> [[at-sl-25|← Temperance]] | [[at-spiritual-life-toc|TOC]] | [[at-sl-27|B2 Ch. IV →]] # Chapter III. The Theological Virtues 1167\. 1° St. Paul makes mention of the three theological virtues. He groups them together as three essential elements of the Christian life, and points out their superiority over the moral virtues.[1] Thus he urges the Thessalonians to put on the breast-plate of faith and charity and the helmet of hope, [2] and he praises in them the work of faith, the labor of charity and the enduring of hope.[3] As contrasted with the charisms (special gifts), which are of a transitory nature, faith, hope and charity are lasting.[1] 1168\. 2° Their role is to unite us to God through Jesus Christ, in order to make us sharers in the Divine life. They are, then, at once unifying and transforming virtues. a) Thus, faith unites us to God, Infinite Truth, and makes us enter into communion with the divine mind, since it makes us know God as He made Himself known through revelation. Thereby faith prepares us for the Beatific Vision. b) Hope unites us to God, Supreme Beatitude, and makes us love Him for His goodness to us. By it we firmly and trustfully expect the happiness of Heaven, as well as the means necessary to attain it. Through it we prepare ourselves for the full enjoyment of celestial bliss. c) Charity unites us to God, Infinite Goodness, and makes us love Him as infinitely good and lovable in Himself, and establishes a holy friendship between Himself and us, a friendship which makes us partake even now of His life, because we begin to love Him as He loves Himself. Here on earth, charity always includes the other two theological virtues. It is, so to speak, their soul, their vital principle or life; so much so, that, devoid of charity, faith and hope remain imperfect, inert, dead. Thus, according to St. Paul, faith is not complete unless it bring forth love and action: “Faith that worketh by charity;”[2] nor is hope complete until it gives us a foretaste of heavenly bliss through the possession of sanctifying grace and charity. ## Art. I. The Virtue of Faith [3] Three things must be explained: 1° the nature of faith; 2° its sanctifying power; 3° the progressive growth in the practice of this virtue. I. The Nature of Faith We briefly recall here what we have explained more at length in Dogmatic and Moral Theology. 1169\. 1° The meaning of faith in Holy Writ. The word faith signifies, in the most instances, an assent of the mind to truth, which assent, however, is based upon trust. To believe any one, we must have confidence in him. A) In the Old Testament, faith is presented as a necessary virtue, on which depends the salvation or the ruin of the nation: “Believe in the Lord your God, and you shall be secure.” [1] “If you will not believe, you shall not continue.”[2] This faith is an assent given to the word of God, but accompanied by trust, self-abandonment, and love. B) In the New Testament, faith is so essential that to believe means to profess Christianity, and not to believe is not to be a Christian: “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved: but he that believeth not shall be condemned.”[3] Faith means the acceptance of the Gospel preached by Jesus Christ and His Apostles; therefore, it presupposes preaching: “Faith, then cometh by hearing.”[4] This faith, then, is not an intuition of the heart, nor a direct vision: “We now see through a glass in a dark manner;” [5] but it is the acceptance of divine testimony, free and enlightened, since man, on the one hand, can refuse belief, and on the other, he does not arrive at belief without reasons, without an intimate conviction that God has really spoken.[6] This faith is associated with hope and is perfected by charity: “Faith that worketh by charity.”[7] 1170\. 2° Definition. Faith is a theological virtue that inclines the mind, under the influence of the will and of grace, to yield a firm assent to revealed truths, because of the authority of God. A) Faith is before all else an act of the intellect, since it is question of knowing the truth. But, since this truth is not self-evident our assent cannot be effected without the action of the will, bidding the mind study the reasons for believing, and, when these are convincing, giving a further command to assent. Because it is question of a supernatural act, grace must intervene to enlighten the mind, and to aid the will. It is in this way that faith becomes a free, supernatural and meritorious act. B) The material object or the subject-matter of our faith is the sum-total of revealed truths, both those that reason alone could not possibly discover, and those others which reason could come to know, but which faith makes better known. All these truths refer to God and to Jesus Christ. They refer to God with regard to the Oneness of His Nature and His Trinity of Persons, our first beginning and our last end. They refer to Jesus Christ, Our Redeemer and Mediator, Who is none other than the Eternal Son of God made man in order to save us. Hence, these truths refer likewise to the work of Redemption and to whatever is connected therewith. In other words, we believe what we shall one day behold in the glory of Heaven: “This is eternal life: that they may know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.[1]” 1171\. C) The formal object or what is generally called the motive of our faith is divine authority made known through revelation and imparting to us some of the secrets of God. Thus, faith is a virtue entirely supernatural, both as to its object and its motive; it puts us in communion with the divine thought. D) Ofttimes revealed truth is authentically proposed to us by the Church which Jesus Christ instituted as the official interpreter of His teaching; this teaching is then termed a doctrine of Catholic faith. If there has been no authentic definition of the Church regarding revealed truth, the said teaching is simply called a doctrine of Divine faith. E) There is nothing more firm than the assent of faith. Having full confidence in the Divine authority much more than in our own lights, we believe revealed truth with our whole soul. We do so with a far greater sense of security, inasmuch as divine grace comes to facilitate and strengthen our assent. And so it happens that the assent given by faith to revealed truth is more prompt and more firm than that given to natural truth. II\. The Sanctifying Power of the Virtue of Faith 1172\. Faith thus understood cannot but have an important share in our sanctification. By bringing us into communion with divine thought it becomes the foundation of our supernatural life and unites us to God in a most intimate way. 1173\. 1° It is the foundation of our supernatural life. We said that humility is looked upon as the foundation of all the virtues, and we explained (n. 1138) in what sense it is so regarded; but faith is itself the foundation of humility (which, as we have said, was unknown to Paganism) and therefore it is in a truer sense the foundation of all the virtues. The better to understand this fact, we have but to comment on the words of the Council of Trent stating that “faith is the beginning, the basis and the root of all justification,” [2] and by that very fact, of sanctification. A) It is the beginning of justification, because it is the mysterious means used by God to initiate us into His life, to make us know Him as He knows Himself. On our part, it is the first supernatural disposition for justification, without which we can neither hope nor love. It is, so to speak, the taking possession of God and of divine things. In order to lay hold upon the supernatural and live by it we must first of all come to the knowledge of it: “Nothing can be willed that is not foreknown.” Now, we arrive at a knowledge of the supernatural through faith, a new light added to reason, which enables us to look into a new world, the supernatural world. It is like a telescope that enables us to discover far-off things invisible to the naked eye. Still, this is but an imperfect comparison, for a telescope is an outward instrument, whilst faith penetrates into the recesses of the mind and sharpens its power of perception as well as its field of vision. 1174\. B) Faith is likewise the foundation of the spiritual life. This simile is intended to show that sanctity is like an edifice, vast and lofty, the basis of which is faith. Now, the deeper the foundations, the higher the edifice may rise without danger to its stability. Hence, it is important to strengthen the faith of devout souls, especially of seminarians and priests, so that upon this solid foundation may rise the temple of Christian perfection. C) Lastly, faith is the root of sanctity. Roots seek in the soil for the chemicals necessary to nutrition and growth in a tree; so, faith sinking its roots into the furthest recesses of the soul, and feeding there on divine truths, furnishes perfection with a rich, life-giving sap. Roots, if deep, lend solidity to the tree they sustain; so the soul, imbedded in faith, withstands spiritual storms. Hence, deep faith is of capital importance in order to attain a high degree of perfection. 1175\. 2° Faith unites us to God, and makes us share in His thought and in His life. This is God’s own knowledge of Himself given in some measure to man. “By it,” says Mgr. Gay, “the light of God becomes our light; His wisdom our wisdom; His knowledge our knowledge; His Spirit our spirit; His life our life.” [1] It unites our intellect directly to the Divine Wisdom; but, since the act of faith cannot be performed without the action of the will, this faculty also has a share in the results produced in our soul by faith. One may say, therefore, that faith is a source of light to the mind, a source of strength and comfort to the will, a source of merit to the entire soul. 1176\. A) It is a light which illumines our intellect, and differentiates the Christian from the philosopher, as reason distinguishes a human being from an animal. There is in us a threefold knowledge: sense knowledge, attained through the senses; rational knowledge, acquired through the intellect; and spiritual or supernatural knowledge, obtained through faith. The last is by far superior to the other two. a) It widens the scope of our knowledge of God and the things of God. Reason tells us little of God’s nature and of His inner life, whilst faith teaches us that He is a living God; that from all eternity He has begotten a Son, and that from the mutual love of the Father and the Son proceeds a Third Person, the Holy Ghost; that the Son became man for our salvation and that those who believe in Him become the adopted sons of God; that the Holy Ghost comes to dwell in our souls, to sanctify them and to endow them with a supernatural organism which enables us to perform acts that are Godlike and meritorious. This is but a portion of what has been revealed to us. b) It gives us a deeper insight into the truths already known by reason. Thus the moral precepts of the Gospel are far more definite, far more perfect than those of mere natural ethics. To be convinced of this we have but to read the Sermon on the Mount. From the very outset, Our Lord does not hesitate to proclaim blessed the poor, the meek, the persecuted; He requires His disciples to love their enemies, to pray for them and to do good to them. The holiness He preaches is not legal or exterior sanctity; it is an inward holiness, based on the love of God and of the neighbor. To arouse our fervor, He proposes to us the most perfect ideal, God and His perfections, and since God seems far removed from us, He sends us His Son from Heaven to be made man, to live our own life, and thus to offer us a concrete example of the perfect life which we must lead on earth. To impart to us the strength and constancy such an undertaking demands, He does not rest satisfied with going before us, but He comes Himself to dwell within us with all His graces and virtues. We cannot, then, plead weakness. He is Himself our strength, as well as our light. 1177\. B) That our faith is a source of strength is well brought out in the Epistle to the Hebrews.[1] Faith provides us with deep convictions which greatly strengthen our will: a) It shows us what God has done and what He incessantly does in our behalf, how He lives and acts in our soul to sanctify it, how Jesus incorporates us into Himself and makes us share in His own life (n. 188-189); then, having our eyes directed towards the author of our faith, Who preferred the Cross and humiliation to joy and success, “who having joy set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, ”[1] we feel ourselves strong enough to carry our cross courageously after Jesus. b) Faith ever keeps before our eyes the eternal reward that will be the rich fruit of the sufferings of a moment: “That which is at present momentary and light of our tribulation worketh for us above measure exceedingly an eternal weight of glory.” [2] Then, with St. Paul, we say: “I reckon that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come,” [3] and like him we rejoice, even in the midst of tribulations,[4] for each of these, if patiently borne, will earn for us a further degree of God’s vision and of God’s love. c) If we are at times conscious of our weakness, faith reminds us that, since God is Himself our strength and our support, we have nothing to fear, even when the world and the devil join forces against us: “And this is the victory which overcometh the world: Our faith.” [5] This is most evident in the wondrous change wrought by the Holy Ghost in the Apostles. Armed at His coming with the power of God, they, who up to this time, had been timid and slothful, go courageously to meet all kinds of trials — scourgings, imprisonment, and death itself—glad to undergo suffering in the name of Jesus: “They went forth rejoicing that they were accounted worthy to suffer reproach for the name of Jesus.”[6] 1178\. C) Faith is likewise a source of comfort, not only in the midst of tribulations and of humiliations, but also when we have the misfortune of losing our dear ones. We are not among those who sorrow without hope. We know that death is but a sleep, to be soon followed by the resurrection, and that through death we merely exchange a temporary dwelling for an everlasting mansion. Our chief consolation is the doctrine of the Communion of Saints. Whilst awaiting the day when we shall be reunited to those that have departed this life, we are even now bound to them by the most intimate ties in Christ Jesus. We pray that their time of trial be shortened and their entrance into Heaven hastened; they in their turn, now assured of their salvation, ardently pray that we may one day join them. 1179\. D) Finally, faith is a source of manifold merit: a) The act of faith itself is highly meritorious, for it subjects to divine authority the best that is in us, our intellect and our will. This faith has all the more merit since in our times it is made the object of more numerous attacks, and since those who make open profession of their faith are, in certain countries, exposed to ridicule and persecution. b) Furthermore, it is faith that renders meritorious our other acts, since they cannot become so without a supernatural motive and the help of grace (nn. 126, 239); but faith by directing the soul towards God and towards Jesus Christ enables us to act in all things with supernatural intentions. Likewise, by disclosing to us our own weakness and God’s power, faith makes us pray ardently to obtain His grace. III\. Practice of the Virtue of Faith 1180\. Since faith is at once a gift of God and a free assent of the mind to revealed truth, it is evident that in order to grow in faith, we must rely on prayer and our own personal efforts. Under this twofold influence, faith will become more enlightened, simple, strong and active. We shall apply this principle to the various stages of the spiritual life. 1181\. 1° Beginners should strive to strengthen their faith. A) They thank God for this great gift, which is the foundation of all others, and with their whole soul they repeat the words of St. Paul: “Thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift”[1]. They thank Him all the more at the sight of so many unbelievers round about them. They pray therefore for the grace to preserve this gift in spite of all the dangers that beset it, and implore God’s help for the conversion of unbelievers, heretics and apostates. 1182\. B) With humble submission and with a firm conviction they make acts of faith, saying with the Apostles: “Increase our faith” [2]. Moreover, to prayer they add study or the reading of books calculated to enlighten and strengthen their faith. Much reading is done in our day, yet how few even among intelligent Christians read serious books on religion and spirituality! What a mistake! Men wish to know all things, save the one thing necessary. 1183\. C) They avoid carefully whatever could trouble their faith: a) those dangerous writings, wherein the truths of faith are either attacked, ridiculed or called into question. Most of the books that appear in our day, not only doctrinal works, but novels and plays as well, contain open or covert attacks against our faith. Unless we be on our guard, we are liable to drink in little by little the poison of unbelief or, at least, to lose the purity of faith, and a time may come when, shaken by hesitation and doubt, we no longer know how to resist. In this matter we must respect the wise prescriptions of the Church, made known to us in her catalogue of bad or dangerous books, and not make light of them on the plea that we are immune to the danger. In truth we are never immune. Balmes, one of the great defenders of the Church, gifted with a keen mind and a well-balanced judgment, and obliged as he was to read heretical books in order to refute them, used to say to his friends: “You know how deeply rooted within me are orthodox sentiments and doctrines. Not withstanding, I never read a forbidden book without feeling the need of going to the Bible, the Imitation, or Louis of Granada for strength against unbelief. What will become of our foolish youth, which in its inexperience dares read everything without the necessary safeguards? The mere thought of it fills me with horror.”[1] For the same good reason no doubt we must avoid the conversations and discourses of unbelievers. b) Beginners likewise shun that pride of intellect which seeks to bring all down to its own level and refuses to accept what lies beyond its comprehension. They remember that there is above us all a Spirit whose infinite intelligence sees what our reason cannot understand, and that God greatly honors us by the communication of His thought. Once, therefore, we have ascertained that He has spoken, there is but one rational attitude to take, to welcome gratefully this superadded knowledge. If we bow before the authority of a man of genius, who deigns to impart to us some of his knowledge, with what confidence should we not bow before Infinite Wisdom Itself? 1184\. D) With regard to temptations against faith, a distinction is to be made between those that remain vague and those that definitely center around some particular object. a) When they are vague, taking such form for instance as: Who knows if all that be true? then we must quietly drive them away. 1\) We are in possession of truth, and we are sure of our title; this is enough for us. 2) Besides, we have seen that our faith rests upon solid grounds; again, this suffices, for we cannot be every day raising doubts over things already proved. In the affairs of every-day life, we do not stop when such doubts, such inane ideas, cross our mind, but we go on, and certitude reasserts itself. 3) Lastly, others more intelligent than ourselves believe these truths, and are persuaded that they are well proved; therefore, I submit to their judgment which is far wiser than that of those extremists who take a malicious delight in attracting notice by undermining all the bases of certitude. To these commonsense reasons we should add prayer: “I believe Lord, help thou my unbelief.”[2] 1185\. b) If the temptations are well-defined, bearing or some particular doctrine, we hold firmly to our belief since we are in possession of the truth. But we seize the first opportunity to clear up the difficulty, either by personal study, if we have the intelligence and the documents required, or by consulting some learned man who may help us to solve the problem more easily. If we add prayer to this earnest and loyal research, a solution, as a rule, will not be long in coming. However, we must remember that such a solution does not always do away with the difficulty. There are at times historical, critical, exegetical objections that can be cleared away only after long years of study. We must reflect, then, that once we have a good reason to hold something as true, wisdom demands that we continue to give it our assent even while the darkness lasts. The difficulty does not destroy the grounds of belief, it simply shows the deficiency of our minds. “Ten thousand difficulties do not make one doubt.” [1] 1186\. 2° Advanced souls practice not only faith, but the spirit of faith: “The just man liveth by faith.” [2] A) They read the Gospel with loving attention, happy to follow Jesus step by step, to relish His maxims, to contemplate His examples in order to imitate them. Jesus becomes the center of their thoughts: they seek Him in their readings and in their labor, desiring to know Him better so that they may love Him more. 1187\. B) They accustom themselves to see all things, to judge all things from the point of view of faith, 1) They see the Hand of the Creator in all His works, and they hear all creatures repeat the refrain: “He made us, and not we ourselves.” [3] Hence, it is God Whom they admire everywhere. 2) The persons that surround them are to them so many images of God, children of the same Heavenly Father, brethren in Christ Jesus. 3) Events, which at times are so baffling to unbelievers, are interpreted by them in the light of the great principle that all is ordained in behalf of the elect, and that good and evil are dispensed with a view to our salvation and perfection. 1188\. C) Above all, they strive to be led in all things according to the principles of faith. 1) Their judgments are based upon the maxims of the Gospel, not upon those of the world; 2) their words are inspired by the Christian spirit, not by the spirit of the world, for they conform their words to their judgments and thus triumph over human respect; 3) their actions become more and more Christlike for they delight in considering Our Lord as their model, and thus escape being carried away by the examples of worldlings. In short, they live a life of faith. 1189\. D) They strive, finally, to spread round about them this faith that is in them: 1) through their prayers, asking God to send apostolic workers to labor for the evangelization of infidels and heretics: “Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he may send forth laborers into his harvest;” [1] 2) through their example, discharging so well their duties of state, that those who witness their life may feel drawn to imitate them; 3) through their words, declaring in all simplicity but without any human respect, that they find in their faith power to do good, and comfort in the midst of their trials; 4) through their works, doing their share by their generous offerings, their sacrifices, and their personal efforts for the moral and religious instruction and education of the neighbor. 3° Perfect souls, by cultivating the gifts of knowledge and understanding, perfect their faith still more, as we shall explain when treating of the unitive way. ## Art. II. The Virtue of Hope [2] We shall describe: 1° its nature; 2° its sanctifying power; 3° its practice. I. Nature of Hope 1190\. 1° Different significations. A) In the natural order, hope means two things: a passion and a sentiment. a) Hope is one of the eleven passions (n. 787). It is, therefore, an impulse of the sensitive appetite, that tends towards some absent good apprehended by the senses, and which is attainable, but not without some difficulty, b) Hope is one of the worthiest sentiments of the human heart, which tends towards some absent moral good, despite the obstacles that stand in the way of its acquisition. This sentiment plays an important part in human life; it sustains men in their arduous undertakings: the laborer when he sows, the seafarer when he sails, traders and pliers of fortune when they embark on some enterprise. B) There is also a supernatural hope that sustains the Christian midst the obstacles encountered in the attainment of salvation and perfection. The object of this hope is eternal life and the means of reaching it. Since this hope is founded upon the power and the goodness of God, it is firm and unshakable. 1191\. 2° Its essential elements. If we analyze this virtue, we notice that it comprises three principal elements: a) The love and desire of supernatural good, that is to say, of our supreme happiness, which is God. The origin and development of this sentiment is as follows. The desire for happiness is universal. Now, faith shows us that God alone can constitute our happiness. We, therefore, love Him as the source of our happiness. This is an interested love, but it is supernatural since it has for object God as known to us through faith. Because this good is difficult to attain, we instinctively experience fear lest we fail to attain it, and to overcome this fear a second element intervenes, namely, the well-founded expectation of obtaining it. b) Evidently, this expectation is not based upon our own strength which is insufficient of itself to attain such good, but it is based upon God, upon His all-powerful help. It is from Him that we expect all the necessary graces to obtain perfection in this life and salvation in the next. C) But grace demands our co-operation and hence there is a third element. This is an earnest effort to tend towards God and make use of the means of salvation placed at our disposal. This effort must be all the more determined and steadfast, the higher the object of our hope. 1192\. 3° Definition. From what we have said, we may thus define hope: a theological virtue that makes us desire God as our highest good, and expect with a firm confidence eternal bliss and the means of attaining it, because of God’s goodness and power. A) The primary and essential Object of our hope is God Himself, inasmuch as He constitutes our happiness; it is God eternally possessed by clear vision and undivided love. Our Lord said that eternal life is the knowledge, the vision of God and of Him Whom He sent: “Now this is eternal life: That they may know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ Whom thou hast sent.” [1] Besides, since we cannot attain this object without the help of grace, our hope is, likewise, directed towards all the supernatural aids needed in order to avoid sin, overcome temptation, and acquire Christian virtue; it even extends to temporal goods in the measure in which they are necessary or profitable to our perfection and salvation. 1193\. B) The motive of hope depends upon the point of view from which we consider hope itself, a) If we think, as Scotus did, that its principal act is the desire or love for God inasmuch as He is our happiness, the motive will be God’s goodness towards us. b) If, with St. Thomas, we consider hope as consisting essentially in the expectation of a good difficult to attain, namely, the possession of God, then the motive will be the assisting omnipotence of God, which elevates our souls, snatches them from the hold of earthly goods and bears them towards Heaven. The Divine promises simply confirm the certainty of such help. We may, then, say that the adequate motive of hope is both the goodness of God and His power. II\. The Sanctifying Power of Hope Hope furthers our sanctification in three principal ways: 1° it unites us to God; 2° it imparts efficacy to our prayers; 3° it is a principle of fruitful activity. 1194\. 1° It unites us to God by detaching us from earthly goods. We are drawn by sense-pleasures, the gratification of pride, the fascination of wealth, and lastly by the higher, natural joys of the mind and heart. Hope, based upon a lively faith, shows us that all these earthly joys lack two elements: perfection and permanence. A) None of these goods is perfect enough to satisfy us. Having provided a short period of enjoyment, they soon produce satiety and weariness. Our heart is too great, its aspirations too vast and too high to be satisfied with material goods, which are but means of reaching a far nobler end. Neither do the natural goods of the mind and heart suffice us. Our intellect never rests satisfied but with the understanding of the First Cause, and our heart that seeks a perfect friend does not find him but in God. He alone possesses the plenitude of being, the perfection of beauty and of goodness, the fulness of power. He Who is perfectly self-sufficient is evidently sufficient for our happiness. The one important thing is to reach Him, and it is hope that shows Him to us stooping down in order to give Himself to us. Once we have understood this, our hearts break away from the things of earth to move towards Him, like the iron towards the magnet. 1195\. B) Even if the goods of earth could satisfy us, they have their day and cease to be. We know this, and this thought casts its shadow upon our joy even when we possess these goods. God, on the contrary, abides forever, and death that severs us from all earthly things, merely unites us more perfectly to Him; and so despite the natural horror death inspires, we face it with confidence, because of the hope we harbor of being everlastingly united to Him Who alone can constitute our bliss. 1196\. 2° It is hope also, that, united to humility, imparts efficacy to our prayers and thereby obtains for us all the graces of which we stand in need. A) Nothing is more touching than the manner in which the Sacred Writers urge us to place our confidence in God. The Book of Ecclesiasticus sums up in these words the teaching of the Old Testament concerning hope: “My children, behold the generations of men: and know ye that no one hath hoped in the Lord and hath been confounded. For who hath continued in his commandment and hath been forsaken? Or who hath called upon him, and he despised him? For God is compassionate and merciful, and will forgive sins in the day of tribulation.”[1] B) But it is chiefly in the New Testament that the efficacy of confidence is brought out. Our Lord works His wonders in behalf of those who trust in Him, We have but to recall His attitude towards the centurion;[2] towards the paralytic who, unable to come near the Master, has himself let down through the roof[3]; towards the blind men of Jericho[4]; towards the Chanannean woman[5] who, thrice rebuked, reiterates her request; towards the sinful woman[6]; towards the leper who comes to thank Him.[7] Besides, how can we lack confidence when Christ Himself authoritatively asserts that all that we shall ask the Father in His name will be granted to us: “Amen, amen, I say to you: if you ask the Father anything in my name, he will give it you.”[8] Here lies the secret of our strength. When we pray in the Name of Jesus, that is to say when we trust in His merits and satisfactions, His Blood pleads more eloquently for us than do our own poor prayers. C) Moreover, nothing so honors God as confidence. There-by we proclaim His power and His goodness, whilst He, Who lets not His generosity be surpassed, responds to this confidence by a further effusion of graces. We may therefore conclude with the Council of Trent that we must all place the most unhesitating confidence in the help of God.[9] 1197\. 3° Finally, hope is a principle of fruitful activity. a) It begets holy desires, particularly the desire to possess God. This gives the soul the impulse, the motion, the necessary yearning to attain the coveted good, and it sustains our efforts until we have reached the goal. b) It increases our energies, through the prospect of a reward that will be far in excess of our efforts. If people in the world labor with such earnestness to acquire perishable riches, if athletes submit to such arduous training, if they make desperate efforts in order to gain a corruptible crown, how much more should we not labor and endure for an eternal crown? “And every one that striveth for the mastery refraineth himself from all things. And they indeed that they may receive a corruptible crown: but we an incorruptible one.”[1] 1198\. c) It infuses into us that courage, that endurance that gives us the assurance of success. Just as there is nothing so disheartening as to struggle without any hope of victory, so on the other hand, the certainty of triumph is a singular source of energy. Such certainty hope furnishes. Of ourselves we are weak, but we have powerful allies, God, Jesus Christ, the Most Blessed Virgin, and the Saints (n. 188-189). Now, if God is for us, who is against us?[2] If Jesus, Who overcame the world and Satan, lives within us and communicates to us His Divine energy, are we not sure of triumphing with Him? If the Immaculate Virgin, who crushed the head of the serpent, sustains us by her powerful intercession, shall we lack the needed help? If God’s friends, the Saints, pray in our behalf, will not these many supplications give us absolute security? And being assured of victory, are we to shrink from the few efforts required for gaining eternal possession of God? III\. Gradual Progress in the Practice of Hope 1199\. 1° General Principle. To make progress in the practice of this virtue, we must strengthen its foundations and make it more fruitful. A) To render our hope more solid, it is important that we meditate often on the motives on which it rests: the power of God, His goodness and the glorious promises He has made to us (n. 1193). Should these not be enough to strengthen our confidence, we have but to recall the words of St. Paul: [3] “He that spared not even his own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how hath he not also, with him, given us all things ? Who shall accuse against the elect of God? God that justifieth. Who is he that shall condemn? Christ Jesus that died. Yea that is risen also again; who is at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.” Thus, on the part of God, our hope is absolutely certain. However, on our part, we have reason to fear, because we are far from being always faithful to correspond perfectly to the grace of God. All our efforts, then, must tend to render our hope more firm by making it more fruitful. 1200\. B) To gain this end, we have to collaborate with God in the work of our sanctification: “For we are God’s coadjutors.”[1] God by according us His grace, does not mean to substitute His action for ours; He simply means to supply for our insufficiency. Doubtless, He is the primary and the principal cause, but, far from suppressing our activity, He wants to excite it and render it more effective. St. Paul understood this well: “But by the grace of God I am what I am. And his grace in me hath not been void: but I have labored more abundantly than all they. Yet not I, but the grace of God with me.”[2] He urged others to do what he did himself: “And we helping do exhort you that you receive not the grace of God in vain.” [3] It was especially to his dear disciple Timothy that he addressed the following urgent recommendation: “Labor as a good soldier of Christ Jesus,”[4] because he was to labor not only for his own sanctification, but for that of others. St. Peter employed the same language. He reminded his disciples that although called to salvation, they were to render certain that calling by the performance of good works: “Wherefore, brethren, labour the more, that by good works you may make sure of your calling and election.” [5] We must, therefore, be fully persuaded that in the work of our sanctification all depends on God; still, we must act as if all depended on ourselves. God never refuses us His grace, and consequently, in actual practice all we have to attend to is our own personal effort. 1201\. 2° Application of the general principle to the various degrees of the spiritual life. We can easily see how the principle enuntiated above applies to the different stages of the Christian life. A) Beginners should be on their guard first of all against the two excesses opposed to hope: presumption and despair. a) Presumption consists in expecting from God Heaven and the graces necessary to reach it, without willing to take the means He has ordained. One may presume on the Divine Goodness, by neglecting God’s commandments, persuading oneself that God is too good to sentence one to damnation. This is to forget that if God is good, He is likewise just and holy, and that He hates iniquity.[1] Again, one may through pride presume on one’s own strength, rushing into the midst of dangers and occasions of sin, and forgetting that he that loves danger will perish in it. Our Lord promises us the victory, but on condition that we watch and pray: “Watch ye: and pray that you enter not into temptation;”[2] and St. Paul, who so trusted in God’s grace, warns us to work out our salvation in fear and trembling.[3] b) Others, on the contrary, are exposed to discouragement and, at times, to despair. Frequently tempted, and at times overcome in the struggle, or tortured by scruples, they lose heart; imagining they cannot reform, they come to despair of their salvation. This is a dangerous state of mind, against which we must be on our guard. We shall recall how St. Paul, tempted and realizing that of himself he could not stand fast, confidently abandoned himself to the grace of God: “The grace of God, by Jesus Christ.”[4] Following the example of the Apostle, we shall pray and we shall be delivered. 1202\. B) After carefully avoiding these dangerous shoals, we must set ourselves to acquire detachment from the goods of earth, so that our thoughts and desires may frequently soar to Heaven. This St. Paul asks of us: “Therefore, if you be risen with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the earth.”[5] Risen with Christ our leader, we must no longer seek and relish the things of earth, but rather those of Heaven where Jesus awaits us. Heaven is our true country, this earth but an exile. Heaven is our destiny, the true happiness we seek; this earth can yield us nothing but fleeting joys. 1203\. 3° Those advanced in the way of perfection not only practice the virtue of hope, but entertain a filial confidence in God, relying on Jesus Who has become the center of their lives. A) Incorporated into Christ, they await with invincible trust that Heaven where Jesus has prepared a home for them,[6] and where they already abide, through hope, in the Person of their Saviour: “For we are saved by hope.” [7] a) They await it, even in the midst of adversities and of the trials of this life, and with the Psalmist they say: “I will fear no evils, for thou art with me.” [8] Our Lord living within them comes to comfort them, saying as He did once to the Apostles: “Peace be to you. It is I: fear not.” [9]. If intrigues and persecution come to trouble them, they recall what St. Vincent de Paul said to his disciples: “Even were the entire world to rise up to destroy us, it could do nothing but what is pleasing to God, in Whom we have placed our hope.”[1] If they suffer temporal losses, with the same Saint they say to themselves: “All that God does He does for the best; and therefore we must hope that this loss, since it comes from God, will be profitable to us.”[2] If they have to face physical or moral sufferings, they look upon them as blessings from on high, destined to procure Heaven in exchange for a few fleeting pains. 1204\. b) This confidence teaches them to escape the clutches of pleasure and success, more perilous still than the grip of suffering. “When life seems to smile upon our earthly hopes, it is hard to despise these flattering promises that seize upon our emotional nature; it is hard to steal away from the bonds of pleasure, to say to approaching bliss: you cannot satisfy my heart.” [3] But Christian souls remember that worldly joys are deceiving, that they hinder our flight towards God. In order to resist their attraction, they cling to the positive practices of mortification and seek for purer and holier joys in a more intimate friendship with Our Lord: “To be with Jesus is a sweet paradise.” [4] c) If it be a sense of their miseries and imperfections that disturbs them, they reflect on these words of St. Vincent de Paul: “You point out to me your miseries. Alas! and who is there that is not full of them! The only thing is to know them and to love the humiliation arising from them, as you do, without stopping save to lay the strong foundation of confidence in God ; for them the house is built upon a rock and when the storm comes it remains firm.”[5] Our miseries entitle us to Divine Mercy, when we humbly implore it, and they but fit us all the better for the reception of divine graces. St. Vincent adds that when God begins to do good to a person, He continues to do so to the end, unless that person makes himself unworthy. Thus, God’s past mercies are a pledge of those to come. 1205\. B) Hope makes us habitually live, in spirit, in Heaven and for Heaven. According to the beautiful prayer that the Church puts on our lips on Ascension Day, we must, even now, “live in mind amid heavenly things.”[6] This means that it is for Heaven that we must act and suffer, to heaven that we must turn our hearts and our desires: “that amid the changing things of this world, our hearts may be fixed where true joy is found.” [7] And, since the joys of Communion are a foretaste of Paradise, we shall, whilst waiting, seek therein the consolations our heart needs. 1206\. C) This thought will make us pray often for the gift of final perseverance, the most precious of gifts. We cannot indeed merit it; but we can obtain it of the Divine Mercy. For this, we have but to join in those prayers in which the Church makes us ask for the grace of a happy death, for instance, the Hail Mary, which we so often recite and wherein we implore the special protection of the Blessed Virgin at the hour of death. 4° Perfect souls practice trust in God through holy abandonment. This we shall explain when speaking of the unitive way. ## Art. III. The Virtue of Charity [1] 1207\. The virtue of charity supernaturalizes and sanctifies the sentiment of love towards God and towards the neighbor. After a few preliminary remarks on the nature of love we shall speak: 1° of charity towards God; 2° of charity towards the neighbor; 3° of the Sacred Heart of Jesus as a model of both. Preliminary Remarks 1208\. 1° Love in general is an impulse, a tendency of the soul towards good. If the good towards which we are drawn is the kind which appeals to our sense-nature and which our imagination apprehends as agreeable, our love is sensible love. If the good is moral good acknowledged by our reason as worthy of esteem, our love is rational love. If the good is a supernatural good perceived by faith, our love is Christian love. As we can see, love always presupposes knowledge; but, as we shall explain later on, love does not always correspond to that knowledge. Whatever be the kind of love, four elements can be discerned in it: 1) a sort of sympathy felt for another person because of a certain harmony existing between him and ourselves. Now, this harmony does not imply that both are exactly alike, but rather that the one completes the other. 2) An impulse of the soul towards the beloved person, to draw close to him and enjoy his presence. 3) A certain union or communion of mind and heart to share in common the goods each possesses. 4) A sense of joy, of pleasure or of happiness experienced in possessing the object of our love. 1209\. 2° Christian love is love that is supernaturalized as to its principle, its motive and its object. a) It is supernaturalized in its principle through the infused virtue of charity that resides in the will. This virtue, set into action by actual grace, transforms naturally good love and raises it to a higher level. b) Then faith furnishes us with a supernatural motive to sanctify our affections: it directs these, first, towards God, by showing to us the Supreme, Infinite Good, which alone can correspond to our rightful aspirations; then, towards God’s creatures, which it presents to us as reflections of the divine perfections, so much so, that in loving them we love God Himself. c) The object of our love becomes supernaturalized in this wise: the God we love is not God known merely by reason, but the Living God known through faith, the Father Who begets a Son from all eternity and adopts us as His children; the Son, equal to the Father, Who by taking flesh becomes our brother; the Holy Ghost, the mutual Love of Father and Son, Who comes to diffuse into our souls divine charity. Men do not appear to us as mere creatures of God, but they are seen in the light of revelation as they truly are, the children of God, Our Common Father, brethren in Christ Jesus, living temples of the Holy Ghost. All, then, is supernatural in Christian love. According to St. Thomas [1], charity adds to love a certain perfection that proceeds from a high esteem for the thing loved. Hence, all charity is love, but not all love is charity. 1210\. Charity may be thus defined: a theological virtue that causes us to love God above all things, for His own sake, in the way in which He loves Himself, and lo love the neighbor for God’s sake. This virtue, then, has a twofold object: God and the neighbor. These two objects, however, constitute but one, since we love creatures only inasmuch as they are reflections of the divine perfections, and therefore it is God Whom we love in them. We love the neighbor, adds St. Thomas [2], because God is in him or, at least, in order that God may be in him. This is why there is but one and the same virtue of charity. ### § I. The Love of God We shall explain: 1° its nature; 2° its sanctifying power; 3° how to advance in the practice of this virtue. I. Its Nature 1211\. The first object of charity is God. Since He possesses the plenitude of being, the perfection of beauty and of goodness, He is infinitely lovable. It is God, considered in all the infinite reality of His perfections, and not some particular Divine attribute. The consideration of any given attribute, His mercy, for instance, readily leads us to the consideration of all His perfections; but it is not necessary to know them in detail. Simple souls love Almighty God as faith makes Him known to them, without analyzing His attributes. To elucidate the notion of the love of God we shall explain the precept that imposes it upon us, the motive upon which it rests, and the different degrees through which we arrive at pure love. 1212\. 1° The Precept. A) Already formulated in the Old Testament, it is reenacted by Our Lord in the New and proclaimed by Him as the sum-total of the Law and of the Prophets: “Thou shalt love the Lord Thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind.”[1] This is equivalent to saying that we must love God above all things and with all the faculties of our soul. St. Francis de Sales explains this well: “Our love for Him should exceed all other affections, and reign overall the passions. He wishes that it should be the most sincere, that it should proceed from the heart and rule over its affections; He desires that we should consider it the most precious, the most valuable; He requires that it should fill the capacity of our souls; that it should be universal, extending to all our powers; that it should be elevated, and occupy the whole attention of the mind ; and, in fine, that it should be generous and unalterable.”[2] The Saint ends with a magnificent effusion of love: “Yes, Lord, I belong to Thee alone: I live more in Thee than in myself, therefore, my love should be wholly centered in Thee: I should love Thee as the origin of my being, and as the term of my repose: I should love Thee more than myself, since I only exist in Thee.” [3] 1213\. B) The precept of charity, then, is very extensive. In itself it has no limits, for the measure of love of God is to love Him without measure. Therefore, it obliges us to tend unceasingly towards perfection, (n. 353-361) and our charity must continue to grow until death. According to the doctrine of St. Thomas,[1] the perfection of charity is commanded as an end to be attained; hence we must want to attain it. Cajetan explains this by saying that “precisely because it is an end, it is enough in order not to fail in the precept, to be in a fit condition to attain this perfection some day, even though this be in eternity. Whoever possesses charity, even in the least degree, and thus advances towards Heaven, is in the way of perfect charity and thereby keeps the precept, which is necessary for salvation.” However, souls aiming at perfection are not content with this first degree; they climb ever higher, striving to love God not only with their whole soul, but with all their strength as well. 1214\. 2° The motive of charity is not the good one has received from God or that which one expects to receive from Him; it is God’s infinite perfection, at least as the predominant motive. Other motives may be joined with this, motives of wholesome fear, of hope, of gratitude, provided that the said motive be truly predominant. Consequently, love of self, in so far as it is subordinated to the love of God, is compatible with charity. Hence, when the Saints so harshly condemn self-love, it is the inordinate love of self they have in mind. 1215\. A) The opinion of Bolgeni, however, cannot be admitted. He pretends that the only love of charity possible and obligatory is that which has for motive God’s goodness towards us, since, as he asserts, we cannot love except what we perceive as meeting our needs and aspirations. The author in question mistakes what merely constitutes a necessarily preexisting condition for the real motive of charity. It is, indeed, true that love of itself presupposes that the object loved corresponds with our nature and our aspirations; yet, the motive for which we love God, is not precisely this harmony, but God’s infinite perfection loved for itself. Once more, St. Francis de’Sales explains well this doctrine in the following lines: “If there could be an infinite good, with which we had no relation, no communication, and, consequently, no prospect of union (which is also impossible) we should still esteem it more than ourselves… This, properly speaking, is not to love, because love tends to union, which in this supposition is impossible. Still less could we be animated with love of charity for such an object, as this love is a real reciprocal friendship, terminating in union.” [2] 1216\. B) We may ask ourselves whether the motive of gratitude suffices for perfect charity. Here there is room for distinction: if gratitude does not rise above the benefaction received to the Benefactor Himself, it does not suffice as a motive of charity, since it remains self-centered; but, if from the love of such benefaction we pass on to the love of the Benefactor, and if this love for Him is based on His infinite goodness, then this motive becomes one with that of charity. As a matter of fact, gratitude easily leads to pure love, for it is a most worthy sentiment; and so, Holy Writ and the Saints often propose to us God’s benefits as an incentive to the love of God. Thus, St. John, after saying that perfect love banishes fear, exhorts us to love God, “because God first hath loved us.”[1] Many are the souls that have learned to love God with the purest love whilst pondering the love He has shown us from all eternity, and the love of Jesus for us in His Passion and in the Holy Eucharist. If we desire a rule whereby to distinguish pure from interested love, we may put it thus: the former consists in loving God because He is good and in wishing Him well; the latter consists in loving God inasmuch as He is good to us and in desiring our own good. 1217\. 3° As to the degrees of love, St. Bernard distinguishes four [2]: 1) First, man loves himself for his own sake, since he is flesh, and he cannot have any taste except for things in relation to himself. 2) Then, seeing that he is not able to subsist by himself, he begins to seek God by faith and to love Him as an indispensable aid; in this second degree man loves God, not as yet for God’s sake, but for his own. 3) But soon, by approaching God, living close to Him, and realizing the need of His help, man gradually sees how sweet the Lord is, and begins to love Him for His own sake. 4) Finally, the last degree, attained by few in this life, consists in loving solely for God, and consequently, in loving God exclusively for His own sake. If we leave aside the first degree, which is nothing but self-love, there remain three degrees of the love of God that correspond to the three stages of perfection which we have already explained in numbers 340, 624-626. II\. The Sanctifying Power of the Love of God 1218\. 1° Charity is of itself the most excellent and the most sanctifying of all virtues. This we have already proved by showing that it is the very essence of perfection, that is embodies all virtues, and that it imparts to them all a singular perfection, by causing all their acts to converge towards God loved above all (n. 310-319). This is proclaimed by St. Paul in lyric language: “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. Charity is patient, is kind: charity envieth not dealeth not perversely ; is not puffed up, is not ambitious, seeketh not her own, is not provoked to anger, thinketh no evil: rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth with truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never falleth away… And now there remain faith, hope and charity, these three, but the greatest of these is charity.” [1] 1219\. In its power to unite the soul to God and to transform it, charity far excels all other virtues. a) It unites to God the whole soul with all its faculties and powers. It unites the mind to God through the esteem conceived for Him and the frequent thought of Him. It unites the will by perfect submission to the Divine Will. It unites the heart by the subordination of all our affections to the Divine Love. It unites our energies by dedicating them all to the service of God and of souls. b) In thus uniting the whole soul to God, charity transforms it. Love takes us away from self, raises us up to God, and inclines us to imitate Him, to reproduce in ourselves the divine perfections. We desire, in truth, to become like the one we love, because we consider him a model worthy of imitation, and we wish, by becoming more like him, to advance further in our intimacy with him. 1220\. 2° In its effects, charity contributes most effectively to our sanctification. a) It establishes between the soul and God a certain fellowship, sympathy, or affinity which causes us to understand and to relish better God and divine things. It is this mutual sympathy that makes friends understand one another, and become more and more intimately united. Many a simple, untutored soul, seized by love for God, relishes and lives the great Christian truths far better than the learned. This is an effect of charity. 1221\. b) It increases our energies for good a hundredfold by communicating to us an indomitable strength to overcome obstacles and to perform the highest acts of virtue, “for love is strong as death.” [1] How great is the strength a mother derives from love for her child! Perhaps no one has described better the effects of divine love than the author of the Imitation.[2] It lightens our sufferings and our burdens: “For it carrieth a burden without being burdened, and maketh all else that is bitter, sweet and savoury.” It lifts us unto God, because it is born of God: “For love is born of God, and cannot rest but in God.” It gives us wings to fly with joy unto the doing of the most perfect actions, unto the entire gift of self: “The lover flieth, runneth, and rejoiceth… he giveth all for all;” thus, it urges us to do great things and to aim at the highest perfection: “The noble love of Jesus impelleth us to do great things, and exciteth us always to desire that which is the more perfect.” It is ever watchful, uncomplaining of fatigue, untroubled by fear; rather, like a living flame it soars ever higher and passes securely through the midst of dangers: “Love watcheth… When weary, it is not tired; when straitened, is not constrained; when frightened, is not disturbed; but, like a vivid flame… it mounteth upwards, and securely passeth through all.” 1222\. C) Charity, likewise, is productive of great joy and expansion of soul; for it is the initial possession of the Sovereign Good, the beginning of eternal life in us, and such possession fills our soul with joy: “Giving true joy of heart.” [3] The Imitation goes on to say: “Nothing sweeter than love… nothing more pleasant, nothing fuller or better in heaven or on earth.”[4] The cause of such joy is that we begin to be more keenly aware of the presence of Jesus and of the presence of God within us: “to be with Jesus is a sweet paradise.[5] When Thou art present, all things yield delight; but when Thou art absent, all things grow loathsome.” [6] 1223\. d) This joy is followed by a profound peace. Once we are convinced that God dwells within us and that He exercises a paternal action, a paternal solicitude over us, we abandon ourselves with sweet trust into His hands, we confide all our interests to His care, and thus we enjoy perfect peace and serenity: “Thou makest a tranquil heart, great peace, and festive joy.”[7] Now, there is no disposition more favorable for spiritual growth than inward peace: “In silence and in solitude the devout soul maketh progress.” [8] Hence, from whatever point of view we consider charity, in itself or in its effects, it is of all the virtues the most potent to unite us with God and to sanctify us; it is, indeed, the bond of perfection. III\. Progress in the Practice of Charity 1224\. General principle. Love being the gift of self, our love for God will be more perfect the more completely we give ourselves to Him, without reserve and forever, with our whole soul, with our whole heart, with our whole strength. Since on earth we cannot make the gift of self without self-sacrifice, our love will be more perfect the more unselfishly we practice this spirit of self-sacrifice for the love of God (n. 321). 1225\. 1° Beginners practice the love of God by striving to avoid sin, especially mortal sin, and its causes. a) They practice repentant love by bitterly regretting having offended God and having deprived Him of His due glory (n. 743-745) This love has two effects: 1) it removes us further from sin and from creatures to which pleasure had made us cling; 2) it reconciles us with God and unites us with Him, not only by removing sin, the great obstacle to divine union, but also by infusing into our heart those sentiments of contrition and humiliation which constitute the beginning of love, and which under the action of grace are often transformed into perfect love. “For,” as St. Francis de Sales says, “perfect love wants God and needs Him; penance seeks and finds Him; perfect love possesses and holds Him fast.” At all events, our sins are more perfectly remitted, the purer and the deeper is our love. 1226\. b) They also practice, in its first degree, the love of conformity with the divine will, by obeying God’s commandments and those of the Church, and manfully withstanding the trials that Providence sends them for the purification of their souls (n. 747). c) Soon their love becomes a grateful love. Realizing that despite their sins, God continually showers upon them His blessings, and grants them such generous pardon, they evince a sincere sense of gratitude towards Him, praise His goodness, and strive to profit better by His graces. This is in itself a noble sentiment which constitutes an excellent preparation for pure love; we easily rise from the benefaction received to the love of the Benefactor, and we desire His goodness to be recognized and praised the world over. This is perfect love, or charity. 1227\. 2° Those advancing in the way of perfection practice the love of complacency, of benevolence, of conformity to the will of God, and thereby arrive at the love of friendship. A) The love of complacency[1] is born of faith and reflection. a) Through faith we know and through meditation we realize that God possesses the fulness of being, of perfection, of wisdom, of power, of goodness. Now, with but a little good-will, we cannot help taking complacency in such infinite perfection; we rejoice at seeing that our God is rich in goodness, we delight more in God s pleasure than in our own, and we show our joy by acts of admiration, approbation and praise. b) Thereby we draw unto ourselves the perfections of the Godhead. God becomes our God; we live on the thought of His perfection, His goodness, His sweetness, His Divine life; for the heart feeds upon such things as it delights in. Thus we are enriched by the divine perfections, which we make our own by a loving complacency. 1228\. c) But in thus attracting to ourselves the divine perfections, we attract God Himself, and we give ourselves entirely to Him, as St. Francis de Sales[1] well explains: “It follows that through this love of complacency we not only enjoy the perfections of God as if they were our own; but also, that since the divine perfections are infinitely above the powers and capacity of our mind and heart, we could not attract them into us to enjoy and possess them without being also possessed by them in turn. The love of complacency is then a reciprocal donation, in virtue of which we may truly assert that we belong to God, Who is also our possession.” Thus, “the soul inflamed with the love of complacency exclaims from the midst of its repose and sacred silence: ‘It suffices to my happiness to know that God is God; that His perfections are boundless, that His goodness is infinite. I am indifferent to life and death, since the object of all my love lives, and will live eternally, surrounded by the unfading splendor of endless glory. ’ Death cannot terrify a heart which breathes but to love, and which is aware that its sovereign good lives forever. It suffices to her to know, that He Whom she loves more than herself is overwhelmed with bliss: she lives more in the object of her predilection than in herself.” 1229\. d) This love, when it contemplates the Suffering Christ turns into compassion and sympathy. A devout soul, beholding the depths of dejection and grief wherein the Divine Lover is plunged, cannot but share in the holy love that makes Him endure such afflictions. It was this love that caused the stigmata to be imprinted upon the flesh of St. Francis of Assisi, and the Sacred Wounds upon that of St. Catherine of Sienna. Complacency produced compassion, and compassion produced a wound like that of the Beloved. 1230\. B) From the love of complacency springs the love of benevolence, that is to say, an ardent desire of glorifying the object of our love and of causing it to be glorified. This may be done in two ways in regard to God. a) In what concerns His interior perfections, to which we can add nothing, we can give glory only in a hypothetical way, saying, for example: “If (assuming the impossible) I could procure Thee any good, I would unceasingly desire it, even at the cost of my life. If, being what Thou art, Thou couldst receive an increase of perfection, I would desire it with all my heart.” 1231\. b) In what touches His outward glory, we desire unconditionally to increase it both in ourselves and in others, and with this end in view we desire to know and love Him better, in order that we may in turn make Him better known and better loved. That this love be not a merely speculative love, we strive to study in detail the beauties and the perfections of God, to praise them and cause them to be blest, sacrificing to this end studies and occupations which would naturally be more agreeable to us. Filled, then, with esteem and admiration for God we long to have His Holy Name blessed, exalted, praised, honored, adored all over the earth. And as we are of ourselves incapable of doing this in a perfect manner, we call upon all creatures to praise and bless their Maker: Let all the works of the Lord praise the Lord.[1] We rise in spirit to Heaven there to join the Angelic choirs and the host of the Saints and sing in unison with them: “Holy, Holy, Holy Lord…”[2] We join the Blessed Virgin, who raised above the Angels, renders to God more glory than all other creatures, and we repeat with Her: “My soul doth magnify the Lord.”[3] We join ourselves especially to the Incarnate Word, the Great Worshiper of the Father, Who, being God and Man, offers the Most Blessed Trinity a praise that is infinite. Lastly, we unite with God Himself, that is to say, with the Three Divine Persons, in their mutual praise and congratulation. “Then we exclaim: Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost! And in order to prove that the object of this aspiration is not the accidental glory of created praise, but the essential, eternal glory which God has in Himself, by Himself, from Himself, and which is, in a word, nothing else than Himself, we add immediately: ‘As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end,’ wishing that God be ever glorified with that infinite eternal glory, which he possessed in Himself before the formation of creatures.”[4] Religious and Priests realize that they are by virtue of their vows or of their priesthood specially bound to promote God’s glory. Burning with the desire of glorifying Him, they never cease, even in the midst of their occupations, to bless and praise the Almighty, and they have but one end in view, one ambition, that of extending the Kingdom of God and of procuring the eternal praise of Him Whom they love as the only portion of their inheritance. 1232\. C) The love of benevolence is manifested by the love of conformity. Nothing strengthens the reign of God in the soul more effectively than the accomplishment of His Holy Will: “Thy Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” Love is above all else a union, a fusion of two wills into one; and, since the Will of God is alone good and wise, it is evidently we who must conform our will to His: “Not my will, but Thine be done.”[1] As we have explained in nos. 480-492, this conformity comprises obedience to the Commandments, the Counsels, the inspirations of grace, and the humble and loving submission to providential events whether fortunate or unfortunate: failure, humiliations, all sorts of trials sent to us for our sanctification and God’s glory. Conformity in turn produces a holy indifference to whatever does not concern itself with God’s service. Persuaded that God is everything and the creature nothing, we want but God, His love and His glory, and our will remains indifferent to all else. This indifference is not a stoical insensibility, for we continue to feel the attraction of those things that please us, but it is an indifference of mind and will. Neither does this indifference consist in letting things take their course, as the Quietists pretended. We are not indifferent to our salvation; on the contrary, we ardently desire it, but we desire it only in agreement with the Divine Will. This holy abandon produces a profound peace of soul. We know that nothing can happen to us that will not be profitable unto our sanctification: “To them that love God all things work together unto good.”[2] Hence we joyfully embrace trials and the Cross, out of love for the Divine Crucified and in order to become more like unto Him. Thus, perfect conformity to the Will of God, as Bossuet says,[3] “makes us find our rest whether in pain or in joy, according to the pleasure of Him Who is our good. It makes us rest, not in our satisfaction, but in that of God, ever praying Him to be well pleased and to do ever with us as He pleases.” 1233\. D) This conformity leads us to friendship with God. Friendship implies, besides benevolence, reciprocity or the mutual giving of self. Now this is well realized in charity. This love is a true friendship, says St. Francis de Sales[4], “for it is known and acknowledged to exist on both sides; for God cannot be ignorant of our love for Him, since He Himself enkindles it in our hearts; nor can we have a doubt of His eternal predilection for us, since He has so frequently assured us of it… and He incessantly speaks to our hearts by the inspirations of His grace.” The Saint adds: “The mutual love subsisting between God and His creature is not what is termed simple friendship; it is a friendship of benevolent preference, that is, a special love of God founded on our choice and our preference.” 1234\. This friendship consists in the gift of Himself, which God makes to us, and the gift of self which we make to Him. We must, therefore, see what is God’s love for us in order to understand what must be our love for Him. a) His love for us is 1) eternal: “I have loved thee with an everlasting love”;[1] 2) it is desinterested, for being absolutely self-sufficient, He simply loves us for our good; 3) it is generous for He gives Himself entirely, coming Himself to live lovingly in our soul (n. 92-97); 4) it is prevenient, for not only has He loved us first, but He solicits our love and begs for it as if He were in need of it: “My delight is to be with the children of men… Son, give me thy heart.”[2] No one could ever dream of such delicate thoughtfulness. 1235\. b) We must, therefore, correspond to this love with a love that is as perfect as possible: “Who would not love Him Who loves us so much!”[3] 1\) Our love must be forever growing. Not having been capable of loving God from all eternity, and never being able to love Him as He deserves, we must at least love Him more each day, placing no limits to our affection for Him, refusing Him no sacrifice that He may demand, and ever seeking to please Him: “I do always the things that please him.”[4] 2) Our love must be generous, expressing itself in loving affections, frequent ejaculations and such simple acts of love as: “I love Thee with all my heart”; but it must also express itself by actions, chiefly by the entire gift of self, God must be the center of our entire being: of our intelligence, by the frequent thought of Him; of our will, by a humble submission to His least desire; of our sensitive nature, by not allowing our heart to become entangled in affections that would only be an obstacle to God’s love; of all our actions, by ever striving to please Him. 3) Our love must be disinterested. We must love God far more than we love His gifts. Hence we must love Him whether in desolation or consolation, protesting to Him again and again that we want to love Him and for His own sake. It is in this way that in spite of our weakness we respond to His friendship. ### § II. The Love of the Neighbor [5] After explaining the nature of this virtue and its sanctifying power, we shall indicate the manner of practicing it. I. Nature of Fraternal Charity 1236\. Fraternal charity is indeed a theological virtue, as we have said, provided that we love God Himself in our neighbor, or in other words, that we love the neighbor for God’s sake. Should we love the neighbor solely for his own sake, or because of the services he may render us, this would not be charity. A) Hence, it is God that we must see in the neighbor. He manifests Himself in men by natural gifts, which are a participation in His being and in His attributes, and by supernatural gifts, which are a participation in His nature and in His life (n. 445). Since the virtue of charity is supernatural, it is supernatural qualities that we must have in view as the motive of our love. Therefore, if we consider the neighbor’s natural qualities, we must look on these with the eye of faith, that is, see them as supernaturalized by grace. 1237\. B) The better to understand the motive of fraternal charity, we should analyze it by considering men in their relations with God. Then they will appear to us as children of God, members of Jesus, co-heirs with us of the Kingdom of Heaven (nos. 93, 142-149). Even if they be not in the state of grace or have not the faith, they are called to the possession of these supernatural gifts and it is our duty to contribute, at least by our prayers and our example, to the work of their conversion. This is a most powerful motive for loving them as brethren, and the differences that separate us from them dwindle into insignificance in comparison with all that binds us to them. II\. The Sanctifying Power of Fraternal Charity 1238\. 1° Since the supernatural love of the neighbor is but another form of the love of God, we should repeat in this place all we have explained concerning the marvellous effects of the love of God. Let it suffice to quote some texts of St. John: “He that loveth his brother abideth in light; and there is no scandal in him. But he that hateth his brother is in darkness.”[1] In the language of this Apostle, to abide in light means to abide in God, the source of all light, and to walk in darkness means to be in the state of sin. The same Apostle goes on to say: “ We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren… Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer.”[2] He concludes by saying: “Dearly beloved, let us love one another: for charity is of God. And every one that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God: for God is charity. If we love one another, God abideth in us: and His charity is perfected in us… God is charity: and he that abideth in charity, abideth in God, and God in him… If any man say: I love God, and hateth his brother: he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother, whom he seeth, how can he love God, whom he seeth not? And this commandment we have from God, that he, who loveth God, love also his brother.”[3] It would be impossible to express more clearly that to love the neighbor is to love God, and that the love of the neighbor confers on us all the privileges attached to the love of God. 1239\. 2° Furthermore, Our Lord tells us that whatever service is rendered to the least of His brethren, He considers as rendered to Himself: “Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these my least brethren, you did it to me.”[1] Now, Our Lord will not let Himself be outdone in generosity, and He will make return a hundredfold by giving all manner of graces for the least service done to Him in the person of His brethren. How consoling is this thought to those who practice fraternal charity and perform the spiritual or corporal works of mercy; how much more consoling to those whose entire life is devoted to works of charity or zeal! Every moment of the day they do some service to Jesus Christ in the person of His brethren, and every moment of the day Jesus likewise labors in their own souls to beautify and sanctify them. III\. The Practice of Fraternal Charity 1240\. The principle that must always guide us is to see God and Jesus Christ in our neighbor:[2] “Christ in all,” and thus render our charity more supernatural in its motives and its means of action, more universal in its scope, more generous and more active in its exercise. 1241\. 1° Beginners strive chiefly to avoid the faults contrary to charity, and to practice those acts to which we are bound by precept. A) In order not to give pain to Jesus and the neighbor they carefully avoid: a) Rash judgments, slander and calumny, which are against justice and charity, (n. 1043); b) natural antipathies, which when consented to are often the cause of faults against charity; C) bitter words, words of ridicule or contempt that cannot but engender or intensify enmities; likewise, witticisms indulged in at the expense of the neighbor which cause at times smarting wounds; d) strife and discussions born of pride; e) rivalries, discord, false reports, which cannot but sow dissension among the members of the great Christian family. 1242\. Nothing so effectively helps us to avoid all these faults opposed to Christian charity, as the frequent consideration of the touching words of St. Paul to the first Christians: “I therefore, a prisoner in the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation in which you are called… supporting one another in charity, careful to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. One body and one Spirit: as you are called in one hope of your calling. One Lord, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in us all… Doing the truth in charity, we may in all things grow up in him who is the head, even Christ.”[1] Elsewhere he writes: “If there be therefore any consolation in Christ… fulfil ye my joy: that you be of one mind, having the same charity, being of one accord, agreeing in sentiment. Let nothing be done through contention: neither by vain glory. But in humility, let each esteem others better than themselves: each one not considering the things that are his own, but those that are other men’s.”[2] Who could remain unmoved by these exhortations of the Apostle? Forgetting the chains that bind him in his prison-cell, he is concerned with the thought of repressing the dissensions that disturb the Christian community; he reminds the Christians that since there are so many ties that unite them, they must put aside what divides them. After twenty centuries of Christianity this urgent appeal is not less pertinent today. 1243\. But there is a fault against charity that must be especially avoided; it is scandal, that is, whatever could probably lead others to sin. We must carefully abstain from things, in themselves indifferent or lawful, but which, because of circumstances, may become to others an occasion of sin. This principle is enjoined by St. Paul regarding the meats offered to idols. Since idols are nothing, these meats are not in themselves forbidden; but, because many Christians believe that they are forbidden, the Apostle asks those who are more enlightened to take into account the scruples of their brethren: “And through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ hath died? Now when you sin thus against the brethren and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. Wherefore, if meat scandalize my brother, I will never eat flesh, lest I should scandalize my brother.”[3] And today these words should still be the object of meditation. Christian men and women indulge in reading, shows and dances that are at least unbecoming, under the pretext that for them such things have no evil effects. This may be questioned, for alas! many who speak in this manner at times deceive themselves. Be this as it may, do they consider the scandal they give to those who witness their conduct and who take it as an excuse to indulge in pleasures still more dangerous? 1244\. B) Beginners are not satisfied with avoiding these faults; they practice also what the precept of charity commands, particularly bearing with the neighbor and forgiving injuries. a) They bear with the neighbor despite his faults. Have we not ourselves faults that others must bear with? Besides, we are apt to exaggerate the faults of others, especially of those towards whom we feel a natural antipathy. Should we not, on the contrary, overlook their faults, and ask ourselves if it becomes us to notice the mote in the neighbor’s eye when perhaps there is a beam in ours? Instead of condemning the faults of others, let us honestly ask ourselves if we have not like faults or perhaps worse ones. Let us think first of all of correcting ourselves: “Physician heal thyself.”[1] 1245\. b) Beginners have the further duty of forgiving injuries and of seeking reconciliation with their enemies, with those who have offended them or those whom they have offended. This duty is so imperative that Our Lord says: “If therefore thou offer thy gift at the altar, and there thou remember that thy brother hath anything against thee; leave there thy offering before the altar and go first to be reconciled to thy brother.” [2] According to Bossuet, the first gift we must offer God is a heart free from all resentment, of all enmity towards our brother. He adds that we must not even wait for the day on which we are to approach the altar, but that we must follow the advice of St. Paul: “Let not the sun go down upon your wrath;” [3] for “darkness will add to our resentment; our anger will return upon our awakening and become more bitter still.”[4] We must not ask ourselves whether our adversary is more in the wrong than we are, whether it is for him to make the first advance. Let us, at the very first opportunity, clear up every misunderstanding by a frank explanation. If our enemy is the first to present his excuses, we must hasten to forgive: “For if you will forgive men their offences, your Heavenly Father will forgive you also your offences. But if you will not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive you your offences.”[5] This is but justice, since we ask God to forgive our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. 1246\. 2° Souls advancing in the spiritual life strive to draw unto themselves the charitable dispositions of the Heart of Jesus. A) They remember that the precept of charity is His precept, and that its observance will be the characteristic mark of Christians: “A new commandment I give unto you: that you love one another, as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” [6] This commandment is new, says Bossuet,[7] “because Jesus Christ adds to the old this important feature of loving one another as He has loved us. His love reached out to us when we were not even thinking of Him. He came to us first. He is not disheartened by our infidelities, our ingratitudes: He loves us to make us holy, to make us happy; He loves us in a disinterested way, for He has no need of us, nor of our service.” Charity is to be the distinctive sign of Christians: “By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another.”[1] 1247\. B) They also try to imitate the examples of the Saviour. a) His charity is prevenient. He loved us first, when we were His enemies: “When as yet we were sinners.”[2] He came to us sinners knowing that we were the sick who needed a physician. His preventing grace went to seek the Samaritan woman, the adulterous woman, the thief upon the cross, in order to convert them. It is to anticipate and heal our troubles that He gave us this tender invitation: “Come to me, all you that labour and are burdened: and I will refresh you.” [3] We should imitate this divine thoughtfulness by taking the initiative with our brethren in order to discover and relieve their miseries, as do those who visit the poor to help them in their needs, and sinners, to lead them back gradually to the practice of virtue, and who do this without losing heart if at first they meet with resistance. 1248\. b) Christ’s charity is compassionate. When He beholds the multitudes that followed Him into the desert in danger of fainting from hunger, He multiplies the bread and the fishes to give them food. Above all, when He sees souls deprived of spiritual food, He takes pity at their plight, and desires that God be asked to send apostolic workers to their aid: “Pray ye the Lord of the harvest that he send forth labourers into his harvest.” [4] Leaving awhile the ninety nine faithful sheep, He goes after the lost one and brings it back upon His shoulders to the fold. No sooner does a sinner give signs of repentance than He hastens to forgive him. Full of compassion for the sick and the afflicted, He heals them in great numbers and often restores their souls to health by pardoning their sins. Following Our Lord’s example, we must harbor a great compassion for all the unfortunate and aid them according to our means. When our means are exhausted, let us at least show them kindness in word and deed. Let us, then, not be discouraged by the faults of the poor; and besides giving alms for the relief of the body, let us add some good word of advice that one day or other may bear fruit. 1249\. c) Christ’s charity is generous. Through love of us He consented to labor, and suffer, and die: “He hath loved us and hath delivered Himself for us.”[1] Hence, we must be ever ready to render service to our brethren at the cost of real self-sacrifice, ready to care for them in illnesses, even if these be of a repelling nature, and to give them financial aid. This charity should be whole-hearted and sympathetic; for the manner of giving is worth more than the gift itself. It should likewise be intelligent, offering the poor not only a piece of bread, but if possible, the means of earning a livelihood. It should be zealous, doing good to souls by prayer and example and, upon occasion, by discreet and wise counsels. This duty of zeal is imposed especially upon priests, religious and devout persons. These must always remember that “he who causeth a sinner to be converted from the error of his way shall save his soul from death and shall cover a multitude of sins.” [2] 1250\. 3° Perfect souls love the neighbor unto the immolation of self: “In this we have known the charity of God, because he hath laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” [3] a) This is what apostolic laborers do. Without shedding their blood for their brethren, they give their life-blood drop by drop, forever working for souls, immolating themselves in prayer, in study, even in the recreation they take. This is the ideal proposed by St. Paul: “I most gladly will spend and be spent myself for your souls: although loving you more, I be loved less.”[4] 1251\. b) This is what impelled holy priests to take the vow of servitude for souls: thereby they engaged themselves to consider the neighbor as a superior with the right to exact service, and they bound themselves to comply with all his legitimate wishes. c) This charity is further shown by readiness to anticipate the least of our neighbor’s wishes and to render him all possible service; at times also by the cordial acceptance of proffered service, for this is the means of making happy the one who offers it. d) Lastly, it is manifested by a special love for our enemies, whom we consider as the executors of divine vengeance, and whom we revere as such, praying for them in a special way and doing them good on all occasions, according to the counsel of Our Lord: “Love your enemies: do good to them that hate you: and pray for them that persecute and calumniate you.”[5] Thus we resemble Him “Who maketh His sun rise to upon the good and bad.”[6] ### § III. The Sacred Heart of Jesus the Model and Source of Charity[7] 1252\. 1° Preliminary Remarks. In concluding our study of charity, we cannot do better than to invite our readers to seek in the Sacred Heart of Jesus the source and the model of perfect charity. In the Litanies officially approved by the Church we invoke the Sacred Heart as an “ardent furnace of charity” and as “full of goodness and love.” There are two essential elements in the devotion to the Sacred Heart: the one sensible, the heart of flesh hypostatically united to the person of the Word; the other spiritual, symbolized by the physical heart, which is nothing else but the love of the Incarnate Word for God and for men. Just as a symbol and the thing symbolized are but one, so these two elements are but one. Now, the love symbolized by the Heart of Jesus is, no doubt, His human love, but it is also His divine love, since in Jesus the divine and the human operations are indissolubly united. It is His love for men: “Behold the heart that has loved men so much”; but it is also His love for God, since, as we have shown, charity towards men flows from charity towards God, and draws from the latter its real motive. We can, then, consider the Heart of Jesus as the most perfect Model of love towards God and of love towards the neighbor, and even as the Model of all virtues, for charity contains and perfects them all. Since Jesus, during the course of His mortal life, merited for us the grace of imitating His virtues, He is also the meritorious cause, the source of the graces that enable us to love God and our brethren and to practice all the other virtues. 1253\. 2° The Heart of Jesus as the Source and Model of love towards God. Love is the complete gift of self. How perfect, then, must be the love of Jesus for His Father! From the first moment of the Incarnation He offers Himself and yields Himself as a victim in order to restore glory to God outraged by our sins. At His birth, as well as on the day of His Presentation in the Temple, He renews this offering. During the years of His hidden life He shows His love for God by yielding obedience to Mary and to Joseph, in whom He sees the representatives of the Divine Authority. Who could tell of the acts of pure love that arose to the Most Blessed Trinity from the little house of Nazareth? In the course of His public life He seeks but the pleasure of His Father: “I do always the things that please Him…”[1] “I honor my Father.”[2] At the Last Supper He can declare that He has glorified His Father during His entire life: “I have glorified Thee upon the earth,”[3] The following day He carries out His self-surrender even to self-immolation on Calvary: “Made obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross.”[4] Who could ever number the interior acts of pure love that sprang incessantly from His Heart, and which made of His whole life a continual act of perfect charity? 1254\. Above all, who could give an idea of the perfection of that love? “It is a love” says St. John Eudes,[5] “worthy of such a Father and of such a Son; it is a love that fits most perfectly the unspeakable perfections of the Beloved One; it is an infinitely loving Son that loves an infinitely lovable Father; it is God Who loves God… In a word the Divine Heart of Jesus, whether considered in its humanity or in its divinity, is infinitely more inflamed with love for His Father, and loves Him infinitely more at each single instant than all the Angels and Saints together could love Him throughout all eternity.” Now, this love of Jesus for His Father we can make our own, by uniting ourselves to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and by offering it to the Father, saying with Saint John Eudes: “My Saviour, I give myself to Thee in order to unite myself with the eternal, boundless, and infinite love which Thou bearest Thy Father. Adorable Father, I offer Thee all this eternal, boundless, infinite love of Thy Son Jesus as a love that is mine… I love Thee as Thy Son loves Thee.” 1255\. 3° The Heart of Jesus The Source of Love for Men. We have seen (n. 1247) how Jesus loved men while on earth; it remains for us to point out here how He never ceases to love them now that He is in Heaven. a) It is because He loves us that He sanctifies us through the Sacraments: these are, to borrow once more the thought of St. John Eudes, “so many inexhaustible fountains of grace and holiness which have their source in the boundless ocean of the Sacred Heart of Our Saviour; and all the graces that issue from the sacraments are so many flames of that divine furnace.” [6] 1256\. b) It is in the Eucharist especially that He gives us the greatest proof of His love. 1\) For nineteen centuries He has been with us night and day, like a father who is loath to leave His children, like a friend who finds his pleasure with his friends, like a devoted physician who constantly remains by the bed-side of his patients. 2) He is ever active, adoring, praising and glorifying His Father for us, thanking Him for all the benefits He continually bestows upon us, loving Him in our stead, offering Him His Own merits and satisfactions to atone for our sins, and ever asking new graces in our behalf: “Always living to make intercession for us.”[1] 3) He never ceases to renew upon the altar the Sacrifice of Calvary; He does so thousands of times a day, wherever there is a priest to consecrate, and He does so out of love for us, in order to apply to each one of us the fruits of His Sacrifice (n. 271-273). And not content with immolating Himself, He gives Himself whole and entire to every communicant, to impart to each His graces, His dispositions and His virtues (n. 277-281). This Divine Heart ardently longs to communicate to us His Own charity. “My Divine Heart,” said He to St. Margaret Mary, “is possessed of such a passionate love for men and for you in particular, that unable to contain the flames of its burning charity, it must needs extend them through you, that it may be made known to them in order to enrich them with its priceless treasures.”[2] It was then that Our Lord asked the Saint for her heart in order to unite it to His own and place in it a spark of His love. What Christ did in a miraculous manner for her, He does in an ordinary way for us in Holy Communion and every time that we unite our hearts to His; for He is come to earth to bring the sacred fire of charity, and His only desire is to enkindle it in our hearts: “I am come to cast fire on the earth. And what will I, but that it be kindled?”[3] 1257\. 4° The Heart of Jesus the Source and Model Of All Virtues. In Holy Writ the heart often signifies all the interior sentiments of man in contradistinction to his exterior acts: “Man seeth those things that appear; but the Lord beholdeth the heart.” [4] The heart of Jesus, therefore, symbolizes not only love, but all the inward sentiments of His soul. It is thus that the great mystics of the Middle Ages, and, after them, St. John Eudes, understood the devotion to the Sacred Heart. The same may be said of St. Margaret Mary. No doubt she lays special stress, and rightly so, on the love wherewith this Divine Heart is filled; but in her various writings she shows us this Heart as the model of all virtues. Father de la Colombière, her confessor and interpreter, sums up her thoughts in an act of consecration, which is found at the end of the Spiritual Retreats.[5] “This offering is made in order to honor this Divine Heart, seat of all virtues, source of all blessings, and the refuge of all holy souls. The principal virtues intended to be honored therein are: in the first place, the most ardent love for God His Father, together with the most profound respect and the deepest humility ever known; secondly, infinite patience in the midst of sufferings, the keenest of pains for the sins He had laid upon Himself, the trust of a tender son together with the shame of a great sinner; thirdly, a most lively compassion for our wretchedness, and in spite of all these emotions, an unalterable serenity, the result of the most perfect conformity to the Will of God, a serenity that could not be troubled by any event whatsoever.” Besides, since all virtues flow from charity and find therein their highest perfection (n. 318-319), the Heart of Jesus, being the source and model of Divine Charity, is at the same time the source and model of all virtues. 1258\. In this the devotion to the Sacred Heart joins with the devotion to the Interior Life of Jesus, explained by Father Olier and practiced in the Seminaries of St. Sulpice. This interior life consists, says he, “in His interior dispositions and sentiments towards all things, for example: His sense of religion towards God, His love towards the neighbor, His self-abnegation, His horror for sin, His condemnation of the world and its maxims.”[1] Now, all these dispositions are found in the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and it is there that we must seek them. Father Olier wrote to a pious soul who delighted to withdraw within the Heart of Jesus: “Lose yourself a thousand times a day in His lovable Heart whither you feel yourself so strongly attracted… The Heart of the Son of God is the pearl of great price; it is His most precious gem ; God’s own treasury wherein He pours all His riches and where He dispenses all His graces… It is within that Sacred Heart, within that adorable Soul, that first are enacted all mysteries… See, then, to what Our Lord calls you by opening to you His Heart, and see how much you must profit by this grace, one of the greatest that you have obtained in your life. Let not creatures ever draw you out of that place of delights and may you be plunged therein for time and for eternity with all the holy spouses of Jesus.” [2] In another place he said: “What a Heart is that of Jesus! What an ocean of love is contained therein, flooding the whole earth! O rich and overflowing source of all love! O inexhausible depths of all religion! O Divine center of all hearts… O Jesus! allow me to worship, to adore the inmost recesses of Thy holy soul, to adore Thy Heart which I have but to-day beheld. I would picture it, but its ravishing beauty will not permit me. I beheld it as a Heaven radiant with light, full of love, of gratitude, and of praise. It breathed forth God, it showed forth His grandeur and magnificence.”[3] For Father Olier, the Interior Life and the Heart of Jesus were but one and the same thing, that is, the center of all the dispositions of Christ’s holy soul and of His virtues, the sanctuary of love and of worship, where God is glorified and whither fervent souls love to withdraw. 1259\. Conclusion. That devotion to the Sacred Heart may be productive of these happy effects, it must consist of two essential acts: love and atonement. 1° Love is the first and the foremost of these duties, according to St. Margaret Mary as well as according to St. John Eudes. Giving an account to Father Croiset of the second great apparition the former writes[1]: “He made me see that it was the great desire He had of being loved by men, and of withdrawing them from the road of perdition, that induced Him to conceive this plan of making His Heart known to men, with all the treasures of love, of mercy, of grace, of sanctification and of salvation, in order that those who wish to render and procure Him all the honor, glory, and love of which they are capable, might be abundantly and profusely enriched with the treasures of the Heart of God.” Another letter, to Sister de la Barge, ends thus: “Let us, then, love this, the only love of our souls, since He has loved us first and loves us still so ardently that He continually burns with love for us in the Blessed Sacrament. To become saints it suffices to love this Holy of Holies. What shall hinder us? We have hearts to love and a body to suffer… Only His Holy love can make us do His pleasure; only this perfect love can make us do it in His own way; and only this perfect love can make us do it in His own acceptable time.”[2] 1260\. 2° The second of these essential acts is atonement; for the love of Jesus is outraged by the ingratitude of men, as He Himself declared in the third great apparition to St. Margaret Mary: — “Behold this Heart which has so loved men that it has spared nothing, even to exhausting and consuming itself, in order to testify its love. In return, I receive from the greater part only ingratitude, by their irreverences and sacrileges, and by the coldness and contempt they have for Me in this Sacrament of love.” Then He asks her to atone for these ingratitudes by the ardor of her own love: “My daughter, I come into the heart I have given you in order that through your fervor you may atone for the offences which I have received from lukewarm and slothful hearts which dishonor me in the Blessed Sacrament.” 1261\. These two acts are highly sanctifying. Love will, by uniting us intimately to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, make us share in His virtues, and give us the strength to practice them in spite of all obstacles. Atonement will further enkindle our fervor, by having us sympathize with the sufferings of Jesus, and will lead us, out of love for Him and in union with His Sufferings, to endure all the trials that it may please God to send us. Thus understood, devotion to the Sacred Heart contains nothing that could savor of artificiality or sentimentality. It is rather the very spirit of Christianity, a happy blending of love and sacrifice, attended by the gradual development of the moral and the theological virtues. It is like a summary of the Illuminative Way, and an apt initiation into the Unitive Way. [[at-sl-fn-26|Fn: B2 Ch. III]] --- ![[maps/bibliography#^biblio-tan]] > [[at-sl-25|← Temperance]] | [[at-spiritual-life-toc|TOC]] | [[at-sl-27|B2 Ch. IV →]]