I Love You Beyond All Measure

This brochure of the Marian Movement of Priests and Laity presents the meditation texts of Rudolf Erhard: short words spoken from the perspective of Jesus Christ, which speak of His unconditional love for every single person and invite us to let this love into our own lives.

Proclaiming the Gospel was a central task of Jesus’ coming. “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other cities also; for I was sent for this purpose.” (Lk 4,43) And the heart of this message was: God is our Father. He loves us.

Passing on the faith is Jesus’ commission to all of us as well. It is not about discovering new revelations, but about seeing the revelation anew and allowing oneself to be seized by it. This was granted to Rudolf Erhard. For years he has surrendered himself to God and, like St. Paul, has asked again and again: “What shall I do, Lord?” (Acts 22,10) And the Lord Jesus began to work first in him and then through him. One result is this small book that you hold in your hands. When Rudolf Erhard gave me these lines to read, I was moved by the insights, by the statements, and also by the form of the statements. Suddenly the Lord was speaking to me. He encouraged me and raised me up. That is why I urged this brother to make these texts accessible to many people. Therefore I rejoice and pray that this basic message of Jesus “I love you beyond all measure” may make many people sit up and listen, and that people may be able to hear this message from God.

Fr. Hermann Parth

It was at a regional meeting of the Charismatic Renewal when I heard from Johannes Czwalina of Basel the following sentence:

My dear ones, the most important message of Jesus to each of you is the sentence: “I love you beyond all measure!”

I accepted this, and I think that if one had to sum up the message of Jesus in a single sentence, it could be this: “I love you beyond all measure!”

In the time that followed I took this sentence deeply into myself and let it work in me. This sentence hit me squarely and still hits me. I have thought much about what this sentence could mean for me in detail. What occurred to me I have written down.

Rudolf Erhard

Do not be afraid! I, Jesus, am your brother, and I am almighty. I love you beyond all measure.

Whatever you may do, I love you. Whether you come to Me or run away from Me, I love you. Whether you love Me in return or turn away from Me, I love you. Even if you set yourself against Me, hate Me, persecute Me, I still love you.

When you become guilty, I forgive you. When you are alone, I come to you. When you are sad, I comfort you. When you come into need, I help you. When you need Me, I am there for you. I love you just as you are.

I do not want to criticize you, I never want to condemn you. For My love I ask nothing of you and set you no conditions.

I demand nothing of you. I command you nothing. I only stand before you, to ask you to allow Me to be all this for you, to do all this for you. I do not press you. I have patience. I wait until you reconsider, until you accept My offer. As long as you do not do so, I will keep on waiting.

I only wait for your consent. I wait for a word from you. I wait for your yes.

I love you beyond all measure. Receive this love; it is everything you need: when you hunger, it will satisfy you; when you suffer, it will strengthen you; when you are sick, it will make you well.

My love is the answer to all questions; it is the companion in all hours. My love is the strength in every weakness; it is the protection in every danger. If you grant My love admittance into your soul, then you will hear My voice when you ask Me something, and you will be able to see Me when you look out for Me.

If you grant My love admittance, then you will be powerful, more powerful than all who do not love Me. You will never again be afraid, you will never again feel guilty, you will never again be sad. If you grant My love admittance, then it helps you to bear all pains, however strong they may be; then I make you whole, however sick you may be; then I make you joyful, however sad you may be.

I love you beyond all measure. I love you, I who know you better than any person, better than you know yourself. No one knows you better than I, no one is mightier than I, no one loves you more than I. I love you beyond all measure. Receive it, this love of Mine.

If you are afraid of tomorrow, it will take this fear from you. If you do not know how to decide in a difficult matter, then think of Me, think of My love, and you will know.

Give Me your love and pause for a moment in your work and busyness! Listen within yourself until you hear My voice!

I love you so much that I want to share everything with you. I, who possess everything, to whom everything belongs, I want to keep nothing for Myself. I want to share everything with you.

What is Mine shall be yours. That is My burning wish, because I love you beyond all measure. I love you when you sleep, and I love you when you are awake. How much harm have I kept away from you!

How much harm I have wanted to keep away from you, but I could not, because you did not listen to My voice. You are so precious to Me! But I respect your freedom.

I do not force you, I do not press you, even though I must sadly witness how you suffer because you did not want to walk My way. I love you beyond all measure. When you suffer, then I suffer too. I suffer with all people.

How often I tremble that you might want to hear My voice. How often I suffer because you leave My way, because you go your own way, which then leads away from Me. Where I am not, there is no light, there is darkness. How often I suffer because you seek the darkness more than the light.

I love you beyond all measure. Out of love for you I have given you brothers and sisters. I do not want you to be lonely. I do not want you to have a hard time loving Me, following Me. Because I love you, I have founded My Church.

She is My beloved bride. She is My own body. She is the kingdom, the New Jerusalem. She is the city on the mountain, and every member of My mystical body that lives in My love becomes the salt of the earth and the light of the world.

I love you beyond all measure. Therefore I have founded this Church, also for you, so that you have a home, already now, here on earth. You shall not be alone. Alone you cannot follow Me. Alone you cannot have joy. But just as I live in you, so I also live in your brothers and sisters. In them you will meet Me.

Because I love you beyond all measure, I have called you into My Church. Only in My Church will you experience My full love. She alone is the place of My joy, the place of My holiness, the place of truth and love.

I love you beyond all measure. Therefore I want to have you always near Me. My Church is the place, My disciples are your brothers and sisters.

I have made My Church beautiful for you. I have adorned her with My manifold graces, like a bride with precious jewels. My Church is not to be confused with the greatness of cathedrals and the preciousness of their works of art. She is not to be confused with the beauty of organ music, but rather she is the mystery of My crucified love, which flows to you in rich abundance through My sacraments. That is the essence of My Church. It is the unreserved yes that you say to My love, it is the full availability for Me, which makes you this Church, My dearly beloved bride.

I love you beyond all measure. Therefore I live among you as the Head of My body, which is the Church. You are My Church. You are My body. Pray to Me that I heal My body, that I put back the lost members, that I close the gaps.

You cannot separate Me from My Church, which is My body. If you destroy My body, if you leave it, take offense at it and go your own way, you strike Me in the heart, from which My Church has come forth. I have bought My Church with My blood. My heart belongs to each one of you. I have promised you that the gates of hell will never overpower her. But you must be faithful and remain obedient.

To heal My Church is solely My task, solely My work. Your task is to be one with Me, and one with one another, even when it costs you much. Your task is to give yourselves up for My Church, just as I also gave Myself up for her. I tell you: whoever is ready, as I was, to give himself up for the Church, will also rise with her.

I called Peter at that time to be the shepherd of My Church, because he loved Me so much. You too, in My Church and for My Church, do everything out of love for Me, with an honest heart. Then My Holy Spirit will protect you from going astray. Fear no one, never be afraid, for I am with you!

I love you beyond all measure. Therefore I have written My law into your heart. Do you not notice how much you have changed from before, when you grant My love admittance? How much it used to hurt you when someone did you wrong, but now you can accept it with composure. Indeed, I have even taught you to rejoice over it in thought of Me, to whom so much injustice is done. I have taught you to rejoice that you may share this suffering with Me.

Because I love you, I have made every burden light for you, because I have freed and redeemed you from the burden of your own desires. Because I love you, I have taught you to give away yourself, your wishes, your comfort, out of love.

I love you beyond all measure. Therefore I have also opened your eyes. What used to annoy you in other people, above all in My Church, you now see with My eyes, with the eyes of love. You see not only the failure and the weakness, you now also see the need that lies behind it. There is no longer any cause for annoyance for you, but rather the impulse to help, to comfort, to stand by, even to do the work yourself, just as I do. Because I love you, you are able to do it.

I love you beyond all measure. Therefore I have taken your depression, all your sufferings, illnesses and disabilities upon Myself. I have carried the suffering of the whole world on My shoulders, to redeem all people, including you. I do not want suffering, I do not want need, I do not want illness. All these are consequences of the many sins that are committed in the world. They are consequences of disobedience to My commandments and instructions. Above all they are consequences of lovelessness. Therefore I cannot prevent them. But because I love you, I have made all your burdens light for you, provided you grant My love admittance. If you expect everything from Me, then you will also receive everything from Me.

But you too must have patience with Me, just as I have patience with you, for I alone always know the right moment.

I love you beyond all measure. Because I love you, I spread My arms out to you: already today I wait for you, to take you into My arms when one day you cross the threshold to eternal life.

Do not be afraid, think of the hidden treasure in the field, think of the precious pearl, of which I told My disciples. If you grant My love admittance, then you too will gladly give up everything else or regard it as of little worth for the sake of the treasures that you receive through My love.

Because I love you beyond all measure, I want to show you these treasures already now and let you taste them while you dwell on this earth. Because I want to give you the kingdom of heaven already now, I call you to help Me build up My broken body, My sick and divided Church with all your strength.

I need you. You are a living building block. I need you, so that My Gospel may come alive in you. So many of My poor people hunger in vain for it.

Because I love you beyond all measure, I have taught you the joy of giving and sharing. My poor world knows this joy so little, for it speaks an entirely different, opposite language. Out of love I have shown you how wonderful it is to taste already now the joy of loving, the joy of giving.

Do you remember the most beautiful moments in your life, when you were completely happy, completely blessed? It was not so much when you yourself received kindnesses, but when you helped Me, Myself, in a person. How blessed it was for you when you took Me by the hand, when I stood blind at the roadside and did not dare to cross, and led Me safely through the traffic! Do you remember when you gave Me right of way on your bicycle in dense traffic, with a friendly wave? Will you ever be able to forget the grateful shining of My eyes? And when, as a little boy who had run away from home, I stood freezing at the roadside in the traffic, you took Me home. And then, when you carried Me, who had no feet of My own, in your arms and helped Me get home safely at night! Do you still remember how happy you were afterwards? It was My great love for you that showed you this happiness, this treasure in the field.

For this I have shed My heart’s blood, for this I have become the living spring, so that the stream of My love for you may never run dry. Because I love you beyond all measure, therefore I invite you: come and take from this love as much as you want, therefore I invite you: come and drink until you are satisfied!

I love you beyond all measure. Therefore I have blessed you so richly. I have taken away from you the ambition to want to be somebody in the world. In its place I have shown you the joys of serving. I have taken impatience out of your heart and taught you to have patience, patience with everyone, just as I have patience with you.

Or would you not long since have failed, if I had ever become impatient with you? Because I love you, I give you My power, and you know it is infinitely strong. It has brought about everything, everything that comes to be, grows and happens in this world. My power brings it about that you accept people, even when you do not like them.

My power is what takes from you all sorrow, every pain, and makes you forget it as soon as you accept it gratefully from My hand. My power brings it about that you think better of all people than worse, that you praise them rather than blame them. My power makes it possible for you to forgive everyone from an honest heart, whatever they may have done to you.

I love you so much and beyond all measure, that you shall share in My joy, share in My light, share in My glory. You would not, however, be able to bear it if all this came over you at once.

You must learn much so that you can bear what I have borne for you, both suffering and joy. You must learn both. Above all you must accept My redemption, for I can only give it to you if you truly want to be redeemed. To say yes to the redemption and to the daily cross that I entrust to you means to complete what is still lacking in My suffering. This is the loving cooperation of My members in the work of redemption.

Because I love you so very much beyond all measure, I have also destined for you the highest good, which means the highest joy, the highest bliss. It is the complete self-giving of yourself, freely, to Me, your Beloved. There is no greater blessedness, no brighter light, no greater love than to give oneself away with all that one is, all that one has, all that one desires. I did this for you at Golgotha, when out of love for you I gave Myself freely into the hands of My tormentors. Already then I gave Myself wholly to you, and I have not ceased to do so since then. That was the goal of My life and suffering. That is the content of My redemption, which I have offered you ever since, day and night: the redemption from the chains of one’s own ego, from the chains of your wishes and prejudices, the cause of so many sufferings, the redemption to the freedom of giving, to the freedom of bestowing gifts, to the blessedness of giving oneself away, the union with the Beloved, who never stops telling you, I love you beyond all measure.

Because I love you, I also know you through and through, better than you know yourself. Therefore I ask you: let go of all brooding over yourself. Ask Me when you do not understand something. Because I love you, I ask you not to carry burdens, feelings of guilt, sorrow around with you. You should give all this to Me. I carry it with My infinite power, I transform all distress into joy. With My last drop of blood on the cross I have also erased the very last guilt on earth, all guilt, even the very last of the past, of the present and of the future.

I have pardoned you out of love. How sad I am each time you doubt, when you hesitate, when you refuse to finally accept this pardon from My hand!

I love you beyond all measure. Therefore I wish for nothing more fervently than that you are glad, that you laugh and rejoice. My Church, My bride beloved above all else, is to be a community of joyful people. You must be glad if you truly want to be one with Me, for every encounter, every being together with Me, the most beloved, is your whole joy. If you do not rejoice in Me, then you take from your surroundings, from the world, its last hope. If you, My beloved brothers and sisters, you, the community of the saints, are not a community of joy and cheerfulness, you cannot carry My message further. Sadness, hopelessness, weariness, lack of humor, gloomy severity are an offense to Me, who have given you everything with My love. In this way you cannot pass on My message. In this way you turn it into its opposite.

Because I love you with all My heart, I have made your heart glad. Do you not feel how this is more and more the case? Even when worries and fears want to take you captive, do you not notice how every turning of your soul toward Me immediately overcomes these temptations? Out of love I have made your heart glad, so glad that it urges you more and more to rejoice, to praise and to give thanks for My love.

Because I love you, I have given you the invincible power of praise. I have shown you that there is no minute in your life for which you could not thank Me from your whole heart, for which you could not praise Me. Not for suffering and sin should you praise Me, but for My presence, for My love, for My providence, for the plan that I have for your life. You may praise Me for My power, for My love, which is Lord of every situation, of every minute of your life. Yes, I am the Lord of every situation in your life, however sad it may be, however obscure, however hopeless. I am the Lord. Therefore I have taken all anxiety and all fear from you. Also for the future. Do not be afraid! Fear nothing and no one, I am the Lord!

I love you beyond all measure. Therefore I say again and again: do not be afraid! Do not be afraid of being different from other people. Do not be afraid of being different from the people in your immediate surroundings, in your family, in your neighborhood, at your workplace. I have called you to be with Me, your Lord and King, with Me, the Almighty. But My power is different from that of the world. It is invisible, small and inconspicuous, and it often appears to people as weakness. Yet My power is the strongest power and might of all times. My power is My love without measure for you and for all people. No one has ever described this power in more beautiful words than My beloved Apostle Paul: “Love believes all things. Love does not insist on its own way. Love endures all things. Love bears all things. Love never ends …”

This tremendous strength I set against the tremendous destructive power of My enemy. On the one side there is pride, placed in your heart by My adversary; on the other side there is My love. Both are tremendous powers, but only love is invincible. Every true love is My love. It is stronger than any pride, stronger than any hatred.

Because I love you so, I want you to be glad, that your eyes shine, that your heart rejoices over Me. I want your whole being to become joy. You shall become the light that shines and that all people can see.

Joy, cheerfulness, laughter, these are a sure sign of My presence in you. Give yourself up to this joy in every situation of the day. In it My immense love and My power will be revealed to you. Suffering will always remain in this world as a consequence of sin. But consider that My cross, the sign of shame, the sign of failure, became the sign of victory for the whole world.

In the same way My love transforms every suffering that befalls you into joy over Me and My presence, when in such a moment you give yourself with all your suffering to Me, without reservation, without mistrust, without hesitation. Because I love you, because I am impatient to give you the fullness of My gifts, I expect you to trust Me entirely, precisely in suffering.

I love you beyond all measure. Because I love you, I have taught you to see with My eyes.

Without My eyes you are blind. Without My eyes you see only what is and what happens. But you do not see the why. Only with My eyes do you see what is truly real. You see love, you see hatred, you see need, loneliness, despair. You see fear. All this lies behind things, behind words and actions. And only when you see as I see, can you also act as I would act. You cannot do it out of your own impulse, out of your own will.

I love you without measure. Therefore I have given you a great trust in Me, a strong faith. Do you not notice how it carries you more and more? Do you not notice how it makes you ever more certain and fearless, toward everyone and in every situation?

Yet your faith is still smaller than the mustard seed of which I spoke to My disciples, which would be enough to command the mountain to throw itself into the sea.

Because I love you, therefore you shall ask Me unceasingly to strengthen your faith in Me. I want you to expect everything from Me.

Do you not see how helpless most people around you are? Do you not see how helpless and fearful those are who hold power among you, who should lead you?

How timid are those who should go before you in mastering the enormous problems that you, in your time, have piled up as never before! They do not believe Me. I am astonished at this, because they are ready to believe all sorts of promises from other weak people. I am astonished how gullibly many of you run after the most senseless slogans and believe the most senseless promises of those people who prove every day how little they can accomplish and how little they are ready to stand up bravely for truth, law and justice!

I am astonished that those who are in charge among you still believe that other people trust them. I am astonished, because they themselves keep experiencing how powerless and impotent they are, how fearful and weak, when even the slightest resistance appears anywhere.

I love you so immeasurably, and so I love all people. Why is it that almost all people are ready to believe any other weak person much sooner than they trust Me? Try to find a person whom I have ever once in his life abandoned, whom I had disappointed, if he was ready to entrust himself to My love without mistrust and reservation. You will find no one. And still people do not believe Me. Now you will also be able to gauge how much I love you, because you believe Me, because you trust Me.

Out of love for you I have very often not fulfilled your wishes. I am glad that in every single case you have understood that this happened out of love. Do you still remember what you wanted to do for Me in the first great enthusiasm after your conversion?

Then it took you a long time to understand Me. Because I love you, I had to give you this experience first. Because I love you, I had to let your faith grow stronger roots through failures and disappointments, to multiply your love for Me many times over.

If I had not done this, you would have failed and now could accomplish nothing for Me and My kingdom. You would have made yourself and Me look foolish, and My enemy would have rejoiced. Out of love for you I have prevented this. Out of love I will let you penetrate ever more deeply into My being. This does not happen without effort and obedience.

Do you feel how lovingly I look at you? Do you feel how far I have spread My protecting arms over you? Do you feel the beat of My heart, which beats faster each time you answer My love for you? Do you feel how suddenly everything around you becomes bright? Is it not true that I am the one who truly makes you happy?

I love you beyond all measure. Therefore I teach you to see more and more with My eyes. The more you see with My eyes, the faster you recognize your own mistakes. You recognize mistakes that you would otherwise rarely see. But your mistakes cause other people to be annoyed with you, cause other people not to love you, not to accept you as you expect them to. The more you learn to see with My eyes, the more you see that much of what you are annoyed about in others you also do yourself. Perhaps you do not do it often, but now and then. If you learn to see yourself with My eyes, then you will recognize yourself better and better. Then you can change, and you will change. The people around you too will notice it and be amazed. They will rejoice. They will love you more than before.

Do you now see how great My love for you is? Do you now see what it is able to awaken in you and in others? My love is the strongest power. Even if almost no one believes they can see or notice it, it nevertheless accomplishes a thousand times more than all the other powers of this world taken together would accomplish.

Therefore I ask you again and again to grant My love admittance into yourself. Accept it! Receive Me! Do not ask too little of Me! Take everything I want to give you! Take everything I offer you!

I wait for it, because I love you beyond all measure.

I love you beyond all measure. Do you believe Me in this? If you believed Me, your heart would have to beat to bursting with joy. Then this joy would drive you to pass it on. You would have to carry My Good News out into all the world. Do you believe that I love you more than all other people love you?

Every person who loves you, even the one who is closest to you, leaves doubts in you. Is there even one person, however closely you may be bound together in love, who does not again and again leave wishes unfulfilled for you? Will you not again and again be disappointed also by your dearest person? Do you not again and again feel the pain that in the end he does not quite understand you? Do you not feel the pain that precisely when he has no time for you, or cannot turn to you one hundred percent, is when you need it most? Only with Me is it different. My love is almighty.

My love is omnipresent. My love is without limits. It is always there. It is always directed toward you. It never rests.

My love seeks you, your happiness, your blessedness, your joy, your peace.

If you believe Me in all this, then you must make ever greater efforts to clear away all the obstacles that you, consciously or unconsciously, keep building up, so that My love often cannot reach you.

One obstacle is that you often have no time for Me, that other appointments stand in your way. It is a great obstacle for Me that you often regard everything else as more important than pausing for a moment and listening to My voice; often only a few minutes are enough.

Another great obstacle to My love is your fear. Again and again you erect this obstacle against My love. It is the fear, for example, of openly showing another person how you think and how you feel, the fear that you might be misunderstood, that you might make a fool of yourself. It is the fear that you might be seen as a nuisance, or the fear that you might remain indebted to someone. Unfortunately, you often find all too many reasons to be afraid.

Do I not always say again and again: do not be afraid! If you believe Me, if you allow Me to love you beyond all measure, if you allow Me to fill yourself, your heart, your whole being with this love, then there is simply no more room for fear.

If you allow Me this, then you are free of fear, finally free, completely free! My beloved child, do you not believe that it is the goal of My love for you to make you finally completely free, free of all fear?

Only people who are free of fear, people who finally accept this freedom from Me, are able to establish My kingdom, to build up the body of My Church, to bring My salvation to the world. It was the fiery glow of My love, the storm wind of My Spirit, which at Pentecost finally took fear from My fearful disciples. How it transformed them! What tremendous power immediately went out from them! Consider what immense power this freedom also means for you. Consider how, from the first days of My Church until today, liberated people have taken everything upon themselves. By the thousands they have joyfully accepted torture and death. These My saints of all times live on to this day and are venerated by the whole Church.

And just as the power of their tormentors has long since passed away, so too will the power and violence of all other oppressors of this earth pass away, whether they be in the East or in the West. And their weapons will have rusted.

I love you beyond all measure. Because I love you, I never need violence, therefore I compel no one, therefore I threaten no one and instill no fear of Me in anyone. It was a very great sin of My servants in My own Church that for long ages they tried to exert pressure on people. The torments that I endured on the cross out of love for you and all people were even surpassed by the torments that I suffer because of this. Even to this day I suffer when and because I had to witness how people in My name oppressed, frightened, even tortured and destroyed others. Can you understand how much I have suffered from it and still suffer today, where such things happen? I suffer because I am gentle and humble of heart. I suffer because I have accepted every violence against Me without resistance.

I never defended Myself. I never used violence. It was solely My love that conquered all violence.

So you too should act! Only so and not otherwise! For love excludes every use of violence, for whatever reason it might be used.

I love you beyond all measure. Therefore I have shown you in many ways who I truly am. Therefore I have shown you how much it pains Me that most people have a completely false image of Me. Even in My Church this false image exists, to My greatest sorrow. I am entirely different. It is not true when people think they must or can do something themselves to influence Me. It is not true when people believe they must influence Me through some deeds, in order to buy with them My love or even the forgiveness of their sins. I am not for sale. How can you come to think that My love for you could be bought through good works, through sacrifices, through the length of your prayers? All this can, if it happens in the right spirit, delight My heart very much. But My love and the forgiveness of your sins are entirely independent of it. Do you feel how this way of thinking must offend Me, your God, who Myself am love? I love you and all people not only beyond all measure, but also without any precondition. I forgive you all guilt and all sin, because I have long since forgiven you. You need only confess your guilt and ask for My forgiveness and accept it.

Because I love you beyond all measure, I have written this message into your heart. Do you feel the difference? Do you feel how it hurts Me that so many of you still do not want to believe this? Do you feel My immense pain that among the doubters there are also many of My beloved sons whom I have appointed as My representatives among you? Among them, too, there are many who still reject My love, My unconditional forgiveness.

Because I love you and all people beyond all measure, therefore I ask you: pass this message on! Do not hesitate! Do not be afraid! There is nothing more important on earth to do.

Tell everyone, whether great or small, whether high or low, whether near or far: I love you beyond all measure.