SR
← On Loving God/Book 1 · On Loving God
Chapter 12Dil.1.12

De charitate ex epistola ad Cartusianos scripta.

The Source of Pure Love

True and sincere love must flow from a pure heart, a good conscience, and unfeigned faith, loving our neighbor's good as our own, and only the one who loves God for himself alone truly gives thanks.

I remember writing a letter long ago to the holy Carthusian brothers, discussing these very steps among other things. Now I may have spoken there about certain other matters as well — not off the topic, though, since they touched on love — and for that reason I don't think it's useless to append some of those remarks to this discourse too, especially since I have the dictated material already at hand and can transcribe it more easily than dictate new material all over again. That love — I mean true and sincere love — must be acknowledged to proceed from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from unfeigned faith: the love by which we love our neighbor's good just as much as our own.✦1 For the person who loves his own good more — or at least only loves his own — is shown not to love what is good in a pure way, since he assuredly loves it for his own sake, not for its own sake. And such a person cannot obey the prophet who says: Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.✦2 He gives thanks, yes — because perhaps the Lord is good to him — but not because the Lord is good in himself. Let him understand, then, that this reproach from the same prophet applies to him: He will give thanks to you only when you have done him a kindness.✦3 There is the one who confesses to the Lord that he is powerful, and there is the one who confesses that the Lord is good to himself, and then there is the one who confesses that the Lord is simply good.

Servant, Hireling, and Son

Fear makes a servant, desire makes a hireling, but only the son's selfless love truly converts the soul and does not seek its own interests.

The first is a servant, and fears for himself; the second, a hireling, and desires for himself; the third, a son, and defers to his father.✦ And so both the one who fears and the one who desires act for their own sake. The love that is in the son alone does not seek its own interests.✦4 For this reason I believe that saying applies to it: 'The law of the Lord is spotless, converting souls' — namely, that it alone can turn the soul away from love of self and of the world, and direct it toward God.✦56 For neither fear nor private love converts the soul.7 They may change their outward expression or their behavior at times, but never their inner attachment. A servant may indeed sometimes do the work of God as well, but because he does not do it willingly, he is known to remain in his own hardness still. A hireling does the work too, but because he does not do it for nothing — he is shown to be drawn by his own desire for reward.8

The Stain of Self-Interest

Where there is private ownership there is filth and rust; fear and desire are stained motives, but love alone turns souls and makes them willing.

Furthermore, where there is ownership, there is self-isolation, there is a private corner; and where there is a private corner, there is without doubt filth or rust.9 Let the servant's law be his own fear, the very thing by which he is held in check; let the hireling's law be his own desire, by which he too is hemmed in when he is tempted, dragged away and enticed.10 But neither of these is without stain, and neither can turn souls back to God.11 Love, on the other hand, truly turns souls — and makes them willing.12

Love as the Immaculate Law

Charity is immaculate because it holds nothing back for itself; it is the very substance of God that binds the Trinity in unity, for God is love.

Furthermore, I would call it immaculate in this respect: it has never been in the habit of holding anything back for itself from what belongs to it. For clearly the one who has nothing of his own — everything he has is assuredly God's. And what belongs to God cannot be unclean. Therefore the law of the Lord is immaculate: it is love, which seeks not what is useful to itself but what serves the many. Now the law of the Lord is so called both because he himself lives by it and because no one can possess it except by his gift. Nor should it seem absurd that I said God also lives by the law, since I meant no other law than love. Indeed, what preserves that highest and blessed unity in the Trinity — that supreme and ineffable bond — if not love? It is the law, therefore — the law of the Lord — love, which in a certain way holds the Trinity together in unity and binds it in the bond of peace.✦ Let no one, however, suppose that I am taking love here as a quality or some accident — otherwise I would be saying something about God that must never be said, that there is something in God that God is not. No, I mean that divine substance itself. And this is certainly neither new nor unusual, for as John says, God is love.✦13

Charity as Eternal Law

Charity is both God and God's gift; as eternal law it is the creator and governor of all things, ruling itself by itself.

So it's rightly said that charity is both God and a gift of God. Therefore charity gives charity — the essential gives what is accidental.14 Where it refers to the giver, the word belongs to substance; where it refers to a gift, it belongs to quality.15 This is the eternal law, the creator and governor of the universe. For in weight, measure, and number all things were made through it, and nothing is left outside the law — though the law of all things itself is not without law, yet it is not governed by any law other than itself. By that same law, even if it did not create itself, it nevertheless rules itself.1617

Read the original Latin

Memini me dudum ad sanctos fratres Cartusienses scripsisse epistolam, ac de his ipsis in ea gradibus inter caetera disseruisse. Forte autem alia ibi, etsi non aliena, de charitate locutus sum; et ob hoc quaedam illorum huic quoque sermoni subjungere non inutile duco: praesertim cum facilius ad manum habeam transcribere jam dictata, quam nova iterum dictare. Illa, inquam, vera et sincera est charitas, et omnino de corde puro, et conscientia bona, et fide non ficta fatenda est procedere, qua proximi bonum, aeque ut nostrum, diligimus. Nam qui magis, aut certe solum diligit suum, convincitur non caste diligere bonum, quod utique propter se diligit, non propter ipsum. Et hic talis non potest obedire prophetae, qui ait: Confitemini Domino, quoniam bonus. Confitetur quidem, quia fortasse bonus est sibi, non autem quoniam bonus est in se. Quapropter noverit in se dirigi illud ab eodem propheta opprobrium: Confitebitur tibi, cum benefeceris ei. Est qui confitetur Domino quoniam potens est, et est qui confitetur quoniam sibi bonus est, et item qui confitetur quoniam simpliciter bonus est.

Primus servus est, et timet sibi; secundus, mercenarius, et cupit sibi; tertius, filius, et defert patri. Itaque et qui timet, et cupit, utrique pro se agunt. Sola quae in filio est charitas, non quaerit quae sua sunt. Quamobrem puto de illa dictum, Lex Domini immaculata, convertens animas: quod sola videlicet sit, quae ab amore sui et mundi convertere possit animum, et in Deum dirigere. Nec timor quippe, nec amor privatus convertunt animam. Mutant interdum vultum, vel actum; affectum nunquam. Facit quidem nonnunquam etiam servus opus Dei: sed quia non sponte, in sua adhuc duritia permanere cognoscitur. Facit et mercenarius: sed quia non gratis, propria trahi cupiditate convincitur.

Porro ubi proprietas, ibi singularitas, ibi angulus: ubi vero angulus, ibi sine dubio sordes sive rubigo. Sit itaque servo sua lex, timor ipse quo constringitur; sit sua mercenario cupiditas, qua et ipse arctatur, quando tentatur abstractus et illectus. Sed harum nulla, aut sine macula est, aut animas convertere potest. Charitas vero convertit animas, quas facit et voluntarias.

Porro in eo eam dixerim immaculatam, quod nil sibi de suo retinere consuevit. Cui nempe de proprio nihil est, totum profecto quod habet, Dei est: quod autem Dei est, immundum esse non potest. Lex ergo Domini immaculata, charitas est: quae non quod sibi utile est, quaerit, sed quod multis. Lex autem Domini, dicitur, sive quod ipse ex ea vivat, sive quod eam nullus, nisi ejus dono possideat. Nec absurdum videatur, quod dixi etiam Deum vivere ex lege: cum non alia quam charitate dixerim. Quid vero in summa et beata illa Trinitate summam et ineffabilem illam conservat unitatem, nisi charitas? Lex est ergo, et lex Domini, charitas, quae Trinitatem in unitate quodammodo cohibet, et colligat in vinculo pacis. Nemo tamen me aestimet charitatem hic accipere qualitatem, vel aliquod accidens (alioquin in Deo dicerem, quod absit, esse aliquid quod Deus non est), sed substantiam illam divinam: quod utique nec novum, nec insolitum est, dicente Joanne, Deus charitas est.

Dicitur ergo recte et charitas, et Deus, et Dei donum. Itaque charitas dat charitatem, substantiva accidentalem. Ubi dantem significat, nomen substantiae est: ubi donum, qualitatis. Haec est lex aeterna, creatrix et gubernatrix universitatis. Siquidem in pondere, et mensura, et numero per eam facta sunt universa, et nihil sine lege relinquitur, cum ipsa quoque lex omnium sine lege non sit, non tamen alia quam se ipsa: qua et seipsam etsi non creavit, regit tamen.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩1Tim.1.5 — But the goal of the commandment is love from a pure heart, and a good conscience, and sincere faith.
  2. ↩Ps.107.1;Ps.118.1;Ps.136.1 — Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever. Ps.118.1 — Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his steadfast love endures forever. Ps.136.1 — Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.
  3. ↩Ps.49.15 — But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me.
  4. ↩John.8.38 — I speak what I have seen with the Father; therefore you also do what you have heard from your father.
  5. ↩1Cor.13.5 — It does not dishonor others, it does not seek its own, it is not easily provoked, it does not keep a record of wrongs.
  6. ↩Ps.18.8 — Then the earth shook and quaked; the foundations of the mountains trembled and shook, because his anger burned against them.
  7. ↩Eph.4.3 — Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
  8. ↩1John.4.8 — The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩The triad 'pure heart, good conscience, unfeigned faith' echoes 1 Timothy 1:5.
  2. 2 ↩Quotation from Psalm 107:1 (Vulgate 106:1) or similar psalm verses beginning 'Confitemini Domino quoniam bonus.'
  3. 3 ↩The reproach 'Confitebitur tibi, cum benefeceris ei' echoes Psalm 49:15 (Vulgate 48:16) or similar wisdom literature about self-interested gratitude.
  4. 4 ↩charitas rendered as 'love' per lexeme policy default; theologically this is the self-giving love proper to the son, not mere affection.
  5. 5 ↩Quotation 'Lex Domini immaculata, convertens animas' is Psalm 18:8 (Vulgate 17:9). Preserved as a quoted scriptural span.
  6. 6 ↩The antecedent of 'quod sola' is ambiguous: it may refer back to 'lex Domini' or to 'charitas' from s3. The translation follows the more natural reading that 'love alone' is what converts, but the alternative — that the law itself is what is meant — remains possible.
  7. 7 ↩amor privatus rendered as 'private love' — that is, self-regarding attachment, not the self-giving love of the son.
  8. 8 ↩The phrase 'non gratis' is ambiguous between 'not freely/without pay' and 'not for nothing/without cause.' The translation follows the mercenary context: the hireling's work is not free of self-interested motive.
  9. 9 ↩Proprietas rendered as 'ownership' in the sense of possessive self-claiming (one's own), not mere property. Angulus as 'private corner' captures the image of a hidden, self-enclosed space. Sordes and rubigo are paired as 'filth or rust' — moral corruption and spiritual decay that accumulate in hidden self-interest.
  10. 10 ↩Sua lex ('his own law') is used ironically — not God's law but the self-serving principle that governs each type of servant. Constringitur ('held in check / constrained') and arctatur ('hemmed in / confined') both convey being trapped by one's own motive. Abstractus et illectus ('dragged away and enticed') captures the dual pull of temptation.
  11. 11 ↩Harum nulla — 'none of these' (neither the fear-driven nor the desire-driven way of serving). Aut…aut links the two negative claims: neither is stainless, nor can either convert souls. The double aut is rendered as 'neither…neither' for natural English flow.
  12. 12 ↩Charitas vero — 'love indeed / love on the other hand' — vero carries an adversative force here, contrasting love with the two defective motives just described. Voluntarias ('willing') is key: love doesn't coerce but freely draws. The lexeme policy allows 'charity' for theological-virtue contexts; 'love' is chosen as the default rendering, with the theological weight carried by context.
  13. 13 ↩The author uses scholastic categories (substantia, qualitas, accidens) to insist that love in God is not an attribute but the divine substance itself. The parenthetical 'quod absit' is a pious hedge against any suggestion of composition in God.
  14. 14 ↩The phrase substantiva accidentalem plays on the philosophical distinction between substance and accident. Charity as substance (i.e., God's own being) produces charity as an accidental quality in the soul. The appositive adjectives substantiva and accidentalem modify charitas/charitatem respectively.
  15. 15 ↩The distinction is between charity as God's own substantial being (when the giver is meant) and charity as a quality or attribute bestowed on creatures (when the gift is meant).
  16. 16 ↩The cum...tamen construction is read concessively: 'although the law itself is not without law, it is nevertheless not other than itself.' The etsi...tamen clause ('even if it did not create itself, it nevertheless rules itself') is a further concessive move. The self-referential character of the law — it is its own law — reflects the divine simplicity of charity/God.
  17. 17 ↩The phrase 'in weight, measure, and number' (in pondere, et mensura, et numero) echoes Wisdom 11:20. Candidate allusion flagged for Moses resolution.

On Loving God companion

Fourteen days is a start. Love grows by daily practice.

Continue with a short daily portion of historic devotion in the free Chosen Portion app.

Bernard argues love of God deepens through repeated, ordinary acts of devotion — the daily portions in Chosen Portion are precisely that repeated practice.

  • Finish the plan, then keep a 10-minute daily devotional habit
  • Read classics like Bernard's in plain modern English, one portion a day
  • Track which of the four degrees you are practicing, week by week
Chosen Portion — Daily Prayer (free iOS app) →