Caput XLI
The Power of Love in Scripture
Drawing on Augustine, the author teaches that a heart full of love grasps Scripture without error and overcomes old sin through the new commandment of love.
Because the opportunity presents itself, something must be said about charity drawn from the words of blessed Augustine. He says: the person whose heart is full of love grasps the manifold abundance and broadest teaching of the divine Scriptures without any error and keeps it without any labor. So then, whoever wants to put out the old sin with a new commandment should hold fast to love as the opposite of greed. The person who keeps love in his conduct grasps both what is open and what lies hidden in the divine teachings.✦
John's Last Word: Love One Another
The aged Apostle John repeated only one exhortation—'Little children, love one another'—and declared that this single commandment, if kept, is sufficient.
Jerome, in his letter to the Galatians, relates that when the holy evangelist John was already an old man and was being carried to the church in the hands of his disciples, this was the only thing he always brought forth in the assembly: 'Little children, love one another.'✦ The disciples, however, were worn down because they always heard the same thing, and they said, 'Master, why do you always say this?' To them he answered with a sentence worthy of John: 'Because it is the Lord's commandment, and if only this is done, it is enough.'
False Charity and True Giving
The author warns that many today mislabel self-serving extravagance as charity, whereas true giving, taught by Christ, expects no return.
It must be understood that, just as in our times nearly all things have lost their proper order, so many people call wasteful spending on their own affairs 'charity,' when in reality things lavished out for empty glory ought to be called extravagance or mere indulgence rather than charity. For the Lord himself teaches what kind of things should be shared, when he says, 'Do not invite those who will invite you back in return' (Luke).✦ 14:12).
Love for Enemies and the Common Lot of Life
True charity is owed to the needy and even to enemies, and this present life holds both the good and the wicked together in common temporal experience.
But all of them, on the contrary, scarcely give anything at all — not only clothing but also food, and especially Christ in the poor — yet they also hand out to the powerful the things they've received in return, which clearly is not love but wastefulness. For properly, love is to be spent only on those in need — not only on friends but also on enemies — doing good to them. Furthermore, just as this present life stands midway between heaven, where only the good dwell, and hell, where only the wicked are consigned, so it holds the citizens of both sides without distinction.
Different Ends, One Final Judgment
All generations share prosperity and adversity with differing faith, hope, and love, until the final judgment separates each to an eternal end; here the book concludes.
And so every generation alike either enjoys temporal goods or is afflicted by temporal evils — yet with different faith, different hope, and different love — until they are separated at the final judgment and each one receives the end prepared for him, an end that has no end. Since we have now brought the series of words, arranged in whatever manner, to this point — so that we might have said these generations, though they run a common course through prosperity and adversity, yet have different ends according to the diversity of their merits — let us end this book here.
Read the original Latin
Quia vero sese occasio praebuit, hoc ex verbis beati Augustini de charitate dicendum videtur: Divinarum, inquit, Scripturarum multiplicem abundantiam latissimamque doctrinam sine ullo errore comprehendit et sine ullo labore custodit, cujus cor plenum est charitate. Quapropter quisquis vult novo mandato vetus exstinguere peccatum, cupiditati contrariam teneat charitatem, quoniam ille tenet et quod patet, et quod latet in divinis sermonibus, qui charitatem servat in moribus. Hieronymus in epistola ad Galatas refert, quod sanctus Joannes evangelista, cum jam senex esset, et discipulorum manibus ad Ecclesiam deferretur, hoc solum semper in collecta proferebat: Filioli, diligite alterutrum. Discipuli vero pertaesi, quod eadem semper audirent, dixerunt: Magister, quare semper hoc loqueris? Quibus respondit dignam Joanne sententiam: Quia praeceptum Domini est, et si solum fit, sufficit hoc. Sciendum sane quia sicut nostris temporibus omnia pene suum ordinem perdiderunt, plerique prodigas rerum suarum expensas charitatem nominant, cum res ad inanem gloriam profuse dispensae, comestio vel effusio magis dicendae sunt quam charitas. Qualibus enim res dispertiendae sint ipse Dominus docet, qui ait: Noli invitare eos qui te reinvitent (Luc. XIV, 12).
Sed omnes econtra cum vix parum quid non solum vestimenti, sed etiam cibi ac potius Christo in paupere tribuant, potentibus tamen etiam accepta mutuo dispensant: quod videlicet non est charitas, sed effusio. Nam recte charitas solis indigentibus est expendenda; et non solum amicis, sed etiam inimicis beneficia. Porro autem sicut haec vita media est inter coelum, quo soli boni consistunt, et infernum quo soli mali traduntur, sic utriusque partis cives indifferenter habet. Unde utraque generatio vel temporalibus bonis pariter utitur, vel malis pariter affligitur, diversa tamen fide, diversa spe, diverso amore, donec ultimo judicio separentur, et percipiat unusquisque suum, finem cui nullus est finis. Quia seriem vero verborum qualitercunque digestam ad hoc usque deduximus, ut has generationes, licet in prosperis et adversis communiter procurrentes, tamen pro diversitate meritorum diversos fines habere dixerimus, librum hunc istic finiamus.
Scripture echoes
- ↩John.13.34 — A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
- ↩John.13.34;1John.4.7 — A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 1John.4.7 — Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
- ↩Luke.14.12 — He also said to the one who had invited him, "When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not call your friends, your brothers, your relatives, or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back, and a repayment be made to you.
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