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← Speculum caritatis (The Mirror of Charity)/Book 3 · Speculum caritatis — Liber III
Chapter 9SpCar.3.9

Quid nos oporteat ad fruendum eligere

The Soul's Choice and the Misdirected Will

Having distinguished good love from evil love, the author examines how a soul mired in fleshly pursuits chooses worldly goods as its end, mistaking them for happiness, and traces the restless circuit of the wicked will that can never be satisfied.

Since we've now drawn the distinction between good love and evil love, what remains is for us to show what the soul ought to choose for its enjoyment, and how it ought to be moved toward what it has chosen — if the one in whose hands we are, and our words too, will deign to inspire us. In this way we'll recognize both what is to be loved and how it is to be loved. This much needs to be said: not everything we choose to make use of is something we can rightly call love — only that which we choose for the sake of enjoying it. That mind, then, which is mired in the dunghill of the flesh and strains after nothing subtle that rises above the dullness of the senses — it reaches out for deceptive wealth, or empty honors, or bodily pleasures, or the world's favor, or some one of these things, or all of them at once, as though choosing them as the appointed goal of its purpose, painting for itself a picture of happiness in the pursuit of such things on the strength of a false opinion. Yet not everyone strives toward the enjoyment of these things by the same path. One person chooses to be in business, another to serve in the military, another to practice any trade at all; another aims at the goal he has set for himself through plunder and robbery. Of all these things, the only one anyone can be said to love is that for which his whole purpose hurries forth to enjoy it; everything else he treats as a kind of skill, a set of tools he uses so that he can more easily arrive at the completion of what he has set his heart on. But a twisted mind — as long as it fails to obtain what it longs for — paints for itself an image of happiness in the enjoyment of those things. Or, having gotten what it wished for, it finds itself worn down by its usual want. Or at the very least, it recoils from the things it has abused with a kind of disgust, and its desire is kindled toward any other thing at all — not to be satisfied by it, but to be trifled with once more by the same old vanity, in a degrading way. This is the circuit of the wicked, whose wretched neediness was discussed at sufficient length in the first part of this work.

God Alone Worthy of Our Love

A soul with clearer vision recognizes that no created nature can be the source of true happiness, and so turns to God alone as the sole object of love and worship, in obedience to the divine commandment.

Furthermore, the person whose mind is sounder, whose vision is purer, whose life is more refined, and who investigates reality with a deeper understanding — since it is clear that no one can be sufficient unto himself for happiness — sees, assuredly, that what is lower and more abject by nature can cast a person down through self-love, not lift him up, and can entangle him in miseries rather than bring the consolation of true happiness. From this vantage point, undertaking to measure himself and to assess the privilege of his own nature, he perceives clearly how worthily, how magnificently, and finally how justly the divine law commands humanity: 'You shall worship the Lord your God, and him alone shall you serve.' (Deut.)✦ 6; Matt. 4). He would never have spoken this way if there existed any loftier nature whatsoever to which human nature owed that singular obedience, or from which it could expect the reward of blessedness. He himself, therefore, is to be chosen by us above all things, so that we may enjoy him — for he is the beginning of love; he himself is to be desired above all things, for he is, as it were, the very course and advancement of that love. In being adopted by him, because the love of the perfect good will be perfect, blessedness also will be perfect. Rightly, therefore, did the divine law hand down the first and greatest commandment concerning the love of God: 'You shall love,' it says, 'the Lord your God' (ibid.).✦ .

Loving Our Neighbor for the Sake of Shared Beatitude

Because beatitude is more abundant when shared, each person must love their neighbor so as to participate in the neighbor's good, which leads to the commandment to love one's neighbor as oneself.

Truly, since each person will enjoy this beatific good according to their own capacity once they have obtained it, and since all together will be more capable than any one person alone, it follows without doubt that beatitude itself will be more abundant if what any one person is less capable of possessing in themselves they begin to find in another — or in the other person. But another person's good will not be your own unless you have loved that very good in the other person. And that will be equally impossible unless you yourself have loved the other person. Most fittingly, therefore, divine authority has decreed through the precept: You shall love your neighbor (Matt. v). But since God will be our highest good — both in himself, and in us, and in our neighbor — he himself is commanded to be loved with our whole being. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength.✦ Because the good of our neighbor will bring us just as much joy as our own — rightly it is said: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

The Twofold Choice: God and Neighbor

The chapter concludes by clarifying that God is to be enjoyed in himself and for his own sake, while the neighbor is to be loved in God, and that when the will consents to this twofold choice, the love of God and neighbor truly begins.

So it's clear that two things are set before us for our choosing, so that through them we may enjoy God — namely, God himself and our neighbor — though in different ways. God is to be chosen so that we may enjoy him in himself and for his own sake; the neighbor, so that we may enjoy him in God — or rather, so that we may enjoy God in him.1 For although the word 'enjoy' is usually taken in the stricter sense — meaning that nothing else but God alone is to be enjoyed — Paul, speaking to a person, says: 'Yes, brother, let me enjoy you in the Lord' (Philem.).✦23 20). So when the mind has clearly seen that these two things — and the reason for choosing them, as we've said — are what must be chosen, and when, setting aside everything else in comparison, the consent of the will has made its choice, then the love of God and of the neighbor has truly begun — because the turning of that very love is being directed toward what it ought to be.45

Read the original Latin

Quoniam igitur inter bonum malumque amorem distinximus, superest nunc ut quid ad fruendum eligere debeat animus, quemadmodum ad id, quod elegerit, moveri oporteat, sicut ipse, in cujus manu sumus, et nos et sermones nostri, inspirare voluerit, ostendamus. Sic quidem et quid diligendum, et quemadmodum diligendum sit agnoscemus. Hoc sane dicendum, quia non omne quod in usum nostrum eligimus, diligere dicendi sumus, sed solum id quod ad fruendum eligimus. Ea quippe mens quae sterquilinio carnis immersa, ad nihil subtile quod crassitudine sensus excedat, nititur aspirare, vel fallaces divitias, vel inutiles honores, aut corporeas voluptates, mundive favores, vel horum aliquid, vel simul omnia, quasi destinatum intentionis sibi eligit finem, in talium perfunctione felicitatem falsa opinione depingens. Ad horum tamen fructum non eodem omnes calle nituntur, Alius enim negotiari, militare alius, quamlibet artem alius eligit exercere, ad destinatum finem alius rapinis ac latrociniis tendit. Ex his omnibus id solum amare quis dicendus est, ad quod fruendum tota ejus festinat intentio; ceteris artem quasi quibusdam adminiculis uti ; quo facilius ad desideratae rei perfunctionem valeat pervenire. Sed perversa mens quamdiu quidem non potitur optatis, in eorum fructu felicitatis pingit imaginem ; aut voti compos effecta cum se solita indigentia senserit laborare; vel certe ab his quibus abusa est, quodam quasi fastidio resilire ; in alterius cujuslibet rei succenditur appetitum, non quidem satianda, sed eadem iterum vanitatis ineptia turpiter deludenda. Hic est circuitus impiorum, de quorum misera indigentia in prima hujus operis parte satis superque disputatum est.

Porro is cui mens sanior, oculus purior, vita est defaecatior, altiori sensu rem investigans, cum manifestum sit neminem sibi ad beatitudinem posse sufficere, videt profecto id quod sit inferior abjectiorque natura, dejicere posse hominem sui amore, non extollere alius, miseriisque magis involvere quam verae felicitatis conferre solatium. Hinc semetipsum metiri aggrediens, ac suae privilegium aestimare naturae : cernit profecto quam digne, quam magnifice, quam denique juste homini lex divina praecipiat : Dominum Deum tuum adorabis; et illi soli servies (Deut. vi; Matth. iv). Quod nullo modo dixisset, si esset quaelibet natura sublimior, cui humana natura singulare illud deberet obsequium, vel a qua posset beatitudinis praemium exspectare. Ipse igitur nobis prae omnibus eligendus est, ut eo fruamur, quod est amoris inchoatio; ipse prae omnibus desiderandus, quod est ipsius amoris quasi cursus quidam atque promotio; in cujus adoptione, quia perfecti boni perfecta erit dilectio, perfecta erit et beatitudo. Merito igitur primum mandatum et maximum de Dei dilectione lex divina contradidit : Diliges, inquiens, Dominum Deum tuum (ibid.) .

Verum, quia hoc beatifico bono, cum adepti fuerimus, quisque pro sua capacitate fruetur ; capaciores autem erunt omnes simul quam singulus quisque : erit sine dubio ipsa beatitudo cumulatior, si hoc quod quilibet minus capax habere non poterit in seipso, habere incipiat vel in altero. At alterius bonum suum non erit, nisi hoc ipsum bonum in altero dilexerit. Quod aeque impossibile erit, nisi alterum ipse dilexerit. Congruentissime ergo secundum praeceptum divina sanxit auctoritas : Diliges proximum tuum (Matth. v). Sed quoniam summum bonum nostrum Deus erit, et in seipso, et in nobis, et in altero, ipse ex toto praecipitur diligendus. Diliges itaque Dominum Deum tuum ex toto corde tuo, et ex tota anima tua, et ex omni virtute tua. Quia vero tantumdem gaudii nobis conferet proximi bonum, quantum proprium ; merito dicitur : Diliges proximum tuum tanquam teipsum.

Patet igitur duo nobis eligenda ut his fruamur Deum, scilicet et proximum, quanquam dissimiliter. Nam Deum, ut eo fruamur in seipso, et propter seipsum ; proximum, ut ipso fruamur in Deo, imo et Deo fruamur in illo. Nam licet verbum hoc frui districtius soleat accipi, ut videlicet nulla re alia, sed solo Deo fruendum esse dicatur; ad hominem tamen loquens Paulus : Ita, frater, inquit, ego te fruar in Domino (Philem. xx). Cum igitur haec duo et ratio, ut diximus, eligenda perspexerit, et, ceteris omnibus horum contemplatione contemptis, mentis consensus elegerit, inchoata est profecto Dei proximique dilectio; quia ad id quod debet fit ipsius amoris conversio.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Deut.6.13;Matt.4.10 — You shall fear the LORD your God, and serve him, and swear by his name. Matt.4.10 — Then Jesus said to him, 'Go away, Satan! For it is written, "You shall worship the Lord your God, and him alone shall you serve."'
  2. ↩Deut.6.5;Matt.22.37 — And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. Matt.22.37 — And he said to him, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.'
  3. ↩Deut.6.5 — And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
  4. ↩Phlm.1.20 — Yes, brother, let me receive this benefit from you in the Lord; refresh my heart in Christ.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩The shift from 'enjoying the neighbor in God' to 'enjoying God in the neighbor' (imo et Deo fruamur in illo) is theologically significant: the neighbor becomes a locus of divine enjoyment. The rendering preserves this escalation.
  2. 2 ↩The sentence navigates the tension between the strict Augustinian sense of frui (God alone as the proper object of enjoyment) and the Pauline extension of that language to the neighbor 'in the Lord.' The rendering preserves this distinction.
  3. 3 ↩Paul's phrase 'ego te fruar in Domino' is a candidate allusion to Philemon 1:20 (Vulgate). Final resolution deferred to tx-08 Moses stage.
  4. 4 ↩The phrase 'mentis consensus' (consent of the mind/will) bridges intellect and will. Rendered as 'consent of the will' to capture the volitional force, though 'mind' is also defensible.
  5. 5 ↩conversio rendered as 'turning' rather than 'conversion' to avoid the modern therapeutic overtones of 'conversion' while preserving the directional sense of amor reoriented toward its proper end.

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