Loving Father, open our eyes and our hearts to the abounding love you shower us daily; take away our doubts make us believe we are loved, that there is so much love in this life, in this world for us to experience, to take and to share! Vanish our fears of getting hurt, of being empty, of losing when we love like Ruth to Naomi her mother-in-law.
But Ruth said, “Do not ask me to abandon or forsake you! For wherever you go I will go, wherever you lodge I will lodge, your people shall be my people, and your God my God.” Thus it was that Naomi returned with the Moabite daughter-in-law, Ruth, who accompanied her back from the plateau of Moab. They arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.
Ruth 1:16, 22
Teach us, dear Father, to love like your Son Jesus Christ, loving somebody more than one's self by loving you with our whole selves and loving others as we love ourselves (Mt.22:37-40).
Open ourselves and allow us to be taken over by your love, Lord, like St. Bernard whose memorial we celebrate today; let us learn and heed the meaning of his teaching: "Love is fully sufficient to itself; when it enters the heart, it absorbs all other feelings. The soul who loves, loves and knows nothing more." Amen.
