“I have glorified Thee upon earth:  I have finished the work which Thou gavest me to do.  I have manifested Thy name to the men whom Thou hast given me out of the world.  Thine they were, and to me Thou gavest them; and they have kept Thy word.  Now they have known that all things which Thou hast given me are from Thee:  because the words which Thou gavest me I have given to them; and they have received them, and have known for certain that I came forth from Thee, and they have believed that Thou didst send me.  I pray for them:  I pray not for the world, but for them whom Thou hast given me, because they are Thine.  And all mine are Thine, and Thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.  And now I am no more in the world, and these are in the world, and I come to Thee.  Holy Father, keep them in Thy name, whom Thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we also are one.  And now I come to Thee, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy filled in themselves.  I do not ask that Thou take them away out of the world, but that Thou preserve them from evil.  They are not of the world, as I also am not of the world.  And not for them only do I pray, but for those also who through their word shall believe in me.  Father, I will that where I am they also whom Thou hast given me may be with me, that they may see my glory which Thou hast given me, because Thou hast loved me before the foundation of the world.  And I have made known Thy name unto them, and will make it known, that the love wherewith Thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them."[2]

Yea, Lord, thus would I repeat Thy words, before losing myself in Thy loving embrace.  Perhaps it is daring, but, for a long time, hast thou not allowed me to be daring with Thee?  Thou hast said to me, as the Prodigal’s father to his elder son:  “All I have is thine."[3] And therefore I may use thy very own words to draw down favours from Our Heavenly Father on all who are dear to me.

My God, Thou knowest that I have ever desired to love Thee alone.  It has been my only ambition.  Thy love has gone before me, even from the days of my childhood.  It has grown with my growth, and now it is an abyss whose depths I cannot fathom.

Love attracts love; mine darts towards Thee, and would fain make the abyss brim over, but alas! it is not even as a dewdrop in the ocean.  To love Thee as Thou lovest me, I must make Thy Love mine own.  Thus alone can I find rest.  O my Jesus, it seems to me that Thou couldst not have overwhelmed a soul with more love than Thou hast poured out on mine, and that is why I dare ask Thee to love those Thou hast given me, even as Thou lovest me.

If, in Heaven, I find that thou lovest them more than Thou lovest me, I shall rejoice, for I acknowledge that their deserts are greater than mine, but now, I can conceive no love more vast than that with which Thou hast favoured me, without any merit on my part.

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