Page 46 - Demo

An Oblation to Love195. To help us reflect more deeply on this mystery, we can turn once more to the luminousspirituality of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus. Therese was aware that in certain quarters anextreme form of reparation had developed, based on a willingness to offer oneself in sacrifice forothers, and to become in some sense a %u201clightning rod%u201d for the chastisements of divine justice. Inher words, %u201cI thought about the souls who offer themselves as victims of God%u2019s justice in order toturn away the punishments reserved to sinners, drawing them upon themselves%u201d. [209] However,as great and generous as such an offering might appear, she did not find it overly appealing: %u201cIwas far from feeling attracted to making it%u201d. [210] So great an emphasis on God%u2019s justice mighteventually lead to the notion that Christ%u2019s sacrifice was somehow incomplete or only partlyefficacious, or that his mercy was not sufficiently powerful.196. With her great spiritual insight, Saint Therese discovered that we can offer ourselves inanother way, without the need to satisfy divine justice but by allowing the Lord%u2019s infinite love tospread freely: %u201cO my God! Is your disdained love going to remain closed up within your heart? Itseems to me that if you were to find souls offering themselves as victims of holocaust to your love,you would consume them rapidly; it seems to me, too, that you would be happy not to hold backthe waves of infinite tenderness within you%u201d. [211]197. While nothing need be added to the one redemptive sacrifice of Christ, it remains true thatour free refusal can prevent the heart of Christ from spreading the %u201cwaves of his infinitetenderness%u201d in this world. Again, this is because the Lord wishes to respect our freedom. Morethan divine justice, it was the fact that Christ%u2019s love might be refused that troubled the heart ofSaint Therese, because for her, God%u2019s justice is understood only in the light of his love. As wehave seen, she contemplated all God%u2019s perfections through his mercy, and thus saw themtransfigured and resplendent with love. In her words, %u201ceven his justice (and perhaps this evenmore so than the others) seems to me clothed in love%u201d. [212]198. This was the origin of her Act of Oblation, not to God%u2019s justice but to his merciful love. %u201cI offermyself as a victim of holocaust to your merciful love, asking you to consume me incessantly,allowing the waves of infinite tenderness shut up within you to overflow into my soul, and that thusI may become a martyr of your love%u201d. [213] It is important to realize that, for Therese, this was notonly about allowing the heart of Christ to fill her heart, through her complete trust, with the beautyof his love, but also about letting that love, through her life, spread to others and thus transformthe world. Again, in her words, %u201cIn the heart of the Church, my Mother, I shall be love%u2026 and thusmy dream will be realized%u201d. [214] The two aspects were inseparably united.199. The Lord accepted her oblation. We see that shortly thereafter she stated that she felt anintense love for others and maintained that it came from the heart of Christ, prolonged through her.So she told her sister L%u00e9onie: %u201cI love you a thousand times more tenderly than ordinary sisters love46