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← Speculum caritatis (The Mirror of Charity)/Book 3 · Speculum caritatis — Liber III
Chapter 4SpCar.3.4

Quale Sabbatum ex fraterna dilectione capiatur, et quomodo sex anni, qui praecedunt septimum, charitati coaptentur

The Inner Sabbath of Brotherly Love

The soul that withdraws into the innermost chamber of the heart and embraces all its brothers and sisters in pure, undisturbed love enters a spiritual Sabbath of deep interior rest, where every clamor of vice falls silent and one heart and one soul are forged in charity.

But if, from that more secluded room where it first celebrated this Sabbath, it withdraws into the innermost lodging of its heart — where it is accustomed to rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep, be weak with the weak, and be burned with those who are scandalized — and there perceives its soul joined to the souls of all its brothers and sisters by the bond of love, driven by no stings of envy, inflamed by no surges of resentment, worn down by no darts of suspicion, consumed by no gnawing bites of a corrosive grief; and so is carried off to some deeply quiet refuge of the mind, where it embraces and cherishes everyone with a kind of sweet affection, and makes them one heart and one soul with itself: then, at the first taste of this sweetness, every clamor of desire falls silent, the uproar of vices subsides, and there comes about, inwardly, a release from every harmful thing, and a welcome, joyful resting in the sweetness of brotherly love. For brotherly love permits no vice at all to dwell in the quiet of this Sabbath — the Apostle Paul, the continual keeper of this very Sabbath, is witness to it. For he says: You shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this word: You shall love your neighbor as yourself (Rom 13). Rom 13). Flooded with the rest and sweetness of this Sabbath, the prophet David breaks forth into the sound of joyful celebration, saying: Behold, how good and how pleasant it is when brothers and sisters dwell together in unity (Ps 132). Ps 132). Truly good, truly pleasant. Good indeed, because nothing is more profitable; pleasant, because nothing is more savory. But just as in that first Sabbath only a single day is dedicated — because what is special about it is that it consists in the quiet of each person's own conscience — so a whole year is rightly consecrated to this one. For just as a year is made up of many days, so from many souls one heart and one soul are forged together in the fire of love.

Six Kinds of People to Love

The soul preparing for the spiritual Sabbath must exercise love toward six kinds of people, beginning with the natural love owed to one's own family, which is inborn and sanctioned by the divine commandment, and which must not be set aside even by the Lord's seemingly harsher words about hating father and mother.

Because if, from those six years that precede this spiritual Sabbath, you'd like to carve out something deeper and more mysterious, know this: there are six kinds of people in whose love the soul must be exercised. Now just as a year encompasses many days, so in each of those kinds many people are joined to us by the bond of love. First, then, our love is directed by natural order toward the members of our own family. This love is inborn in our very nature, and if it is not present, that is utterly inhuman. Hence the Apostle: If anyone does not care for his own relatives, and especially for the members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever (1 Tim.✦ 5). Nor should anyone consider this apostolic teaching to be contrary to the Lord's own words, in which He says: Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, and even his own life, cannot be my disciple (Luke✦ 14).

From Natural Love to Spiritual Friendship

Ordered love moves from the natural bond of family, commanded by God in the Decalogue, outward to the wider embrace of spiritual friendship and mutual service, though even this expanded love remains within the righteousness of the Pharisees unless it is elevated by grace beyond mere reciprocity.

But we'll take this up in what follows. So then, since there are some people more savage than beasts who don't even pay attention to their own families, it makes a certain amount of sense, as we move toward this spiritual Sabbath, that a person should love his own as he ought to. Now since this love arises from nature itself, it is sanctioned in the first rank of the precepts that pertain to loving your neighbor — with God himself bearing witness: Honor your father and your mother (Exod. 20).✦1 20). From there our love reaches out to those who are joined to us by the covenant of spiritual friendship, or by the exchange of mutual service, and in a certain sense it opens into a wider embrace. But this love does not go beyond the righteousness of the Pharisees, to whom it was said: You shall love your friend and hate your enemy (Matt. 5).✦2 5). To be sure, each of these two loves, even when it has kept very little of its reward secure, still acquires some — the one is driven by the natural law, the other summoned by grace bestowed on us. But when neglected, either one brings a full weight of condemnation.3

Love That Reaches Beyond Reciprocity

The Lord challenges His followers to love beyond mere reciprocity, calling them to embrace all who share the same yoke of profession, so that their love, anointed by the grace flowing from Christ the Head, extends to all who bear the name of Christian.

The Lord says this in the Gospel: If you love those who love you, what reward will you have?✦ Don't even the pagans do the same?✦ And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing?✦ (ibid.) . So that our love may be directed toward something greater, let it also embrace those who share the same yoke of profession as we do. This love will plainly not be cheated of its reward, because God is the reason it is shown. In this state, a soul clinging to the garments of Jesus chooses for itself a share of the anointing: which, descending from the head, flows even into the beard of true Aaron, and reaches all the way to the edge of the garment, whose richness, once anointed, spreads for a while. And first, it imparts to all whom the anointing itself reaches a share in the name of Jesus, so that from the Anointed One they may be called anointed — that is, Christians from Christ — and it receives them into its wider fold to be loved.✦✦4

Love for Enemies and the Freedom of Forgiveness

The final two kinds of people to be loved are those outside the faith and one's own enemies; the soul must mourn for outsiders, pray for them, and ultimately love its enemies with the single eye of forgiveness, thereby entering the seventh year of release in which debts are forgiven and slaves are set free.

Two kinds of people remain; if they are bound to our heart by the bonds of love, nothing will surely stand in the way of our enjoying the rest of that true Sabbath. For it is necessary that we also grieve for those who are outside — namely Gentiles and Jews, heretics and schismatics — that we mourn their ignorance, sympathize with their weakness, bewail their wickedness, and with a devout heart impart to them the consolation of our prayer, so that they too may be found with us in Christ Jesus our Lord.5 From there we must pass to that point in which the highest measure of fraternal love consists, in which a person is made a Son of God, in which the likeness of divine goodness is more fully restored — just as the Savior says in the Gospel: Love your enemies, and do good to those who hate you; and pray for those who persecute and slander you, so that you may be children of your Father who is in heaven.✦6 v). After that, what remains but the seventh year, in which we are not permitted to reclaim our debtors, in which the slave is granted freedom?✦7 For one who knows how to look upon even enemies with a single eye — that person is the one who can truly say: Forgive us, just as we also forgive.✦89 vi). For everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin.✦10

The Fullness of the Sabbath Rest

In the fullness of the spiritual Sabbath, the soul that has released others in love and been released in turn enters a time of peace and glory, embracing the whole human race with a single love and suffering with enemies as a tender father suffers with a mad son, until it tastes again how good and pleasant it is to dwell as brothers in unity.

viii). Everyone is bound to a servitude that deserves to be mourned, until that person — letting go and loving in return — is himself set free and loved, and becomes not merely free instead of a slave, but even a friend. Truly, it is a time of peace, a time of rest, a time of stillness, a time of glory and exultation. For what trouble, what disturbance, what grief, what anxiety will be able to interrupt the joy of the one who, from that first Sabbath — in which he is nourished by the fruits of his labors — advances by fuller grace toward this state of likeness to God, so that, embracing the whole human race with a single love of mind, he is shaken by no one's injury; but, as some most indulgent father toward a dear son of his who is stricken with madness, so is he affected toward his enemies, so that the more he is wronged by them, the more deeply he suffers with them in the affection of charity as they inflict trouble on him?✦11 Possessed by this virtue, then, one is to be said to celebrate this Sabbath most fully when, entering into his own heart, he directs his mind toward the sweetness of fraternal love and, dissolved into a most tender affection toward those dearest to him, tastes how good and how pleasant it is to dwell as brothers in unity (Ps.✦ cxxxii).

Read the original Latin

Porro si ab hoc secretiori cubiculo, in quo primum hoc Sabbatum celebravit, ad illud pectoris sui diversorium sese contulerit, ubi solet gaudere cum gaudentibus, flere cum flentibus, infirmari cum infirmis, uri cum scandalizatis ; senseritque ibi animam suam, cum omnium fratrum suorum animabus glutino charitatis uniri, nullis invidiae stimulis agitari, nullis indignationum aestibus inflammari, non jaculis suspicionum atteri, non edacis tristitiae morsibus consumi; sicque ad quemdam tranquillissimum mentis suae sinum omnes rapiat, ubi dulci quodam affectu omnes amplectatur et foveat, ac secum unum cor, et unam animam faciat; ad hujus mox dulcedinis suavissimum gustum omnis cupiditatum silet tumultus, ac vitiorum strepitus conquiescit, et fit ibi intus ab omnibus noxiis absoluta vacatio, et in fraternae dilectionis dulcedine grata et jucunda pausatio. Nam quod in hujus Sabbati quiete, nullum prorsus vitium residere charitas fraterna permittat, testis est hujus ipsius Sabbati continuus feriator apostolus Paulus : sic enim ait : Non adulterabis, non furtum facies, non falsum testimonium dices, et si quod est aliud mandatum, in hoc verbo instauratur : Diliges proximum tuum tanquam teipsum (Rom. xiii). Hujus Sabbati requie ac dulcedine perfusus propheta David, in sonum gratulabundae solemnitatis erupit, dicens : Ecce quam bonum et quam jucundum, habitare fratres in unum (Psal. cxxxii). Vere bonum, vere jucundum. Bonum plane, quia nihil utilius ; jucundum, quia nihil sapidius. Sicut autem primo illi Sabbato unus tantum dies dedicatur, quia videlicet singulare est, quod in propriae cujusque conscientiae tranquillitate consistit; ita non immerito huic annus integer consecratur; quia, sicut ex multis diebus annus efficitur, ita ex multis animabus unum cor, et una anima charitatis igne conflatur.

Quod si ex sex illis annis, qui Sabbatum hoc spirituale praecedunt, aliquid mysticum velis exsculpere, scito sex esse genera hominum, in quorum dilectione necesse est animus exerceatur. Sicut autem annus multos dies complectitur, ita in singulis illis generibus multi nobis homines dilectionis copula conjunguntur. Primo ergo dilectio nostra naturali ordine ad domesticos sanguinis nostri derivatur. Quae dilectio ut habeatur, quia ipsi naturae est insitum ; si non habeatur, nimis est inhumanum. Unde Apostolus : Si quis suorum, et maxime domesticorum curam non habet, fidem negavit ; et est infideli deterior (I Tim. v). Nec hanc apostolicam sententiam Dominicis verbis quisquam aestimet esse contrariam, quibus dicit : Qui venit ad me, et non odit patrem et matrem, adhuc autem et animam suam, non potest meus esse discipulus (Luc. xiv).

Sed de his in consequentibus videbimus. Igitur quia sunt nonnulli, qui immaniores bestiis, nec domesticos attendunt jam aliquantulum ad Sabbatum hoc spirituale procedit qui suos, ita ut oportet, diligit. Haec autem dilectio, quoniam ab ipsa natura proficiscitur, in praeceptis quae ad dilectionem pertinent proximi primo loco sancitur, ita, Deo protestante : Honora patrem tuum et matrem (Exod. xx). Hinc ad eos qui nobis spiritualis amicitiae foedere, vel officii vicissitudine copulantur, dilectio nostra progreditur, et quodammodo sinu ampliori laxatur. Sed haec dilectio Pharisaeorum justitiam non transcendit : quibus dictum est : Diliges amicum tuum ; et odio habebis inimicum tuum (Matth. v). Sane utraque haec dilectio quanquam parum praemii servata conquirat, quippe cum ad illam lex naturalis impellat, ad istam gratia impertita nos provocet; neglecta tamen cumulum damnationis importat.

De his Dominus in Evangelio : Si diligitis, inquit, eos qui vos diligunt ; quam mercedem habebitis ? Nonne et ethnici hoc faciunt ? Et si salutaveritis fratres vestros tantum, quid amplius facitis? (ibid.) . Ut ergo in aliquid amplius dilectio nostra tendatur, amplectatur et eos qui nobiscum eodem jugo professionis subduntur. Haec plane dilectio praemio non fraudabitur; quia Deus causa est cur exhibetur. In hoc statu mens vestimentis agglutinata Jesu, aliquid sibi unctionis eligit : quae descendens a capite, etiam barbae influit veri Aaron, et ad oram usque vestis attingit, cujus uncta pinguedine aliquantisper extenditur : et primum omnes ad quos unctio ipsa pertingens, participium illis nominis Jesu, ut ab uncto uncti, id est a Christo Christiani vocentur, impertit, laxiori sinu recipit diligendos.

Restant adhuc duo hominum genera; quae si pectori nostro amoris vinculis astringantur, nihil profecto obstabit, quin veri illius Sabbati requie perfruamur. Nam et eorum qui foris sunt, gentilium videlicet et Judaeorum, haereticorum et schismaticorum, necesse est ut ignorantiam doleamus, compatiamur infirmitati, malitiam defleamus, ac pio affectu solatium illis nostrae orationis impertiamus; ut et ipsi inveniantur nobiscum in Christo Jesu Domino nostro. Inde ad illud transeundum est, in quo fraternae charitatis summa consistit, in quo homo Dei Filius efficitur, in quo divinae bonitatis similitudo plenius reparatur, sicut ait Salvator in Evangelio : Diligite inimicos vestros, et benefacite his qui oderunt vos; et orate pro persequentibus ; et calumniantibus vobis, ut sitis filii Patris vestri, qui in coelis est (Matth. v). Exinde quid supererit, nisi annus septimus, in quo debitores repetere non permittimur, in quo servus libertate donatur ? Qui enim novit etiam inimicos simplici oculo intueri : ille est, qui veraciter dicere potest : Dimitte nobis, sicut et nos dimittimus (Matth. vi). Omnis enim qui facit peccatum, servus est peccati (Joan.

viii). Cui deplorandae servituti tamdiu quisque addicitur, donec ipse dimittens et diligens, dimittatur et diligatur, de servo non modo liber, sed etiam amicus efficiatur. Vere tempus pacis, tempus quietis, tempus tranquillitatis, tempus gloriae et exsultationis. Quid enim molestiae, quid perturbationis; quid maeroris, quid anxietatis ejus poterit interpolare laetitiam, qui a primo illo Sabbato, in quo laborum suorum fructibus pascitur, ad hujus divinae similitudinis statum gratia pleniore progreditur, ut omne hominum genus uno mentis amore complectens, nullius injuria moveatur; sed, sicut indulgentissimus aliquis pater erga charissimum sibi filium phrenesi laborantem, ita ille erga suos afficiatur inimicos, ut quo magis ab eis injuriatur, eo profundiori charitatis affectu inferentibus sibi molestiam compatiatur ? Hac igitur virtute possessus tunc maxime Sabbatum hoc celebrare dicendus est, cum ingrediens cor suum in fraternae dilectionis dulcedinem intendit animum, et erga charissimos sibi in quemdam suavissimum resolutus affectum, gustat quam bonum et quam jucundum habitare fratres in unum (Psal. cxxxii).

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩1Tim.5.8 — But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
  2. ↩Luke.14.26 — If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters — yes, even his own life — he cannot be my disciple.
  3. ↩Exod.20.12 — Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long upon the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
  4. ↩Matt.5.43 — You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'
  5. ↩Matt.5.46 — For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?
  6. ↩Matt.5.47 — And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing that is special? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?
  7. ↩Matt.5.47 — And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing that is special? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?
  8. ↩Ps.133.2 — It is like the precious oil upon the head, running down upon the beard, the beard of Aaron, running down over the collar of his garments.
  9. ↩Matt.9.20-Matt.9.22 — And behold, a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the hem of his garment. Matt.9.21 — For she said to herself, "If only I touch his garment, I will be made well." Matt.9.22 — But Jesus, turning and seeing her, said, "Take heart, daughter; your faith has saved you." And the woman was saved from that hour.
  10. ↩Matt.5.44-Matt.5.45 — But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute 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.
  11. ↩Deut.15.1-Deut.15.2 — At the end of every seven years you shall grant a release. Deut.15.2 — This is the manner of the release: every creditor shall release what he has lent to his neighbor; he shall not press his neighbor or his brother, because a release has been proclaimed to the LORD.
  12. ↩Matt.6.12 — And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
  13. ↩John.8.34 — Jesus answered them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.'
  14. ↩Matt.9.2;Mark.2.5 — And behold, they were bringing to him a paralytic lying on a bed. And seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralytic, 'Take heart, child; your sins are forgiven.' Mark.2.5 — And seeing their faith, Jesus says to the paralytic, 'Child, your sins are forgiven.'
  15. ↩Ps.132.1;Ps.134.1 — A Song of Ascents. Remember, O LORD, for David all his afflictions Ps.134.1 — A Song of Ascents. Come, bless the LORD, all you servants of the LORD, who stand in the LORD's house by night.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩The Exodus reference is supplied by the source apparatus; the quotation is the Decalogue commandment.
  2. 2 ↩The Matthew reference is supplied by the source apparatus; the quotation echoes Matt. 5:43.
  3. 3 ↩The phrase 'parum praemii servata conquirat' is compressed: literally 'although it acquires, having preserved little of reward.' The sense is that even imperfect natural love and imperfect graced love still gain some reward, but neglecting either brings damnation.
  4. 4 ↩The passage draws on the imagery of Psalm 133:2 (the oil running down Aaron's beard) applied to the religious life. 'Mens vestimentis agglutinata Jesu' — a soul clinging to Christ's garments — evokes the woman who touched the hem of Jesus' garment (Matthew 9:20–22) as a figure of intimate devotion. The 'wider fold' (laxiori sinu) suggests the expansive embrace of communal religious love.
  5. 5 ↩The four groups (Gentiles, Jews, heretics, schismatics) represent those outside the full communion of the Church; the passage calls for compassionate prayer, not condemnation.
  6. 6 ↩Quotation from Matthew 5:44–45 (Vulgate). Citation anchor 'Matth.' with chapter 'v' follows the source; final verse resolution deferred to tx-08 Moses stage.
  7. 7 ↩The 'seventh year' evokes the sabbatical year of release (Deuteronomy 15:1–2), applied here as a figure for the fullness of charity that forgives debts and sets slaves free.
  8. 8 ↩Echo of the Lord's Prayer (Matthew 6:12): 'Dimitte nobis debita nostra, sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris.' Citation anchor 'Matth.' with chapter 'vi' follows the source; final verse resolution deferred to tx-08.
  9. 9 ↩'Simplici oculo' (with a single/sincere eye) draws on the biblical 'oculus simplex' (Matthew 6:22), connoting undivided, pure intention.
  10. 10 ↩Quotation from John 8:34 (Vulgate). Citation anchor 'Joan.' with no chapter number follows the source; final verse resolution deferred to tx-08.
  11. 11 ↩phrenesi (phrenesis) can denote madness, delirium, or a fevered state; the father-son image is drawn from the Gospel accounts of demoniac/afflicted children.

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