Summary of the Morrow's Meditation
We will meditate tomorrow upon the first characteristic of the love of our neighbor, which is that it is supernatural. We shall see: 1st, what it is we must understand by the supernatural love of our neighbor; 2nd, in what respect this love differs from a simply natural love. Our resolution shall be: 1st, to treat every one with consideration and kindness, from love for God, whom we ought to see and love in our neighbor; 2nd, to be on our guard against all purely natural affections which do not accomplish the precept of charity, and which are, in addition, very dangerous. Our spiritual nosegay shall be the words of St. John: "Dearly beloved, let us love one another, for charity is of God" (I. John iv. 7).
Meditation for the Morning
Let us go to the heart of Jesus as to a furnace of charity, there to fill ourselves with the spirit of this virtue. True charity is not of this world, it is entirely heavenly; Jesus Christ brought it down to us from heaven, and the great desire of His heart is that it should be diffused in all hearts. Let us offer ourselves to Him, that He may infuse and inflame us with it.
FIRST POINT
What is to be Understood by Supernatural Love for our Neighbor.
Supernatural love is a pious affection of the soul by which we love our neighbor in God and for God. It is not a product of our own nature, which is not capable of anything in the supernatural order; it is the product of the Holy Ghost, who alone can form in us a sentiment so pure, so elevated, and so holy (Rom. v. 5). Supernatural in its principle, true charity is so also in its motives. By its means, we love our neighbor not because of his merits or of his fine qualities, but because we love God, and because the love of our neighbor is a necessary and inseparable consequence of the love of God. If I really love God, I ought, 1st, to be happy to give myself to all that He desires, to what He wills, to what will give Him great pleasure. Now God, the common Father of the great family of human nature, desires and wills that all His children should love one another, and form together but one heart and but one soul. His pleasure is to see them all linked together in the sweet bonds of reciprocal charity; and to exclude a single individual from this family affection would be to offend Him. If I really love God, I ought, 2nd, to love His friends, who are very dear to Him, to love His children, whom He loves as though they were His other selves. Now, all without exception are friends of Godâfriends whom He has loved to the extent of delivering up His Son to death in order to save them, and whom His Son loved to the extent of dying for them. All are His children; they have the right and on them is incumbent the duty of saying, "Our Father, who art in heaven." Not tenderly to love a single one of these children of God is to wound the good Father in the apple of His eye. If I really love God, I ought, 3rd, to love His resemblance and His image made by His own hand, and not by the hand of another. Now such are all men (Gen. i. 26). If I really love God, I ought, 4th, to love the members of Jesus Christ His Son, who form with our divine Saviour but one body, of which He is the head. Now such are all men, and to such an extent that Jesus Christ has said: "As long as you did it to one of these My least brethren, you did it to Me" (Matt. xxv. 40), and I will recompense it as such, if it be good, or I will punish it as such, if it be evil. If I really love God, I ought, 5th, to love all whom He has given me as brothers and as co-heirs of His kingdom. Now such are all men; all are My brethren both on My Father's and My Mother's side; on My Father's side, because all are, like Me, children of God; on My Mother's side, because all are, like Me, children of the Church and of the Blessed Virgin; all are co-heirs of the kingdom of heaven; we are all called upon to sit in glory, upon an immortal throne, and to glorify God throughout eternity, with one same voice and one same heart. O my God, it is then very true that Thy love and the love of my neighbor are inseparable. We deceive ourselves if we imagine that we love Thee if there be a single man upon earth whom we do not love for Thee. Oh, how beautiful it is, how noble and sublime, that supernatural charity which is one and the same with the love of Godâhow well suited it is to elevate the soul, to inflame the heart, to inspire it with generous devotion and with the desire of great sacrifices. Let us here examine ourselves. Do we love our neighbor with this supernatural love?
SECOND POINT
How Supernatural Love Differs from Natural Love.
Simply natural love with all the acts which it inspires has no merit in regard to heaven; God gives a recompense only to what is done for Him and with a view to pleasing Him. Alas! how many good works are lost because they are inspired by a purely natural sentiment and without any thought of God!
Natural love is often nothing more than egotism. We love those who please us by their sympathetic disposition, who are agreeable to us because of their amiable manners, their witty and lively conversation, or from whom we hope to receive some service or other. Alas! pagans love one another after this fashion, but it is not to love like a Christian.
Natural love is often nothing more than worldly politeness, the complaisance of a kind heart, the goodness of an affectionate heart, a pure form of good breeding, but it is too often inconstant as is caprice, variable as is the temper.
It is a love which is partial and exclusive; it is only given to those who are acceptable to us, others are treated with carelessness, coldness, disdain.
It is a love which is often very dangerous; it converts itself into an intimate friendship, which softens the heart, disgusts it with God, with piety, and with its duties, and leads it sometimes to the commission of the greatest evils, and of which it has no idea, because it looks upon ill-regulated affections as being charity. Let us examine our conscience with regard to all these characteristics of purely natural love.
Resolutions and spiritual nosegay as above.