De amore perfecto et que requiruntur ad consequendum iubilum, et de dileccione et correccione

De amore perfecto et que requiruntur ad consequendum iubilum, et de dileccione et correccione

The excellence of reward lies in the greatness of love, so that the one who loves may indeed burn with an unquenchable fire and be filled within by heavenly sweetness. For whoever loves more is placed higher in the kingdom. This love is in the heart, and the more one loves God, the greater joy one feels in Him. Those who claim that one can only love if they rarely or briefly experience the joy of love are mistaken; the true measure of love is found in how fully one experiences it throughout the day, as if immersed in sweetness. Some love with difficulty, while others love with ease; but the love of God is more blessed the easier it is, and it is easier the more fervent it becomes; it is more fervent the sweeter it is; and it is sweeter the greater it is. Those who are at rest are greater than those who are laboring; therefore, those who remain in quiet and love fervently are superior to those who are sometimes devoted to quiet and sometimes focused on external tasks. Nothing is better than mutual love, and nothing is sweeter than holy charity. To be loved and to love is a sweet exchange of the whole human life; it is also a delight that is angelic and divine, and the price of beatitude. If you want to be loved, love: for love returns in kind. No one has ever lost out on true love if they haven't allowed the end of love to slip away. Those who don't know how to be inflamed by love certainly don't know how to rejoice. No one ever becomes happier than the one who is carried outside of themselves by the fervor of love, and who, by the greatness of divine love, receives within themselves the sweet sound of eternal praise. But this doesn't happen to anyone quickly, unless they turn to God and, in a remarkable way, exercise themselves, casting off every desire for worldly vanity. God often pours out the ineffable joy of love upon those who love Him. The mind, when set on purity, receives inspiration from God’s eternal love; it is purified when it rises to a spiritual song. The clarity of the heart deserves to have the heavenly sound; and so that the praise of God may persist in joy, the soul is kindled by divine fire and rejoices in ineffable sweetness. But even if one leaves this world perfectly, and diligently attends to prayer, meditation, vigils, and fasting, seeking the purity of mind and conscience, so that one desires with longing for the joy of heaven, and wishes to be dissolved and to be with Christ: unless the mind adheres inestimably to Christ, and languishes in certain and determined thoughts, and entirely in loving and endless intentions, wherever it may be, whether it sits or goes, it will incessantly meditate: not seeking within itself except to love Christ: surely it will not receive the heavenly sound, nor will it proclaim Jesus and His praises in melodious joy, either in mind or in mouth. Pride indeed confounds many, for when they think they have done something that others do not love, they immediately consider themselves better than others and unjustly regard themselves as superior. But let them know that he has not yet learned to love himself who presumes to despise the common nature in others. For he does harm to his own condition who does not recognize his rights in another. Therefore, whoever violates the rights of human society does not honor the communion of nature in their neighbor. In this way, people stray from the love of God, and they don't know how to reach His love for their neighbor, since they are bound not to strive to love. Either they completely let go of the sinner who has gone wrong, or if they begin to correct or chastise, they speak with such harshness and severity that they often make the one they are trying to correct even worse. They should speak with gentleness, so that through sweet words they can draw in those whom harsh correction drives to sin even more.