Quod ex charitatis affectu homo in Dei imaginem reformetur.
Pride Corrupts, Humility Restores
Pride corrupts the image of God by turning the heart inward, while humility renews it by turning the heart toward God.
It is clear, unless I am mistaken, that just as human pride corrupted the image of God within us—not by stepping away with the feet, but by turning the heart's affection away from the highest good and growing old within itself—so human humility, by turning the heart's affection toward God, is renewed into the image of God, who created it.
Renewed in the Spirit of the Mind
The Apostle calls believers to be renewed in the spirit of their mind and to put on the new self created according to God.
Hence the Apostle: 'Be renewed,' he says, 'in the spirit of your mind; and put on the new self, which was created according to God' (Eph.✦ iv).
The New Commandment of Love
This renewal happens through the new commandment of love given by the Savior.
But how will this renewal happen, except through the new commandment of love—the one the Savior spoke of when he said, 'A new commandment I give to you'?✦ (John xiii.)
Love Restores the Soul's Faculties
When the mind fully puts on love, it restores memory and knowledge, stripping off the old self and renewing the divine image.
So if the mind fully puts on this love, it will surely restore the two faculties we said were equally corrupted—namely, memory and the capacity for knowledge. That is why this single commandment is prescribed to us as the most wholesome summary: in it we find both the stripping off of the old self, the renewal of the mind, and the restoration of the divine image.✦
From Greed's Descent to Charity's Ascent
Love once dragged downward by greed is now lifted by charity, putting off old age and receiving the wings of a dove to fly upward.
Our love, poisoned by the venom of greed and miserably ensnared by the sticky lure of pleasure's grip, was always being dragged downward—from one vice to another under its own weight. But now, with charity flowing in from above and melting away our deep-rooted sluggishness with its warmth, our love rises up to higher things. Shedding its old age and clothed in newness, it receives the silvered wings of a dove, by which it may fly up to that sublime and pure good from which it also draws its origin—as blessed Paul declared more openly to the Athenians.✦✦
God's Offspring by Creation, Not by Nature
Paul's words to the Athenians about being God's offspring refer to the rational soul's capacity for God, not to sharing the divine substance.
When Paul had discussed many things about God with subtlety, and from the books of the philosophers as well had most urgently proven that God is the one in whom we live and move and are, he says among other things: We too are his offspring (Acts✦ xvii). And he added: Since we are God's offspring,✦ Let no one suppose that the Apostle said we are God's offspring in such a way as to claim we share the same nature or substance as God—otherwise we could be neither changeable nor corruptible, nor ever wretched, just as his only-begotten Son, born from his substance, is shown to be equal to the Father in all things. Rather, he asserts we are God's offspring—or better, does not deny it—because the rational soul, created in his image, is known to be capable of sharing in his wisdom and blessedness.✦
Charity Lifts, Greed Presses Down
Charity lifts the soul toward its true purpose, while greed presses it downward into corruption.
Therefore charity lifts up our soul toward that for which it was made; but greed presses it down toward that to which it has slipped of its own accord.
Read the original Latin
Patet, ni fallor, quoniam, sicut non pedum passu, sed mentis affectu a summo bono recedens, et in seipsa veterascens humana superbia, Dei in se corrupit imaginem, ita mentis affectu ad Deum accedens humana humilitas, renovatur in imaginem Dei, qui creavit eum. Unde Apostolus: Renovamini, inquit, spiritu mentis vestrae; et induite novum hominem, qui secundum Deum creatus est (Ephes. iv). Quomodo autem fiet ista renovatio, nisi novo charitatis praecepto, de quo ait Salvator: Mandatum novum do vobis? (Joan. xiii.) Proinde hanc charitatem si mens perfecte induerit, profecto duo illa, quae aeque corrupta diximus, memoriam scilicet et scientiam, ipsa reformabit. Ideo saluberrime nobis indicitur istius unius praecepti compendium, in quo et veteris hominis exspoliatio, et mentis renovatio, et divinae imaginis consistit reformatio.
Amor quippe noster veneno cupiditatis infectus, tenacique voluptatis visco miserabiliter irretitus, quae in ima semper, id est, de vitio in vitium proprio pondere ferebatur, charitate desuper influente, ac innatum torporem suo calore dissolvente, ad altiora se surrigit, sicque exuens vetustatem, ac induens novitatem, sortitur pennas columbae deargentatas, quibus ad illud sublime et purum bonum evolet, de quo et genus ducit: beato Paulo id apertius Atheniensibus profitente. Cum enim de Deo subtiliter multa disseruisset; et ex philosophorum quoque libris Deum unum instantissime comprobaret, in quo vivimus, movemur, et sumus, ait inter caetera: Cujus et nos genus sumus (Act. xvii). Et addidit: Genus ergo cum simus Dei. Nec quis existimet genus nos Dei ita dixisse Apostolum, ut ejusdem naturae substantiaeve probaret, cujus et Deus, alioqui nec mutabiles, qui nec corruptibiles, sed nec miseri aliquando esse possemus, sicut nec ejus unigenitus, qui de ejus substantia natus, in omnibus ipsi Patri comprobatur aequalis; sed ideo nos genus asserit Dei, vel potius non negat, quia ad ejus, creata, imaginem anima rationalis, ipsius sapientiae ac beatitudini participari posse cognoscitur. Animam itaque nostram ad id ad quod facta est, charitas sublevat; ad id vero, ad quod illa sponte defluxit, premit cupiditas.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Eph.4.23-Eph.4.24 — and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, Eph.4.24 — and put on the new self, created according to God in righteousness and holiness of the truth.
- ↩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.
- ↩Col.3.9-Col.3.10 — Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old self with its practices, Col.3.10 — and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its Creator
- ↩Acts.17.28 — For in him we live and move and have our being, as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we are also his offspring.'
- ↩Ps.55.6 — Fear and trembling came upon me, and horror overwhelmed me.
- ↩Acts.17.28 — For in him we live and move and have our being, as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we are also his offspring.'
- ↩Acts.17.28 — For in him we live and move and have our being, as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we are also his offspring.'
- ↩Acts.17.29 — Since then we are God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man.
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