Quanta sit in charitate perfectio, et quid a ceteris virtutibus distet.
The Sweetness of Despising the World
The soul that despises the world rises above it in freedom of conscience, chastity, and conformity to God's impartial providence, finding in love the Lord's sweet and light yoke.
What is sweeter, what more glorious, than to despise the world and, in despising it, to see yourself raised above it — standing firm on the heights of a good conscience, with the whole world under your feet, desiring nothing, fearing no one, envying no one — nothing that can be taken from you, nothing anyone can inflict on you as harm — while you direct your mind's gaze toward that inheritance, incorruptible, unstained, unfading, kept in the heavens, and with a certain nobility of soul look down on earthly riches as perishable, bodily enticements as defiling, all the pomp of the world as withering, and rejoice in that prophetic word?✦ (Isaiah 40.) What, I ask you, is sweeter — what calmer — than not to be tossed about by the turbulent passions of the flesh, not to be burned by the fires of carnal urges, not to be stirred by any enticing sight, but to hold the flesh, cooled by the dew of chastity, subject to the spirit — no longer a lure toward fleshly pleasures, but a most obedient helper toward spiritual discipline? And finally, what comes so close to God's own tranquility as not to be shaken by insults, not to be terrified by any punishment or persecution, to hold a single steadiness of mind in both good times and bad, to look upon enemy and friend with the same eye, and so to be conformed to the One who makes his sun rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the just and the unjust?✦ (Matthew 5.) All these things together are found in love, and only in love, all together — and so in love is true calm, true sweetness. For love is the Lord's yoke: if we bear it at the Lord's invitation, we will find rest for our souls, because the Lord's yoke is kind, and its burden is light (Matthew✦
Love as the End and Crown of All Virtues
Love surpasses all other virtues as their final rest and perfect crown, for faith, hope, and the cardinal virtues are provisional means that find their completion and cessation in the perfected love of the beatific vision.
xi). In short, love is patient, love is kind; it is not envious, does not act wrongly, is not puffed up, is not ambitious (1 Cor. xiii), and the rest. So the other virtues are for us either like a vehicle for the weary, or like provisions for a traveler, or like a lamp for those in darkness, or like weapons for those fighting; but love — which, although it must be present among all the virtues just as the others are — is itself more especially both rest for the weary and lodging for the traveler, both full light for the one who arrives and a perfect crown for the victor. For what is faith except our vehicle, by which we are carried to our homeland? What is hope except our provisions, by which we are sustained in the miseries of this life? What are those four virtues — temperance, prudence, fortitude, justice — except our weapons, with which we fight? But when love — which is perfected only in the vision of God, and only for those for whom death, first begun here in faith, will have been more fully swallowed up — then there will be no more faith, because what is seen and loved no longer needs to be believed; and there will be no more hope, because for the one who embraces God in the arms of love, nothing remains to be hoped for.✦✦
Love Perfects and Transfigures Every Virtue
In perfect love the cardinal virtues find their consummation—chastity, knowledge, beatitude, and ordered peace—while faith and hope are animated by love, and each cardinal virtue is revealed as a mode of love itself.
Temperance fights against lusts, prudence against errors, fortitude against adversities, justice against inequalities; but in love that is perfect there is chastity, and so no lust for temperance to fight against; in love that is perfect there is knowledge, and so no error for prudence to fight against; in love that is true there is beatitude, and so no adversity for fortitude to conquer; in love that is at peace all things are ordered, and so no inequality for justice to guard against.1 But faith is not a virtue unless it works through love; nor is hope, unless what is hoped for is loved.✦2 Furthermore, if you look more carefully, what is temperance but love that no pleasure can entice? What is prudence but love that no error can lead astray? What is fortitude but love bravely enduring what is hard? What is justice but love, fair and measured, settling the inequalities of this life? Therefore love is begun in faith, exercised in the other virtues, and brought to completion in itself.3
Read the original Latin
Quid enim suavius, quid gloriosius quam mundi contemptu mundo se cernere celsiorem, ac in bonae conscientiae vertice consistentem, totum mundum habere sub pedibus, nihil videre quod appetat, nullum quem metuat, nullum cui invideat; nihil quod possit ab alio auferri, suum esse; nihil quod ab alio sibi possit inferri, malum esse; dumque in illam haereditatem incorruptibilem, et incontaminatam, et immarcessibilem conservatam in coelis, dirigit mentis obtutum, saeculares divitias quasi corruptibiles, carnales illecebras quasi contaminatas, omnes mundi pompas quasi marcessibiles, quadam mentis nobilitate contemnere, et in illud propheticum exsultare: Omnis caro fenum, et omnis gloria ejus tanquam flos feni; exsiccatum est fenum et cecidit flos, verbum autem Domini manet in aeternum? (Isai. xl.) Quid, rogo, dulcius, quidve tranquillius quam turbidis carnis motibus non agitari, carnalium incentivorum incendiis non aduri, ad nullum illecebrosum moveri aspectum, sed tepescentem rore pudicitiae carnem spiritui habere substratam, non jam ad carnales voluptates illecebram, sed ad spiritualia exercitia obedientissimam adjutricem? Quid tandem divinae tranquillitati tam proximum, quam ad illatas contumelias non moveri, nullo supplicio, nullave persecutione terreri, unam mentis et in prosperis et in adversis habere constantiam, inimicum et amicum eodem oculo intueri; ad ejus se similitudinem conformare, qui facit solem suum oriri super bonos et malos, et pluit super justos et injustos? (Matth. v.) Haec simul omnia in charitate, et nonnisi in charitate simul omnia; ac perinde in illa vera tranquillitas, vera suavitas, quia ipsa est jugum Domini, quam si, Domino invitante, tulerimus, inveniemus requiem animabus nostris, quia jugum Domini suave est, et onus leve (Matth.
xi). Denique charitas patiens est, benigna est; non aemulatur, non agit perperam, non inflatur, non est ambitiosa (1 Cor. xiii), et caetera. Proinde ceterae virtutes sunt nobis, aut quasi fesso vehiculum, aut quasi viatori viaticum, aut quasi lucerna caligantibus, aut quasi arma pugnantibus: at charitas, quae, licet ut aliae virtutes sint, sit oportet in omnibus, specialius tamen ipsa et requies fatigato, et viatori mansio, et plena lux pervenienti, et perfecta corona victori. Quid enim est fides, nisi vehiculum nostrum, quo ad patriam vehimur? quid spes, nisi viaticum nostrum, quo in hujus vitae miseriis sustentamur? quid quatuor illae virtutes, temperantia, prudentia, fortitudo, justitia, nisi arma sunt nostra, quibus pugnamus? At ubi charitate, quae nonnisi in Dei visione perficitur, illis duntaxat quibus hic in fide inchoatur, mors fuerit plenius absorpta, nec fides erit, quia quod cernitur et amatur, non est opus ut credatur: nec spes erit, quia brachiis charitatis Deum amplectenti nihil restat, quod speretur.
Verum temperantia pugnat contra libidines, prudentia contra errores, fortitudo contra adversitates, justitia contra inaequalitates; sed in charitate perfecta castitas, ideoque nulla libido, contra quam pugnat temperantia; in charitate perfecta scientia; ideoque nullus error, contra quem pugnet prudentia; in charitate vera beatitudo, ideo nulla adversitas, quam fortitudo devincat; in charitate pacata sunt omnia, ideo nulla inaequalitas, contra quam justitia vigilet. Sed nec fides virtus est, nisi per dilectionem operetur; nec spes, nisi quod speratur ametur. Porro si subtilius advertas, quid est temperantia, nisi amor, quem nulla voluptas illicit; quid prudentia, nisi amor, quem nullus error seducit; quid fortitudo, nisi amor fortiter adversa sustinens; quid justitia, nisi amor aequus quodam moderamine inaequalitates hujus vitae componens; in fide ergo charitas inchoatur, et in ceteris virtutibus exercetur, in seipsa perficitur.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Isa.40.6-Isa.40.8;1Pet.1.24-1Pet.1.25 — A voice says, "Cry out!" And I said, "What shall I cry?" All flesh is grass, and all its faithfulness is like the flower of the field. Isa.40.7 — The grass withers, the flower fades, for the breath of the LORD blows upon it; truly, the grass is the people. Isa.40.8 — The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever. 1Pet.1.24 — For all flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, 1Pet.1.25 — But the word of the Lord endures forever. And this is the word that was preached to you.
- ↩Matt.5.45 — so that you may become sons of your Father who is in heaven, for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.
- ↩Matt.11.30 — For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
- ↩1Cor.13.8-1Cor.13.13 — Love never fails. But as for prophecies, they will be done away with; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will be done away with. 1Cor.13.9 — For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. 1Cor.13.10 — But when the complete comes, the partial will be done away. 1Cor.13.11 — When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I thought as a child, I reasoned as a child; but when I became an adult, I put away childish things. 1Cor.13.12 — For now we see in a mirror, dimly; but then face to face. Now I know in part; but then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. 1Cor.13.13 — And now faith, hope, and love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
- ↩1John.4.16-1John.4.18 — And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 1John.4.17 — In this way, love is made complete among us, so that we may have confidence on the day of judgment, because as He is, so also are we in this world. 1John.4.18 — There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears has not been perfected in love.
- ↩Gal.5.6 — For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any power; but only faith working through love.
Notes
- 1 ↩The four cardinal virtues are each paired with a specific opponent; the argument is that in perfected love, the opponent is already overcome, so the virtue's combat is effectively completed. Castitas here names the perfected form of temperantia, and scientia the perfected form of prudentia.
- 2 ↩Faith and hope are only genuine virtues when animated by love (dilectio). The echo of Galatians 5:6 ('faith working through love') is strong but not a direct quotation; left as candidate allusion.
- 3 ↩The rhetorical questions (quid est… nisi amor) redefine each cardinal virtue as a mode or expression of love. This is a distinctive move in the Speculum caritatis: the virtues are not abolished but absorbed into love as their animating form. 'In seipsa perficitur' means love reaches its own perfection in itself, not in another virtue.
Speculum caritatis (The Mirror of Charity) companion
Reorder one love at a time, daily
Use the study map with the free Chosen Portion app's daily readings to work through Aelred at a sustainable pace.
Aelred wrote the Mirror as a rule for daily interior discipline in community, and Chosen Portion carries that discipline forward as a short ordered reading each day.
- All 3 books and 102 chapters mapped into 4 weekly themes with page-level pointers
- Aelred's choice-motion-fruit test, turned into a one-page self-examination worksheet
- 16 discussion questions ready for personal journaling or a 4-session small group