The Love of God Demands and Merits That We Practise Solid Virtue

Article III

Of the marks of divine love and of self-love

From all that has just been said, it is evident that the love of God, which demands and merits that we tend to perfection, is not only a powerful incentive, but also a very effectual aid to its attainment. For, as St. Augustine beautifully expresses it, ‘where love exists we no longer experience any difficulty, but only sweetness and delights,’¹²⁵125St. Aug. Solil. which temper all bitterness, and render all that is painful in the practice of virtue easy and pleasing. What ought to inspire us with an exalted idea of the excellence of holy love is that it is the queen of virtues, ‘the plenitude of the law,’ and ‘the fulfilment of justice;’ it is incomparably more precious than faith and hope, for ‘the greatest of the three is charity.’¹²⁶126Serm. on Cant. ‘Love,’ says St. Augustine, ‘assumes the character of the object beloved. Your love is righteous if you love good; vicious if you love evil; excellent if you love the Sovereign Good; vain if you love vanity; terrestrial if you love the world; divine if you love God.’ These are certain proofs of the superiority of charity over all other virtues.

But this very pre-eminence is the great incentive to the devil, our relentless enemy, to exert all his skill in order to dim, by his deceitful colouring, the lustre of this heavenly gem, and to substitute self-love in our souls for the love of God. To defeat his artifices let us examine the principal marks of divine love and of self-love; let us learn their distinctive characteristics, the more surely to discern and separate the pure and ‘precious’ from that which is ‘vile’¹²⁷127Jerem. xv. 19. and contemptible.

1. The marks of divine love

The first mark of real love is a faithful and constant observance of the commandments of God to whatever degree they are obligatory; under pain of venial as well as mortal sin; so that we would scruple to offend God, at least deliberately, even in little things. Scripture teaches us, both in the Old and the New Law, that this is the first mark of divine love: ‘Those who love the Lord will observe His ways,’¹²⁸128Eccli. ii. 18. or His law: ‘it is in this that we know Him, that is to say, that we love Him, if we keep His commandments.’¹²⁹1291 John ii. 3 and. But, on the contrary, ‘whoever saith that he knows,’ that is to say, that he loves, without keeping His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but if any one keep His word, the love of God is really perfect in him.’ This truth is confirmed by the authority of the word of Jesus Christ Himself: ‘He who receives my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me;’¹³⁰130John xiv. 21. the contrary conclusion is easily drawn: ‘he who keeps them not, loves not.’ In order that ‘the world might know that,’ this Divine Saviour ‘loved His Father,’¹³¹131Ibid. xiv. 31. ‘He always did what was pleasing to Him.’ Scripture, or rather the Holy Ghost Himself, testifies that the observance of the commandments of God, is a certain mark of true love.

Let us examine, therefore, whether we possess this first characteristic of divine charity. Is our ‘love strong as death?’ Is it such that the ‘many waters’ of earthly p. 370pleasures cannot ‘quench,’ or ‘the floods’ of evil temptations ‘drown’¹³²132Cant. viii. 6, 7. and dissipate it? Such was the ardent love of the Doctor of the nations, who mockingly defied hell to let loose its utmost rage against him when he cried out: ‘What shall separate me from the love of Jesus Christ?’ ‘tribulations?’ ‘afflictions?’ ‘hunger?’ ‘nakedness?’ ‘dangers?’ ‘persecutions?’¹³³133Numb. viii. 35. This holy apostle was not less resolute in acts than intrepid in words. ‘Neither the law of sin, which revolted in his members,’¹³⁴134Ibid. vii. 23. ‘nor the sting of the flesh, nor the angel of Satan which buffeteth him;’¹³⁵1352 Cor. xii. 7. neither the assaults nor artifices of the demon could make Paul deviate for one moment from the way of charity; he triumphed gloriously over all those obstacles.¹³⁶136Rom. viii. 37.

Is our heart full of this noble generosity? Is adversity the oil and wood which inflame and preserve in us the fire of love? Are we, as well as St. Paul, ‘certain that neither life nor death, nor things present nor future, nor might, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, can separate us from the charity’¹³⁷137Ibid. viii. 38. of God? Let us reflect and test our love by this touchstone.

Oh, what a misfortune! ‘if for a little barley and a morsel of bread’¹³⁸138Ezech. xiii. 19. ‘for some lentils,’¹³⁹139Gen. xxv. 34. ‘for a leaf which is carried away by the wind,’¹⁴⁰140Isaias xl. 17. ‘a drop of honey, we abandon God our Creator;’¹⁴¹1411 Kings xiv. 43. ‘if we cast Him behind us;’¹⁴²142Deut. xliii. 15. ‘if we return Him evil for good and hatred as the price of His love;’¹⁴³143Ezech. xxiii. 35. if, forsaking this heavenly spouse, our soul ‘deliver itself up to disorderly affections,’¹⁴⁴144Ps. cviii. 5. and abandon itself to illicit desires; if, despising the Ark of the Covenant, it sacrifice to Dagon; and if, through so p. 371nonsensical a motive it offend Him who is infinitely amiable! Now is not this our state? Far from being confirmed in charity like the apostle, perhaps we have not even acquired the first degree of it, which consists in the horror and avoidance of sin and of all that is displeasing in the sight of infinite sanctity. Lord, ‘set Thy Spirit’ as a spirit of love ‘in the midst of us, that we may walk in Thy ways and observe Thy ordinances;’¹⁴⁵145Ezech. iii. 5. ‘engrave them on the tables of my heart’¹⁴⁶146Ibid. xxxvi. 26. ‘as Thou didst formerly engrave them’ with Thy finger ‘on the tables of stone on Mount Sinai;’¹⁴⁷147Prov. vii. 3. engrave them so deeply there that they may never be obliterated, that I may never transgress or forget them; that this single word, ‘that displeases God,’ may be to me as an invulnerable shield against the wounds of sin.

2. True love not only causes us to avoid all that offends the object beloved, but it is also the mainspring of all that we do to please Him; so that in doing what is agreeable to Him we are actuated solely by the desire of giving Him pleasure. Purity of intention in all our works is therefore a second characteristic of true charity. ‘He who is perfect in charity,’ says St. Clement of Alexandria, ‘does good through the motive of the love of God: God is the most important, nay, the only end of all the works’¹⁴⁸148Book of Stromat. of him who loves. Whoever proposes any other end to himself does not love the Sovereign Goodness as he should; for, adds St. Bernard, ‘all love is suspicious the moment it is influenced by the hope of any other good than that of loving;’ and the same saint concludes that ‘God should be loved’ independently of the hope of recompense. For true charity is not mercenary; ‘it does not seek its own interests; true love suffices to itself; it is its own reward; it seeks nothing but the object beloved.’¹⁴⁹149Serm. on Cant. Such are the thoughts on which the heart of St. Bernard delighted to dwell. They, at the same time, contain a manifest proof that purity of intention is an infallible mark of pure love.

Though the whole world should be overturned, though the ‘cataracts of heaven should be opened’¹⁵⁰150Gen. xi. 7. to extinguish hell by the waters of a new deluge, though the earth should rend its bosom and launch forth the fire of its volcanoes against heaven, still all these catastrophes, awful as they are, would be unable to affect either the sentiments or conduct of him who truly loves God. When the good works which He has undertaken with the purest intention fail to produce the results he expected from them, he continues as calm and unruffled as though his efforts had been crowned by the happiest success. But, on the contrary, whoever allows himself to be easily disturbed, shows that a vitiated intention has mingled itself with his actions to rob them of their merit; that he seeks human applause as much as the approbation of God; and, in fine, that he is in a state of tepidity but little compatible with true charity.

Let us examine whether we are not attacked by this disease; whether divine love is the principle, mainspring, and sole end of our actions; whether our works, begun in the first instance in the presence of God and for God, do not terminate in the researches of self-love and self-gratification. Let us faithfully observe the rule laid down for us by the apostle, and ‘perform all our works through charity;’¹⁵¹1511 Cor. xvi. 14. ‘and whether we eat or drink, or whatever else we do, do all for the glory of p. 372God.’¹⁵²1521 Cor. x. 31. In reality, could there be a more legitimate obligation imposed upon us? For ‘none of us lives for himself, but for the Lord.’¹⁵³153Rom. xiv. 7, 8. It is just, therefore, that no one should work for himself, but that all labour for Him by whom they live. Finally, continues the same apostle, we belong, not to ourselves, ‘but to the Lord.’ Consequently we should fructify for God, since all laws ensure to the proprietor of an estate the fruits that are gathered off it.

O God! whose bounty has drawn us from nothing, Thou justly demandest that the whole man should be consecrated to Thee, since Thou alone hast formed man; we do not adequately love Thee, therefore, when we love anything else with Thee for its own sake,’¹⁵⁴154St. Aug. Conf. l. 10. or when we cease to act and breathe for Thee alone. ‘Oh beauty ever ancient and always new, too late,’ too weakly, and too imperfectly ‘have I loved Thee.’ But I desire to redeem lost time by the fervour of my love; from this moment I love Thee, oh, my infinitely perfect God, with my whole heart, with my whole soul, with all my strength, purely for Thy infinite goodness; I desire never again to perform any action which shall not tend constantly and solely to Thee. Henceforward Thy holy love shall be the principle, the soul and the end of all my works.

3. The third mark of pure charity is conformity of our will with that of God. For, according to the doctrine of St. Denis the Areopagite, ‘love is a virtue which tends to unite not only equals with equals, but also what is inferior with what is superior.’ This union is only effected by the conformity of will in which two persons who love each other merge their sentiments, wishes, desires, and fears. ‘Our mind,’ says St. Bernard, ‘forms but one with that of God when our soul not merely wishes solely what God wishes, but when it can no longer wish anything but what God wishes.’ Thence it follows that charity eminently consists in this conformity of wills as the cause in its effect, and is the certain indication of it. Experience teaches that love renders two hearts conformable if they are not so already. Whoever loves God perfectly, therefore, necessarily contracts a perfect resemblance to and conformity with Him. But this happy identification shall never be realised in the division of wills. It is impossible, then, to conceive true charity without this concord of hearts; for it is absurd to pretend that we love and are united in heart when there is a contrariety in the will. Consequently, where this union of wills exists not, it is vain to seek for real love; but, on the contrary, wherever this union exists, it is certain that mutual love must be its fruit. ‘True love,’ says St. Ignatius, ‘consists in a reciprocal communication of knowledge, riches, honours, and all kinds of goods’¹⁵⁵155St. Ignat. Spiritual Exercises. between two persons who ‘love’ each other. But, without this entire sacrifice of our liberty, this perfect communication of goods no longer exists between God and us; thenceforward there is no longer any solid love.

Whatever else we may give to God, should we refuse Him our will, we give Him nothing; for our heavenly Spouse asks not our goods, it is ourselves He desires to possess. Now, we shall never give ourselves so long as we retain the best part of ourselves, which is our will. ‘He loves his Creator perfectly,’ says St. Gregory the Great, ‘who refuses Him nothing of all that he possesses.’ But whoever retains his will, the noblest part of the soul, keeps his entire self, and therefore does not love God perfectly. Let us confidently conclude from this doctrine that, without conformity of the will of man with that of God, true charity cannot exist; and that, on the contrary, this conformity is a certain sign of charity. Let us now summon our will, this principal part of ourselves, before the tribunal of our conscience, let us interrogate it, and see in what it differs from the Divine Will. Let us endeavour to discover what God wishes that we should do and what we refuse to do; let us examine what natural affection He desires we should immolate to Him, and from which our heart will not consent to separate itself. Do we accept of adversity with the same equanimity of soul as did Job and Heli? and do their heroic words, ‘The Lord hath given, the Lord hath taken away: blessed be the name of the Lord:’¹⁵⁶156Job i. 21. ‘He is the Lord, let it happen as it pleaseth Him,’¹⁵⁷1571 Kings iii. 18. serve us as a rampart against the most unforeseen and painful events?

Let us consult our dispositions: would we prefer to be a vile worm rather than the highest seraph, were such the will of God? Would we elect to accomplish this Divine Will by remaining useless instead of labouring to diffuse the light of faith throughout the universe contrary thereto? Would we prefer the most excruciating sufferings to the greatest delights, purely to obey God’s behest? . . . Alas! we are constrained to own that we are far removed from this degree of perfection; and yet this disposition of soul is inseparable from charity. Do we resemble a corpse which allows itself to be clothed or despoiled with equal indifference? a marble statue which is equally indifferent to honours and contempt? Are we indifferent to what contradicts or flatters our p. 374sensuality? Does our indifference also extend to whatever place or office may be assigned to us? In proportion as we are deficient in this indifference, in so far are we removed from the perfection of love. In order to correct this defect let us frequently repeat with Saul, and with equally zealous sentiments: ‘Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?’¹⁵⁸158Acts ix. 3. And the moment we shall recognise the Divine Will let us cry out with David: ‘My heart is ready, Lord, my heart is ready.’¹⁵⁹159Ps. cvii. 2. O Sovereign Creator of the world, ‘who hath poised the bulk of the earth with three fingers,’¹⁶⁰160Isaias xl. 12. and who, by Thy wisdom, goodness, and power, governest without difficulty this vast universe with all the beings that inhabit it, I abandon myself completely to the guidance of Thy Divine Will: ‘as clay in the hands of the potter, so do I desire to be in Thy hands.’¹⁶¹161Jerem. xviii. 6. In presence of the whole Court of heaven I consent with St. Ignatius, ‘to deprive myself of my liberty, to bind myself to Thy Will, in order to follow Thee; I protest that I will wish nothing but what I shall know that Thou wishest. Do with me according to Thy wisdom and Thy goodness, for I know that Thou lovest me. Only grant me Thy love that I also may love Thee: by this gift Thou wilt give me all things.’

4. The fourth characteristic of true love consists in operation, that is to say, in that generous disposition which leads us to do great things and suffer much for Him whom we love. ‘The proof of love,’ says St. Gregory, ‘is not so much in the affection of the soul as in attention to the practice of good.’ St. Bernard thus expresses the same thought: ‘Thou truly lovest God if thou dost all that thou canst for love of Him;’ and he immediately gives the reason of this doctrine: ‘Love, if it is genuine, operates great things; and if it is not operative, it is not love. Thus in the Sacred Canticle,’ resumes the same saint, ‘Jesus Christ, the heavenly Bridegroom, says to the soul, His Spouse, “place Me as a seal upon thy heart, as a seal upon thy arm.” He not only wishes to be placed upon the heart but also on the arm; because, if the heart is the seat of the affections, the arm is the instrument of works. Behold why it is that the Beloved wishes to be placed as a seal not only on the heart but likewise on the arm of the Spouse; because it is particularly by works that the holy soul manifests its love for God.’ Whence we may conclude that the accomplishment of great things for God is an infallible mark that we love Him; for, ‘he who is not willing to suffer all things, and abandon himself completely to the Will of his Beloved, does not deserve to have it said that he loves Him. He that loves must joyfully embrace, for the sake of his Beloved, all that is hardest and most bitter, and no afflictions must be able to detach him from Him.’¹⁶²162Imit. b. iii. ch. 5. Whoever acts otherwise is not yet strong and prudent in his love.

Let us examine ourselves. Do we correspond faithfully with the holy interior inspirations which incite us to such or such an action? Do we eagerly embrace every opportunity of performing some great thing for the promotion of the glory of God and the salvation of our neighbour? Can we testify to ourselves that, during the course of our life, we have performed generously, or borne patiently, something that may entitle us to a well-founded hope that we shall obtain the gift of perseverance?

Let us endeavour to find out what heroic action God demands of us by His reiterated solicitations. He remains at the door of our heart and knocks; to continue deaf to His importunities would be a proof of the absence of His love in our soul. Lord Jesus, who art ‘come to bring fire upon earth, and who desirest nothing but that it be enkindled,’¹⁶³163Luke xii. 49. take from me this ‘heart of stone’ which has till now resisted Thy love, ‘and give me a heart of flesh’¹⁶⁴164Ezech. xi. 19. susceptible of divine impressions and docile to Thy holy will. Enkindle in me ‘the fire’ of divine charity which never ‘says it is enough,’¹⁶⁵165Prov. xxx. 17. but which incessantly tends to ascend higher. Grant that my soul, inflamed with this sacred fire, may confidently attempt the most generous efforts, and that it may prove the sincerity of its love for its heavenly Spouse by operating great things for Him.