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But there are some virtues which by reason of their
natural alliance and correspondence with charity are
also much more capable of receiving the precious
influence of sacred love, and consequently the
communication of the dignity and worth of it.
Such are faith and hope, which, together with
charity, have an immediate reference to God; and
religion, and penitence, and devotion, which are
employed to the honour of his Divine Majesty. For
these virtues, of their own nature, have so close a
relation to God, and are so susceptible of the
impressions of heavenly love, that to make them
participate in its sanctity they need only to be with
it, that is, in a heart which loves God.
So, to make grapes taste of olives it is but
necessary to plant the vine amongst the olives; for
by their neighbourhood alone, without touching one
another at all, these plants will mutually
interchange their savours and properties, so great an
inclination and so strict an affinity is there of one
to the other.
Truly all flowers, except those of the tree called
Sad (triste), and a few others that are monsters in
Nature, all, I say, rejoice, expand and put on beauty
at the sight of the sun, and the vital heat which
they receive from his rays; but all yellow flowers,
and especially that which the Greeks term
Heliotropium, and we sunflower, not only receive
gladness and pleasure from his presence, but by an
affectionate turning movement follow the attractions
of his rays, keeping him in sight, and turning
themselves towards him, from his rising to his
setting.
So all virtues receive a new lustre and an
excellent dignity from the presence of holy love, but
faith, hope, the fear of God, piety, penance, and all
the other virtues which of their own nature
particularly tend to God and to his honour, not only
receive the impression of divine love whereby they
are raised to a great value, but they wholly incline
towards it, associating themselves with it, following
and serving it on all occasions.
For in fine, my dear Theotimus, the holy Word
attributes a certain saving, sanctifying and
glorifying property and force to faith, to hope, to
piety, to the fear of God, to penance: which clearly
shows that those virtues are of great price, and that
being practised by a heart which is in charity they
become more excellent, fruitful and holy than the
others, which of their own nature have not so great
an affinity with sacred love.
And he who cries out: If I should have all faith,
so that I could remove mountains, and have not
charity, it profiteth me nothing,(1) clearly shows
that with charity this faith would greatly profit
him. Charity then is a virtue beyond comparison,
which not only adorns the heart in which it is, but
by its mere presence also blesses and sanctifies all
the virtues which it meets there, perfuming and
scenting them with its celestial odour, by means of
which they are made of great value in the sight of
God; which, however, it does far more excellently in
faith, in hope and in other virtues, which of
themselves naturally tend to piety.
Wherefore, Theotimus, of all virtuous actions we
ought most carefully to practise those of religion
and reverence towards divine things, those of faith,
of hope and of the most holy fear of God, taking
occasion often to speak of heavenly things, thinking
of and sighing after eternity, frequenting churches
and sacred services, reading spiritual books,
observing the ceremonies of the Christian religion:
for sacred love is fed according to its heart's
desire in these exercises, and in greater abundance
spreads its graces and properties over them than it
does over the actions of those virtues which are
purely human; as the lovely rainbow makes all the
plants upon which it lights odoriferous, but the
aspalathus incomparably more so than all the rest.
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