De laude caritatis et fructibus eius
The Supremacy of Love
Love is the noble virtue that transforms the soul and unites it with God.
Let everything you do be done in love. Love is a noble virtue, one that rises above all other virtues, knowledge, and gifts. It embraces God and unites angels with humanity; it turns the children of men into children of God and friends of the saints. It is what caused Christ to be born of a virgin and to be crucified for the salvation of humanity. It cleanses the soul from sin and draws it upward to love God with all its heart, all its desire, and all its intellect, filling and igniting it with a wondrous sweetness. It turns sinners into the righteous, servants into the free, enemies into friends, strangers into family, wanderers into the steadfast, the proud into the humble, the perverse into the gentle, the lukewarm into the fervent, the sorrowful into the joyful, the stingy into the generous, the worldly into the heavenly, and the unlearned into the wise. Love works all these things, poured into the hearts of believers by the Holy Spirit given to them from heaven. It has wings both broad and long; it flies above the cherubim and seraphim, and above all the choirs of angels.
Contemplation and the Active Life
Love moves between the heights of contemplation and the duties of the active life.
It joins the highest things to the lowest; it passes through the middle and returns to the highest. It makes one out of many; it brings joy to all and to each, not by letting them take vain pride in themselves, but by lifting them above themselves in divine love. Love circles heaven and earth, the sea and the dry land, and it brings back to the Creator the praise and glory of everything it sees and hears in creation. For there is nothing so small or lowly in nature in which the goodness of the Being, the work of the Artist, the power of the Creator, the wisdom of the Disposer, and the providence of the One who governs all things most rightly, does not shine. This reflection makes the soul devout, so that it praises God in every place and time, blessing, exulting, and rejoicing. Through this, the spirit burns within, and like wax it melts before the face of the fire; it knows no moderation, but flies above all the lights of heaven so that it may find its only Beloved and the Creator of all things, who presides over all, that it may most happily rejoice in Him and rest securely. Oh, how pleasant and excellent it is for the one to whom it is given to cling to God and to enjoy Him in secret. Oh, if only I were allowed to taste even a little of what is clearly open to the angels and has no end. But we must return to the active life and fight bravely against daily temptations through the virtue of love.
Humility in Service
True love manifests in humility, patience, and the willingness to perform lowly tasks.
Often, after a great consolation, there follows a heavy desolation, or an unwelcome temptation, or some physical injury; or the annoyance of people, or the loss of friends; or the invasion of enemies, or a disturbance of the mind; or the mockery of the small-minded, or the rebuke of those in authority; or the harsh correction of superiors. All these things happen to humble the pride of our hearts and to help us sympathize with the weak, the troubled, and the tempted. Therefore, let’s not put our confidence in ourselves, think highly of ourselves, or seek our own comfort; instead, in all things let us humble ourselves, being subject to God and to every human creature for God's sake, in true charity. Through charity, God came into the world; through charity, He led man back to heaven. Through charity, Christ descended to sinful man; through charity and the ignominy of the cross, He ascended to the right hand of the Father and gave man the greatest honor. Charity is never idle; it works great and sublime things, yet it also willingly bows down to things that are lowly and despised. It diligently performs what is honorable and takes delight in having the lowliest tasks assigned to it out of obedience. It doesn't shrink from touching the wounds of the infirm, washing feet, making beds, cleaning clothes, or wiping away filth.
The Purifying Power of Love
Love cleanses the heart, orders the soul, and directs all actions toward God.
It bears hardships patiently and rejoices in the midst of insults. Just as fire consumes wood, so love extinguishes vices. It cleanses the heart through compunction, washes it through confession, wipes it clean through prayer, and illuminates it through sacred reading; it kindles it through devout meditation, gathers it together through secret dwelling, and joins the soul to God through fervent love. Love stirs the human mouth to praise God, the hands to work, the feet to walk, the eyes to contemplate, and the memory to remember; it stirs the outer limbs to serve and the inner gifts to love God above all good things in heaven and on earth. Love itself in a humble soul deletes past evils and guards against future ones; it instructs about the present, frees one from many doubts, keeps one from curiosity, and cuts away what is superfluous; it excludes vanity, refutes falsehoods, hates what is shameful, and softens what is hard; it illuminates what is dark, opens the secrets of heaven to the one who prays, and puts everything in order, both within and without. Love is a good will in a holy soul that doesn't stop doing what is right, even though weakness or necessity sometimes doesn't allow it to do the good it intends. O happy and clean soul for whom God is everything; who feels nothing pleasant or precious apart from God, but to whom all things seem bitter and burdensome. God seeks such a soul and loves such a one—a soul that scorns and leaves behind itself and all things for the sake of His love, fights bravely, and keeps its heart in purity.
The Freedom of the Pure Soul
A soul purified by love seeks only the will of the Father.
A pure soul moves toward God quickly and freely; it soars above all created things in the world, for it desires no advantage or honor on earth. The love of Christ breaks all the world's chains; it makes every burden light, and it strives faithfully to fulfill whatever pleases God. That’s why it prays with Christ and says: Father, may it not be my will, but yours, that is done always and everywhere.
Read the original Latin
Omnia vestra in caritate fiant. Nobilis virtus est caritas: quae omnibus virtutibus supereminet et scientiis et donis. Haec Deum amplectitur, et angelos sociat hominibus: et de filiis hominum efficit filios Dei et amicos osanctorum. Haec Christum fecit nasci de virgine: et crucifigi pro humana salute. Haec animam a peccato purificat; et ad amandum Deum toto corde toto affectu toto intellectu sursum trahit: ac mira dulcedine replet et accendit. Haec de peccatoribus facit iustos, de servis liberos; de hostibus amicos, de peregrinis cives, de ignotis familiares, de vagis stabiles: de superbis humiles, de perversis mites: de tepidis fervidos, de tristibus laetos; de tenacibus largos, de terrenis caelestes: et de indoctis sapientes. Haec omnia operatur caritas diffusa in credentium cordibus: per Spiritum sanctum datum eis de caelis. Haec alas habet latissimas et longas; volat super cherubin et seraphin: et super omnes choros angelorum.
Coniungit summa infimis; transit per media, redit ad summa: unum efficit de multis; laetificat omnes et singulos, non in se ipsis vane gloriantes: sed in divino amore super se excedentes. Caritas circuit caelum et terram, mare et aridam; et omnia quae videt et audits in creaturis: ad laudem et gloriam refert Creatoris. Non enim est aliquid tam parvum et vile in rerum naturis; in quibus non luceat bonitas entis, opus artificis, potentia creantis, sapientia disponentis: et providentia omnia rectissime gubernantis. Haec consideratio facit animam devotam Deum laudare: omni loco et tempore benedicere, exultare et iubilare. Per i hanc animus ardescit intus, et sicut cera liquescit a facie ignis; nescit modum tenere: sed super omnia caeli luminaria ' volitat; ut unicum dilectum suum et omnium rerum conditorem omnibus praesidentem inveniat: quatenus in eo felicissime gaudeat et secure quiescat. O quam iucunde et peroptime illi est: cui adhaerere Deo et secrete frui datum est. O si parum mihi gustare liceat: quod angelis clare patet, et finem non habet. Sed ad activam vitam redeundum: et contra temptationes cotidianas fortiter per virtutem caritatis proeliandum.
Saepe enim post magnam consolationem sequitur gravis desolatio, aut importuna temptatio, vel corporis laesio; aut hominum vexatio, aut amicorum subtractio: aut hostium invasio, aut mentis conturbatio; aut derisio parvulorum, aut increpatio maiorum: aut dura correctio praelatorum. Omnia haec contingunt ad humiliandum cordis nostri superbiam: ad compatiendum infirmis tribulatis et temptatis. Non ergo confidamus in nobis, nec alta sapiaimus nec commoda nostra quaeramus: sed in omnibus humiliemus nos subiecti Deo, et omni humanae creaturae propter Deum in vera caritate. Per caritatem venit Deus in mundum: per caritatem reduxit hominem ad caelum. Per caritatem Christus descendit ad hominem peccatorem; per caritatem et crucis ignominiam ascendit ad Patris dexteram: et dedit homini maximum honorem. Caritas numquam est otiosa; operatur enim magna et sublimia: inclinat se etiam libenter ad humilia et abiecta. Ipsa perficit diligenter honesta: delectatur viliora sibi iniungi ex oboedientia. Non abhorret tangere infirmorum vulnera; lavare pedes, sternere lectulos: purgare vestes, tergere sordes.
Ipsa patienter fert aspera: laetatur inter obprobria. Sicut ignis ligna consumit: sic caritas vitia extinguit. Cor mundat per contritionem, lavat per confessionem: abstergit per orationem, illuminat per sacram lectionem; accendit per devotam meditationem: colligit per secretam habitationem, coniungit animam Deo per ferventem amorem. Caritas excitat os hominis ad laudandum Deum; manus ad operandum, pedes ad ambulandum, oculos ad contemplandum, memoriam ad recordandum: exteriora membra ad serviendum, interiora dona ad amandum Deum super omnia bona in caelo et in terra. Ipsa caritas in humili anima delet mala praeterita, munit contra futura: instruit de praesentibus, liberat de multis dubiis prohibet a curiosis, amputat superflua: excludit vana, arguit falsa, odit turpia, mitigat dura; illuminat obscura, aperit oranti caeli secreta: ordinat omnia intus et extra. Caritas est bona voluntas in anima sancta quae non desistit recta operari: quamvis debilitas vel necessitas quandoque non permittit agere bonum, quod praetendit. O felix et munda anima cui Deus est omnia; quae praeter Deum nil sentit iucundum nec pretiosum: sed cuncta amara ei videntur et onerosa. Talem Deus requirit, talem diligit; quae se et omnia propter eius amorem spernit et relinquit: fortiter certat, et cor suum in puritate custodit.
Cito et libere ad Deum anima pura pergit; et super omnia mundi condita evolat: quae in terris nil commodi nec honoris concupiscit. Caritas Christi omnia vincula mundi solvit; omnia onera levia facit: et quaecumque Deo placent fideliter implere satagit. Vnde cum Christo orat et dicit. Pater non mea voluntas: sed tua semper et ubique fiat.
The Little Garden of Roses & The Valley of Lilies companion
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