Even Years: William of Saint Thierry, The contemplation of God

Tu vere solus es Dominus, cuius dominari super nos, hoc est salvare nos; nostrum vero servire tibi nihil est aliud quam a te salvari.	You alone are the Lord. To be ruled by you is for us salvation. For us to serve you is nothing else but to be saved by you!
Quae est enim salus tua, o Domine, cuius est salus, et super populum tuum benedictio tua, nisi quod a te accipimus ut amemus te, vel amemur a te?	Now how is it we are saved by you, O Lord, from whom salvation comes and whose blessing is upon your people, if it is not in receiving from you the gift of loving you and being loved by you?
Idcirco, Domine, Filium dexterae tuae, hominem quem confirmasti tibi, Iesum, id est Salvatorem, appellari voluisti, ipse enim salvum faciet populum suum a peccatis eorum, et non est alius in quo sit salus; qui docuit nos amare se, cum usque ad mortem crucis prior dilexit nos, amando et diligendo suscitans nos ut amemus eum, qui prior usque in finem dilexit nos.	That, Lord, is why you willed that the Son of your right hand, the Man whom you made strong for your own self, should be called Jesus, that is to say, Saviour, for he will save his people from their sins. There is no other in whom is salvation except him who taught us to love himself when he first loved us, even to death on the cross. By loving us and holding us so dear he stirred us up to love himself, who first had loved us to the end.
Et sic plane, sic est: amasti nos prior, ut amaremus te; non quod egeres amari a nobis, sed quia id, ad quod nos fecisti, esse non peteramus, nisi amando te.	You who first loved us did this, precisely this. You first loved us so that we might love you. And that was not because you needed to be loved by us, but because we could not be what you created us to be, except by loving.
Ideo multifariam multisque modis olim locutus patribus in prophetis, novissime diebus istis locutus es nobis in filio, in Verbo tuo: quo caeli firmati sunt, et spiritu oris eius omnis virtus eorum.	Having then in many ways and on various occasions spoken to the fathers by the prophets, now in these last days you have spoken to us in the Son, your Word, by whom the heavens were established, and all the power of them by the breath of his mouth.
Loqui tuum in Filio tuo, non aliud fuit, quam in sole, id est in manifesto, ponere, quantum et quomodo nos amasti, qui proprio Filio tuo non pepercisti, sed pro nobis omnibus eum tradidisti; qui etiam dilexit nos, et tradidit semetipsum pro nobis.	For you to speak thus in your Son was an open declaration, a setting in the sun as it were, of how much and in what sort of way you loved us, in that you spared not your own Son, but delivered him up for us all. Yes, and he himself loved us and gave himself for us.
Hoc est Verbum tuum ad nos, Domine, hic omnipotens sermo: qui, dum medium silentium, profundum scilicet erroris, tenerent omnia, a regalibus sedibus venit, durus errorum debellator, dulcis amoris commendator.	This, Lord, is your word to us, this is your all-powerful message: he who, while all things kept silence (that is, were in the depths of error), came from the royal throne, the stern opponent of error and the gentle apostle of love.
Et quicquid fecit, quicquid dixit in terra, usque ad opprobria, usque ad sputa et alapas, usque ad crucem et sepulcrum, non fuit nisi loqui tuum nobis in Filio: amore tuo provocans, et suscitans ad te amorem nostrum.	And everything he did and everything he said on earth, even the insults, the spitting, the buffeting, the cross and the grave, all that was nothing but yourself speaking in the Son, appealing to us by your love, and stirring up our love for you.
Sciebas enim, creator animarum, Deus, in animabus filiorum hominum cogi non posse, sed provocari oportere affectum istum. Simul etiam quia ubi coactio, iam nec libertas; ubi non libertas, nec iustitia.	For you, O God, our souls' creator, knew that this affection cannot be forced in the souls of the sons of men, but has to be evoked. And this is for the obvious reason that there is no freedom where there is compulsion, and, where freedom is lacking, so too is righteousness.
Voluisti ergo ut amaremus te, qui nec iuste poteramus salvari, nisi amaremus te; nec amare te poteramus, nisi procederet a te. Ergo, Domine, sicut Apostolus amoris tui dicit, et nos iam diximus, prior dilexisti nos; et prior diligis omnes dilectores tuos.	[So you wished us to love you, since we cannot rightly be saved unless we love you. Nor could we love you, unless you enabled us. Therefore, Lord, as the Apostle of your love said, and as we just said, you love us first, and you first love all those who love you.]
Sed nos te diligimus affectu amoris a te nobis indito. Sed amor tuus bonitas tua est, summe bone et summum bonum, Spiritus Sanctus a Patre procedens et Filio: qui ab initio creaturae superfertur super aquas, id est, mentes filiorum hominum fluitantes, omnibus se offerens, omnia ad se trahens, inspirando, aspirando, noxia arcendo, providendo utilia, Deum nobis et nos uniens Deo.	Now we on our part hold you dear by the affection of love which you have implanted in us. But, O you who are One supremely good and the ultimate Goodness, your love is your goodness, the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Father and the Son! From the beginning of creation he has been borne upon the waters —on the tossing souls of men, that is— offering himself to all, drawing all to himself. And breathing into and upon them, by warding off things harmful and supplying things useful, he unites God to us and us to God.