Ave Maria Meditations
The lover asked his Beloved if there was anything left in him to be loved; and his Beloved replied that whatever could make his love stronger remained to be loved.
They asked the lover what sign his Beloved bore upon His banner. He answered: The sign of a Man that was dead. They asked him why He bore such a sign and the lover answered: Because He became Man and died on a Cross and because they that glory in being His lover must follow in His steps.
The lover said to his Beloved: You, who fills the sun with glare, fill my heart with love. To which the Beloved answered: Without fulfillment of love your eyes would not be in tears, neither would you have come to this place to see your Loved One.
Tell me, my lover, said the Beloved: will you have patience if I double your misery? (The lover answered) Yes, if you just double my love.
O crazy lover: why do you destroy yourself and give your money away, and ignore the pleasures of this world and go disdained among the people? He answered: To honor the principles of my Beloved, who by more people is despised and dishonored, than honored and loved.
A dispute occurred between the eyes and the memory of the lover, for the eyes said it was better to see the Beloved than to remember Him, and the memory said that through remembrance the water rises to the eyes and the heart swells with love.
Sighs and tears came to the judgment of the Beloved and asked Him which one He felt most strongly loved by. The Beloved judged that sighs are closer to love, and tears closer to the eyes.
The lover was asked where his Beloved was. He replied: See Him in a house that is more noble than any other created nobilities; and see Him in my acts of love, and in my suffering and in my weepings.
The lover, who had worked hard to search for his Beloved, felt sleep coming to him; and he feared he might forget his Beloved. And he cried, so as not to fall asleep, and so that his Beloved would not be absent to his consciousness.
The lover disobeyed his Beloved, and he wept. And the Beloved came to die in the gown of His lover, to let him recover what he had lost; and he gave him yet a greater gift than the one he had lost.
The lover wept, and sang songs of his Beloved, and said: Swifter is love in the heart of the lover than is the splendor of the lightening to the eye, or the thunder to the ear. The tears of love gather more swiftly than the waves of the sea; and sighing is more proper to love than is whiteness to snow.
The Beloved revealed Himself to His lover, clothed in new and scarlet robes. He stretched out His arms to embrace him; He inclined His head to kiss him, and He remained on high that he might ever seek Him.
They said to the lover:
– Where do you go?
– I come from my Beloved.
– Where do you come to?
– I go to my Beloved.
– When will you be back?
– I will be with my Beloved.
– How long will you be with your Beloved for?
– As long as my thoughts will be with Him.
+ Bl. Ramon Lull, Franciscan Tertiary
