July 9

Love

“Love is of God.”
— John 4:7

“It is a serious though a most happy thing to undertake direct service. … The mere fact of an inclination does not shew that we are called to it. I believe the surest sign is earnest love to souls, and intercourse through the need of the heart with Christ about it. … It is not the desire to speak, but for souls and the building up of saints which is the real moving spring of service.”

“How many needs, hidden even in the most degraded souls, would confess themselves … if a love, a goodness, which could give them confidence were presented to them. … How many souls are whirling in pleasure, in order to silence the moral griefs which torment them. Divine love not only answers needs, it makes them speak.”