PROFESSION OF THE CATHOLIC FAITH. 131 



design : — so mucli liiive you leuivd k-si iliis great re- 

 ligious act should bear any other character than pf-r- 

 sonal conviction ; so strongly have you persisted in 

 avoiding any shadow of human influence from without, 

 or any shadow of the influence of imagination or senti- 

 ment within ! 



It is thus that Jesus Christ has sought you for him- 

 self. Spouse of love, he is, at the same time, the Spouse 

 of truth and of freedom ; and this is why, when he draws 

 souls to himself, he never beguiles nor compels them. 

 He is the eternal AV^ord, begotten of the reason of the 

 Father, born in the outflow of his infinite splendor; he 

 remembers his origin, and when he comes to us, it is 

 not under cover of our darkness, but in the sincerity of 

 his light. And because he is Truth, he is Liberty: he 

 bows with respect* before the liberty of the soul, his 

 image and offspring, and unlearns the language of com- 

 mand to employ none but that of prayer. "Open to 

 me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undellled,'' he 

 says in tlie sacred Song ; " for my head is filled with dew, 

 and my locks with the drops of the niglit."t " Behold,'' 

 he says in the Revelation, "I stand at the door and 

 knock ; if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I 

 will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he 

 with me.'']: He does not force an entrance, into the 

 heart, but he enters if it is opened to him. rapturous 

 words, which show that with God love has the same 

 delicacy as with man! True love respects as well as 

 loves, and will accept its triumph only at the hands of 

 our free choice. 



But is this all ? Liberty is not sufficient to this jeal- 

 ous love : there must be struggle and sacrifice. What 



* Wisdom, xii. 18. t Solomon's Song, v, 2. t Revelation, iii. 20. 



