Never give in to the temptation to be disgusted with yourself: this grieves Jesus. "Oh Lord, grant that I may bear my soul and my body without disgust." (1) If He loves you with the love that binds all our wounds, if within us we have a soul that He redeemed with His blood and one day wants to bring it into His heaven, how can we be confused by such goodness! Saint Thomas says that we must love ourselves with a merciful love – and love others as ourselves. To be urged to love ourselves with a merciful love means that we tell God: "Grant me to love what in me You love, and burn the rest away."
(1): Charles Baudelaire /1821–1867/
(Cardinal Charles Journet /1891–1975/, correspondence)
