does

We are lacking in our love for God, St. Alphonsus declares. So we must ask Mary for a share of her perfect love of God.

Since Mary loves God so much, what she requires most of those who turn to her is that they also should love him to their utmost. She said to St. Bridget, “Daughter, if you desire to bind me to yourself, love my Son.” Mary desires nothing more than to see her beloved, who is God, loved.

Because Mary was all on fire with the love of God, all who love and approach her are enflamed by her with this same love. She makes them like herself. For this reason St. Catherine of Siena called Mary “the bearer of fire,” the bearer of the flame of divine love. If we also desire to burn with these blessed flames, we must endeavor always to draw nearer to our mother by our prayers and the affections of our souls.

Mary, Queen of Love, of all creatures the most loveable, the most beloved, and the most loving (as St. Francis de Sales addressed you), my own sweet mother! You were always and in all things enflamed with love towards God. Reach down, then, to bestow at least a spark of it on me.

You interceded with your Son for the wedding couple whose wine had failed: “They have no wine” (Jn 2:3). Won’t you pray for us as well, in whom is lacking the love of God—the God we are under such obligation to love? Say also, “They have no love,” and obtain for us this love.
—St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Glories of Mary

IN GOD’S PRESENCE, CONSIDER . . .
Does my love for God sometimes grow cold? Do I wish that my love for God was more passionate? Have I asked Mary to set me aflame with the fire of her divine love?

CLOSING PRAYER
From a prayer of St. Alphonsus: To love God—this is the only grace for which we ask. Mother, by the love you bear for Jesus, graciously hear and pray for us.

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