The Beloved

The innumerable army of true lovers that Christ has and will forever have is an admirable thing. A faithful friend is a rare and difficult matter. As the Wise Man says: ‘A faithful friend is a strong defense; he who finds one will have found a treasure’ (Ecclus. 6:14). But Christ found and finds an infinite number of friends that love Him with so much faith that they are called the faithful among all the people as a proper name only appropriate to them. For in all the ages of the world and in all its years, and we can say in all its hours, there have lived and been born souls that endearingly love Him. And it is more do-able and possible that the sun lack light than there lack men in the world that love and adore Him. For this love is what sustains the world, which holds it in its hand, so as not to perish. For the world is nothing save for he who can be found in it that burns for Christ.

(from On the Names of Christ by Fray Luis de León, Book III: Beloved)