Love of God

O MY God, most worthy object of my love, my supreme and infinite Good, I love thee and will love thee for ever and ever; I embrace thee with all the affections of my heart, with the strong embrace of love, for thou art my sweetest and muchdesired Good, thou my perennial peace and sweetness, thou the sufficing portion of my soul. O thou most gentle, most ravishing, most beloved Lord, thou art the life of my soul, thou the jubilee of my heart, my God, my Love, the chosen One of all my vows. I love thee, O my sweetness, my joy, my delight; I love thee with all my soul and with all my strength, but, alas, not as I ought, not as I would. Would that I could love thee a thousand-fold more; would that I could love thee with an infinite love! Pierce my heart, O sweetest God, with the arrow of thy love, and wound it with the languishing wound of thy dilection. Grant that I may love thee, O Lord; for without thee I cannot love thee. Oh, could I draw all created hearts, and contain them all in my heart, with all their affections and their love, how would I love thee then, O my fairest Love! Oh, wouldst thou give me but for one hour the glowing love of Seraphim, that I might be inflamed with the ardour of that impetuous love and enkindle it in every heart of men! And how great is my grief that thou, my tender Love, art not loved! Alas, how I mourn that thou, my sweet Love, art neglected and despised, and above all that thou art so cruelly offended and outraged! I condole with thee, O my God and my Love, on all the injuries and insults which are heaped on thee; and, were I able, I would most gladly make reparation to thee for all the outrages and wrongs done to thine honour; yea, for thy love I would gladly suffer to my dying hour all the pangs of holy desire which the heart of man hath suffered or shall suffer to the end of the world, if so I might offer thee a more worthy shelter within my soul, and make amends to thee for all the contempt and ignominy which thy peerless and excelling dignity sustains at the hands of ungrateful men. Amen.