{"id":3377,"date":"2008-10-04T07:54:09","date_gmt":"2008-10-04T07:54:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/2008\/10\/la-fornace-damore\/"},"modified":"2008-10-04T07:54:09","modified_gmt":"2008-10-04T07:54:09","slug":"la-fornace-damore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/2008\/10\/la-fornace-damore\/","title":{"rendered":"La fornace d’Amore"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"francis-1.jpg\"<\/a><\/span>
\nDom Eugène Vandeur, O.S.B. gives this prose in his meditations entitled, Les voies à la fournaise d’amour<\/em>, and attributes it to the seraphic Saint Francis. I rather suspect it came from the pen of Jacopone da Todi. It puts me in mind of Saint John of the Cross and, even more, of the words of Our Lord sung at First Vespers of the Sacred Heart: “I came to cast fire upon the earth; and would that it were already kindled” (Luke 12, 49). The translation from the French is my own.<\/p>\n

The Canticle of Saint Francis<\/strong><\/div>\n

Love put me
\nin a furnace.
\nLove put me
\nin the furnace.
\nHe put me
\nin the furnace of Love.
\nI
\nIn a furnace of Love He put me
\nmy new Spouse, my very own
\nwhen He slipped the ring onto my finger,
\nthis loving little Lamb.
\nAnd then, He cast me into prison
\nand struck me with a blade,
\nsplitting my heart wide open;
\nLove put me in a furnace.
\nII
\nHe split my heart in two,
\nand my body fell to the ground.
\nThe bolt of Love
\nripping from its crossbow,
\nstruck me, as it embraced me.
\nOut of peace He has made war;
\nI am dying of the sweetness.
\nLove put me in a furnace.
\nIII
\nI am dying of the sweetness,
\nbe not astonished.
\nSuch a blow was dealt me
\nby love’s lance.
\nIts point of iron is long and wide
\nas a hundred arms’ lengths. Know this:
\nit went right through me .
\nLove put me in a furnace.
\nIV
\nAnd then, the arrows rained down tightly
\nand the crossbows thrust me down.
\nSo, did I take up a shield,
\nand the blows came fast and heavy,
\nuntil nothing more could defend me.
\nThey broke me into pieces,
\nso strong was the arm delivering them.
\nLove put me in a furnace.
\nV
\nHe shot them with such force;
\nI despaired of fending them off.
\nAnd to escape death,
\nI cried out with all my strength:
\n“You are breaking the laws of combat.”
\nBut then, He raises an instrument of warfare
\nthat overwhelms me with fresh blows.
\nLove put me in a furnace.
\n\"franci.jpg\"<\/a><\/span>
\nVI
\nThe arrows that He aimed at me
\nwere of stone set in lead;
\neach of them weighed at least a thousand pounds.
\nHe launched them in a hailstorm so thick
\nthat I could not count them.
\nNot one of them missed me.
\nLove put me in a furnace.
\nVII
\nHe could not have missed me, never,
\nso perfect was His aim.
\nI was lying on the earth,
\nunable to move; my members failed me.
\nMy whole being was utterly smashed.
\nLike a man already dead
\nI no longer felt anything.
\nLove put me in a furnace.
\nVIII
\nDead, not by mortal death,
\nbut by intoxication with the Beloved.
\nThen, I awoke so strong,
\nagain taking possession of my heart,
\nand I was able to follow the guides
\nwho led me on
\neven to the gate of heaven.
\nLove put me in a furnace.
\nIX
\nAfter I regained consciousness,
\nI waged war against Christ.
\nStraightaway, I took up arms,
\nand rode my steed into His terrain.
\nAnd having come face to face with Him,
\nwithout delay, I came to blows,
\nand avenged myself on Him.
\nLove put me in a furnace.
\nX
\nWhen I had sated my vengeance,
\nI made my peace with Him;
\nFor, from the very beginning
\nthis Love had been true love.
\nNow, of Christ, the Lover,
\nI have become capable.
\nEver and always does my heart carry Him.
\nLove put me in a furnace.
\nLove put me
\nin a furnace.
\nLove put me
\nin the furnace.
\nHe put me
\nin the furnace of Love.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dom Eugène Vandeur, O.S.B. gives this prose in his meditations entitled, Les voies à la fournaise d’amour, and attributes it to the seraphic Saint Francis. I rather suspect it came from the pen of Jacopone da Todi. It puts me in mind of Saint John of the Cross and, even more, of the words of <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-saints"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paVypq-St","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3377"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3377"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3377\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}