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As God created man to his own image and likeness, so
did he appoint for man a love after the image and
resemblance of the love which is due to his own
divinity. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy
whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy
whole mind. This is the greatest, and the first
commandment. And the second is like to this: Thou
shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.(1)
Why do we love God, Theotimus? "The cause for
which we love God," says S. Bernard, "is God
Himself;" as though he had said: we love God because
he is the most sovereign and infinite goodness. And
why do we love our selves in charity? Surely because
we are the image and likeness of God; and whereas all
men are endowed with the same dignity, we love them
also as ourselves, that is, as being holy and living
images of the divinity.
For it is on that account that we belong to God by
so strict an alliance and so sweet a dependence of
love, that he makes no difficulty to call himself our
father, and to call us his children; it is on that
account that we are capable of being united to his
divine essence by the fruition of his sovereign
goodness and felicity; it is on that account that we
receive his grace, that our spirits are associated to
his most Holy Spirit, and made in a manner
participant of his divine nature, as S. Leo says.
And therefore the same charity which produces the
acts of the love of God, produces at the same time
those of the love of our neighbour. And even as Jacob
saw that one same ladder touched heaven and earth,
serving the angels both for descending and ascending,
so we know that one same charity extends itself to
both the love of God and our neighbour, raising us to
the union of our spirit with God, and bringing us
back again to a loving society with our neighbours;
always, however, on the understanding that we love
our neighbour as being after the image and likeness
of God, created to have communication with the divine
goodness, to participate in his grace, and to enjoy
his glory.
Theotimus, to love our neighbour in charity is to
love God in man, or man in God; it is to hold God
alone dear for his own sake and the creature for the
love of him.
The young Tobias, accompanied by the angel
Raphael, having met with Raguel his relative, by
whom, however, he was unknown, - Raguel had no sooner
set eyes upon him, says the Scripture, but turning
himself towards his wife: Anna, look, look, said he,
how like is this young man to my cousin? And when he
had spoken these words, he said: whence are ye, young
men our brethren? But they said, we are of the tribe
of Nephthali, of the captivity of Ninive. And Raguel
said to them: Do you know Tobias my brother? And they
said, we know him. And when he was speaking many good
things of him, the angel said to Raguel: Tobias
concerning whom thou inquirest is this young man's
father. And Raguel went to him, and kissed him with
tears, and weeping upon his neck, said: a blessing be
upon thee, my son, because thou art the son of a
virtuous man. And Anna his wife and Sara their
daughter wept,(2) through tenderness of affection.
Do you not observe that Raguel, without knowing
the younger Tobias, embraces, caresses, kisses him,
and weeps for joy over him. Whence proceeds this love
but from that which he had for the old Tobias, the
father, whom this child did so much resemble? A
blessing be upon thee, said he; but why? certainly
not because thou art a good youth, for that as yet I
know not, but because thou art son, and like, to thy
father, a good and most virtuous man.
Ah! then, Theotimus, when we see a neighbour who
is created to the image and likeness of God, ought we
not to say one to another: Observe and see this
creature, how he resembles the Creator? Might we not
cast ourselves upon his neck, to caress him and weep
over him with love? Should we not bless him a
thousand and a thousand times? And why? For the love
of him?
No verily: for we know not whether he be worthy of
love or hatred in himself; but wherefore then? O
Theotimus! for the love of God, who has made him to
his own image and likeness, and consequently capable
of participating in his goodness, in grace and in
glory. For the love of God, I say, from whom he is,
whose he is, by whom he is, in whom he is, for whom
he is, and whom he resembles in a most particular
manner.
Wherefore the love of God not only oftentimes
commands the love of our neighbour, but itself
produces this love and pours it into man's heart, as
its resemblance and image: for even as man is the
image of God, so the sacred love of man towards man,
is the true image of the heavenly love of man towards
God. But this subject of the love of our neighbour
requires a treatise apart, which I beseech the
sovereign lover of men to will to Inspire into some
one of his most excellent servants, since the supreme
love of the divine goodness of the heavenly Father,
consists in the perfection of the love of our
brothers and companions.
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