Because I was small and weak,
Jesus stooped down to me
and in secret taught me
the marvels of His love.
St. Therese of Lisieux
St. Therese and her Little Way focused on the love of God in prayer as well as assisting others at every possible moment in every possible way (fulfilling these two great commandments: love of God, love of neighbor). She enjoyed reading Scripture, such as: "Whosoever is a little one, let him come to me." [Prov. 9:4] Our Little Flower, Therese, would purposely seek out the most disagreeable sisters in her Carmelite monastery to help them with all their needs. When her sensibilities were tested, Therese's response would be in the form of loving patience, silent prayer, kind words, and a smile.
"I know now that true charity consists in bearing all our neighbors' defects-not being surprised at their weakness, but edified at their smallest virtues." (Story of a Soul, p. 79) She learned this lesson from her dedicated reading of "The Imitation of Christ" as a young girl.
In our world, it is far too easy to be critical of others; showing them our impatience and lack of kindness. St. Therese had a heart of charity that was sympathetic to the weaknesses of others. She was devoted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Holy Face of Jesus, and; she followed His many examples of compassion to souls.
St. Paul helps clarify this correctly and reinforces what Jesus has already said: "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. The love of our neighbour worketh no evil. Love therefore is the fulfilling of the law." [Rom 13:9-10]
"We must love our neighbor as being made in the image of God and as an object of His love," adds Saint Vincent de Paul.
"So the love of the neighbor, whether spiritual or temporal, should be drunk in Me, without any self-regarding considerations." (Dialogue, p. 66) God so informs St. Catherine of Siena.
"A tender love for his neighbor is one of the greatest and most excellent gifts that Divine Providence can bestow upon man," says St. Francis de Sales. Why? Because Jesus said so. He told His disciples; love others "as I have loved you."
Love your enemies
We have little choice as to what kind of neighbor we will encounter today. Our neighbor most certainly includes our enemies as well. St. Rita of Cascia demonstrated this charity, within her own family, protecting her sons from the sin of revenge. No one can be excluded from our list of love.
Many of the Church's martyrs showed kindness, said prayers for and extended blessings to their executioners before their often brutal deaths.
St. Augustine speaks about the love that is specific to persons. "Blessed is he who loves thee, and who loves his friend in thee, and his enemy also, for thy sake; for he alone loses none dear to him, if all are dear in Him who cannot be lost." (Augustine, Confessions, p. 46)
St. John of the Cross, while in prison, poetically writes: "Think nothing else but that God ordains all, and where there is no love, put love, and you will draw out love." (The Spiritual Canticle)
Jesus and His saints tell us often that it is easy to return love with love. But, blessed are those who love when there is hate. Our Lord instructs us with: "But I say to you, Love your enemies: do good to them that hate you: and pray for them that persecute and calumniate you." [Mt 5:44] This is very much a part of taking up your Cross, with joy in your heart. [Lk 9:23]
"If any man say: I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother who he seeth, how can he love God whom he seeth not?" [1 Jn 4:20] The Apostle John also says that "Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer." [1 Jn 3:15] The sin of hate is like a spiritual death in the soul, and it requires examination and ultimately confession.
St. Catherine of Siena, teaches a disciple in Florence about forgiveness, vengeance, and persevering in virtue:
"For he who abides in hate is deprived of God and is in a state of condemnation, and has in this life the foretaste of hell; for he is always gnawing at himself, and hungers for vengeance, and abides in fear. Believing to slay his enemy, he has first killed himself, for he has slain his soul with the knife of hate. Such men as these, who think to slay their enemy, slay themselves. He who truly forgives through the love of Christ crucified, has peace and quiet, and suffers no perturbation; for the wrath that perturbs is slain in his soul, and God the Rewarder of every good gives him His grace and at the last eternal life." (Letters)
With charity in her heart, on the day of her Holy Viaticum, St. Maria Goretti forgave her attacker and murderer who stabbed her fourteen times.
Jesus instructs us, from His merciful heart, with: "Judge not: and you shall not be judged. Condemn not: and you shall not be condemned. Forgive: and you shall be forgiven." [Lk 6:37]
We desire God's mercy and forgiveness. But God desires something from us when he says: "be reconciled to thy brother" [Mt 5:24] and also "Be at agreement with thy adversary." [Mt 5:25] A kind priest gave me a better understanding of this message from Jesus, one day, in the confessional.
Supernatural Charity
Years ago, on a Good Friday in a city in Italy, Christian charity was substituted for revenge and murder and produced a future saint:
ST. JOHN GUALBERT was born at Florence, A. D. 999. Following the profession of arms at that troubled period, he became involved in a blood-feud with a near relative. One Good Friday, as he was riding into Florence accompanied by armed men, he encountered his enemy in a place where neither could avoid the other. John would have slain him; but his adversary, who was totally unprepared to fight, fell upon his knees with his arms stretched out in the form of a cross, and implored him, for the sake of Our Lord's holy Passion, to spare his life. St. John said to his enemy, "I cannot refuse what you ask in Christ's name. I grant you your life, and I give you my friendship. Pray that God may forgive me my sin." Grace triumphed. A humble and changed man, he entered the Church of St. Miniato, which was near; and whilst he prayed, the figure of our crucified Lord, before which he was kneeling, bowed its head toward him as if to ratify his pardon. Abandoning the world, he gave himself up to prayer and penance in the Benedictine Order. Later he was led to found the congregation called of Vallombrosa, from the shady valley a few miles from Florence, where he established his first monastery. Once the enemies of the Saint came to his convent of St. Salvi, plundered it, and set fire to it, and having treated the monks with ignominy, beat them and wounded them. St. John rejoiced. "Now," he said, "you are true monks. Would that I myself had had the honor of being with you when the soldiers came, that I might have had a share in the glory of your crowns!" He fought manfully against simony, and in many ways promoted the interest of the Faith in Italy. After a life of great austerity, he died whilst the angels were singing round his bed, July 11, 1073. (Butler, Lives of the Saints)
God addresses St. Catherine
God, in His discourse, shows St. Catherine how every virtue and every defect is obtained by means of our neighbor:
"I wish also that you should know that every virtue is obtained by means of your neighbor, and likewise, every defect; he, therefore, who stands in hatred of Me, does an injury to his neighbor, and to himself, who is his own chief neighbor, and this injury is both general and particular. It is general because you are obliged to love your neighbor as yourself, and loving him, you ought to help him spiritually, with prayer, counseling him with words, and assisting him both spiritually and temporally, according to the need in which he may be, at least with your goodwill if you have nothing else. A man therefore, who does not love, does not help him, and thereby does himself an injury; for he cuts off from himself grace, and injures his neighbor, by depriving him of the benefit of the prayers and of the sweet desires that he is bound to offer for him to Me. Thus, every act of help that he performs should proceed from the charity which he has through love of Me." (Dialogue, p. 19)
St. Augustine of Hippo
St. Augustine, Doctor of the Church, tells us the truth of God's commandment, which is pure love:
"But let all of us, whom I acknowledge to see and speak the truth in these words, love one another and also love thee, our God, O Fountain of Truth-as we will if we thirst not after vanity but for the Fountain of Truth." (Augustine, Confessions, p. 190) Here the saint is emphasizing the eternal over the temporal.
Blessed are the meek
St. Francis de Sales was a sixteenth-century French priest (o. 1593), Bishop and Doctor of the Church. He was a tireless ambassador of love for Jesus and His Holy Church. "Blessed are the meek: for they shall possess the land," is a verse from The Beatitudes which fits...
