Quomodo perfectus amor adquiritur mundicia et dileceione; et de amore imperfecto; et pulchritudine; et de triplici ui amoris diuini; et de diuitibus, pauperibus, et elemosina

Quomodo perfectus amor adquiritur mundicia et dileceione; et de amore imperfecto; et pulchritudine; et de triplici ui amoris diuini; et de diuitibus, pauperibus, et elemosina

From the purity of conscience, and from the abundance of spiritual joy and inner delight, arises a song of glory and a fervor of love in the mind that truly loves. Indeed, in this way, the one who loves has a perfect habit of love, a great fervor, and a movement entirely directed toward God, without any hindrance from the beloved, free from the emptiness of conflicting thoughts inherent in Christ, rejoicing in Jesus forever, never distracted by Him, never drawn away by evil, whom dying flies never deceive or drive away from the sweetness of the anointing. The world, the flesh, and the devil have no effect on him, even though they attack; instead, he keeps them under his feet, considering their strength as nothing. He burns without conflict, loves with fervor, sings with sweetness, shines with warmth, delights in God without resistance, and contemplates with unwavering ascent. Love conquers all, surpasses everything, and nothing seems impossible to it regarding all that it desires. For when someone strives to love Christ with all their strength, they truly experience a great sweetness of eternal life within themselves. We turn to Christ if we strive to love Him with all our mind. For God is truly wonderful and delightful to behold, and I marvel that anyone could be so foolish as to stray away and turn aside from the vision of Him. For it's not the one who does great and many things who is great, but the one who loves Christ deeply; this person is great and beloved by God. For philosophers have labored much, yet they have vanished without fruit; and many who appeared to be Christians have done great things and shown wonders, but they have not earned salvation. For it is not for those who merely act, but for those who love God, that the abundance of the heavenly crown is given. I ask you, Lord Jesus, to grant me a movement of love for you without measure, an affection without limit, a longing without order, and a fervor without discretion. For your love is nobler, the more impetuous it is, because it is neither restrained by reason nor shaken by fear, nor tempered by judgment. No one will ever be happier than the one who can die from the greatness of love. No creature can love too much. In all other matters, whatever is done excessively turns into vice; but the virtue of love, the more it exceeds, the more glorious it will be. A lover will languish if they don't have beside them the object of their love. Therefore, it is said as if one were to say, 'I do not see what I love; for love also makes me waste away in the body.' When one turns with the whole heart to Christ, one is first affected by true repentance, and thus leaves behind all that pertains to vanity; after tasting the sweetness within, one is drawn to sing in joyful praise divinely inspired. Therefore, as Isaiah says, I will sing to my beloved, and in the psalm, my song will always be about you. Those who have lived in the love of God, and who have burned sweetly with an inner flame, pass from this life without fear of death, but rather with joy, and they ascend happily to the heavenly kingdoms after death. The love of God is like a divine fire that wounds the mind: it causes one to die, and even to become weak for love, as it is said, 'I languish with love,' and to become intoxicated; so that one may thus reach out to the beloved, forgetting oneself and all things except Christ. Therefore, he says: Set me as a seal upon your heart. What is love, after all, but the transformation of the heart's desire into the beloved object? Love is a great desire for what is beautiful, good, and lovable, along with a continuous inclination of thoughts toward what one loves; when one possesses it, then one rejoices, because joy does not arise except from love. Every lover is assimilated to their beloved, and love makes one like the one who loves what is loved. Neither God nor any creature despises or rejects being loved; rather, all acknowledge that they gladly allow themselves to be loved and take joy in love. However, they don't grieve in love unless they have loved someone ungratefully, or if they despair of being able to attain what they sought through love. These things are never found in the love of God, but they often occur in the love of the world and of women. I can't say that all love is good, because that love which delights more in the creature than in the Creator, and seeks the pleasure of visible beauty rather than the clarity of intellectual truth, is bad and hateful, since it turns away from eternal love and redirects toward what is temporary, which cannot last. Yet, he will be punished less, because he intends and delights more in loving and being loved than in feeding and being fed. The more beautiful a creature is, the more lovable it is in the eyes of all. For this reason, some used to strive more diligently to secure a beautiful form of health than to disregard it, because they have more opportunities to fall into evil. Nature teaches that what is more beautiful is more pleasing to love; however, ordered love says that what is a greater good is to be loved more. Because all earthly beauty is like grass, fading away easily; however, true goodness remains, and often God chooses what is lowly and despised in the world, while abandoning what is strong and beautiful. Therefore, it is said in the psalm, "He delivered their strength into captivity and their beauty into the hands of the enemy." And elsewhere, having confidence in your beauty, you have acted unfaithfully. Love also has the power to melt the mind, as it is written. My soul is melted, as the beloved has spoken. Love is indeed sweet and devoted in divine sweetness; it resolves in such a way that the will of man is united with the will of God in a marvelous friendship, in which such sweetness of fervor, sweetness of love, and harmonious joy is infused into the loving heart that it cannot be explained by any feeling. Love indeed has a powerful, expansive, unifying, and transforming quality. Love has a way of spreading its rays of goodness not only to friends and relatives, but also to enemies and strangers. Unity, indeed, because those who love are made one in affection and will, uniting with Christ and every holy soul. For whoever clings to God is one spirit with Him, not by nature but by grace and the unity of will. Love has a transformative power, because it changes the lover into the beloved and brings them into unity with the beloved. From this, the fire of the Holy Spirit truly ignites the heart, consuming it entirely, and transforms it into a fire, reshaping it into a form that is most similar to God. Otherwise, it wouldn't be said. I said, 'You are gods, and all of you are children of the Most High.'^✦ I said, 'You are gods, and all of you are children of the Most High.' For some people loved each other so deeply that they almost believed there was only one soul shared between them. A poor person, despite being rich in worldly things, is far removed from such love. For someone who must always receive and can rarely or never give, it would be minimal if they had a friend in whom they could trust completely. Though considered unworthy by others for his faithful love, he has Christ as a trustworthy friend; from Him, he should confidently ask for whatever he desires. Where human help is lacking, divine assistance is undoubtedly present. It would be more beneficial for a wealthy person to choose a holy poor person as a special friend, with whom he would want to share everything he has and generously give, even more than that poor person would desire, and to love him affectionately as his best and dearest friend. Therefore, Christ said, 'Make friends for yourselves, especially the holy poor, who are the friends of God; and God willingly gives joy in paradise to those who truly love such poor people.' I believe that such wealthy people are pleased with their friendships, but now it’s true that I’ve found some wealthy individuals who, as they thought, were giving food to the holy poor, yet they refused to provide clothing or other necessities, thinking it was enough if they just gave food. And so they make friends for themselves who are only half-hearted, caring no more about the friendship of the poor than they do about the wicked. And they reserve for their children everything that could be given for some price, and thus the holy poor are no longer bound to them, except as to other benefactors who have given them clothing or something similar; and what’s worse, they often seem burdensome to the rich.