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Love is the Fire! - Family Reflection Video

Love is the Fire! - Family Reflection Video

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I would like to offer you a poem that I like very much. It’s called The Burning Babe, by Saint Robert Southwell, S.J.

As I in hoary winter’s night stood shivering in the snow,

Surpris’d I was with sudden heat which made my heart to glow;

And lifting up a fearful eye to view what fire was near, [...]

 

A pretty Babe all burning bright did in the air appear;

Who, scorched with excessive heat, such floods of tears did shed

As though his floods should quench his flames which with his tears were fed.

“Alas!” quoth he, “but newly born, in fiery heats I fry,

Yet none approach to warm their hearts or feel my fire but I!

My faultless breast the furnace is, the fuel wounding thorns,

Love is the fire, and sighs the smoke, the ashes shame and scorns;

The fuel Justice layeth on, and Mercy blows the coals,

The metal in this furnace wrought are men’s defiled souls,

For which, as now on fire I am to work them to their good,

      So will I melt into a bath to wash them in my blood.”

      With this he vanish’d out of sight and swiftly shrunk away,

      And straight I called unto mind that it was Christmas day.

 

Saint Robert Southwell was a Jesuit and martyr in Protestant England during the time of Queen Elizabeth I. He had to minister as priest from hiding because Catholicism was outlawed. He wrote these verses before he was then tortured brutally and hung in 1595.

This is usually considered a Christmas poem but it is just as much a Holy Week poem. The Burning Babe is Christ… The poem is about His Sacred Heart! The Burning Babe is Christ hanging on the Cross! The Burning Babe is Christ in Resurrected glory. "Love is the fire."

 

In the readings today and all this week from Chapter 8 of John’s Gospels Christ want us to see that He is the Light of the World, the Truth that sets us free, God with us

 

Yet many do not accept him. He is the Light and Love is the source, the fire!

 

In His Passion He burns for the victims and the refugees in the Ukraine. For the poor and rejected everywhere, for those plagued now by fear and anxiety, for all who suffer. For all who sin! Love is the transforming fire!

 

Our Lady stands by Him at the foot of the Cross, united with Him. They call us to come close and stand with them, during Holy Week - and always. Love is the fire!


  • Father Jim's inspirational homily was recorded live this morning during Mass at the Father Peyton Center. Please view the video on our Facebook page. (You don't need a Facebook account to view.) 

  • To view Rosary prayer and Mass streaming live, please visit our Facebook page at 11:30 am EST, Monday – Friday. Please invite your loved ones to join us too! (You don't need a Facebook account to view.)

About Father Jim Phalan, C.S.C.

Father James Phalan, C.S.C., is a Catholic priest, member of the Congregation of Holy Cross and the National Director of Family Rosary. He served as a missionary for many years travelling the globe to help people come to Jesus through Mary as part of the Family Rosary team. Now he is happy to be serving back at home in the USA!