MOTHER MOST LOVABLE
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My most sweet Queen, how pleasant to me is that beautiful name used by those who are devoted to you, "Mater Amabilis," Mother Most Lovable. Yes, how true it is, O my Lady, that you are exceedingly lovable, for your beauty has won the love of God Himself: "The King has greatly desired your loveliness."
St. Bonaventure tells us that to your lovers even your name is so lovely, that when they pronounce it, or hear it pronounced, they are set on fire; and an intense longing wells up within them to love you still more: "O sweet, O kind, O most lovable Mary—your name cannot be pronounced without setting us aflame; nor can it strike upon our hearing without stirring the affections of those who love you."
O how fitting it is then, most lovely Mother, that I should love you. But I shall not be satisfied with merely loving you: I want to be, after God, the first of your lovers on earth; and later on, the first of your lovers in Heaven. If this desire is too bold your loveliness alone is responsible, together with the particular love that you have given me; if you were less lovable then my longing to love you would be less.
Come, O my Lady, and accept this intense desire of mine. In proof that you have accepted it, you must yourself obtain for me from God the love I seek. I seek to love you more because the love I have for you gives great joy to God Himself.
Evening Sigh—I love you exceedingly, O most lovely Mother.
