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The glorious S. Paul speaks thus: Now the fruit of
the Spirit is charity, joy, peace, patience,
benignity, goodness, longanimity, mildness, faith,
modesty, continency, chastity.(1)But mark,
Theotimus, how this holy Apostle, counting these
twelve fruits of the Holy Ghost, reckons them as only
one fruit; for he does not say the fruits of the
spirit are charity, joy, but the fruit of the spirit
is charity, joy.
Now the mystery of this manner of speech is this.
The charity of God is poured forth in our hearts, by
the Holy Ghost who is given to us.(2) Charity is
truly the only fruit of the Holy Ghost, but because
this one fruit has an infinity of excellent
properties, the Apostle, who wishes to mention some
of them by way of example, speaks of this one fruit
as of many, because of the multitude of properties
which it contains in its unity, and conversely speaks
of all these fruits as of one only, by reason of the
unity in which is comprised this variety.
So he who should say that the fruit of the vine is
grapes, must, wine, brandy, the drink that rejoices
the heart of man, the beverage that comforts the
stomach: - would not mean that they were fruits of
different species, but only that, although it was
only one fruit, yet it had many different properties,
according as it was differently used.
The Apostle, then, simply means to say that the fruit
of the Holy Ghost is charity; which is joyous,
peaceable, patient, benign, good, long-suffering,
mild, faithful, modest, continent, chaste; that is to
say, that divine love gives us an inward joy and
consolation together with great peace of heart, which
in adversity is preserved by patience, and which
makes us benign and gracious in succouring our
neighbour by a cordial goodness towards him; a
goodness which is not variable, but constant and
persevering, and which gives us a noble,
long-suffering heart, by means of which we become
mild, affable and condescending to all, we support
their humours and imperfections, we keep perfectly
faithful towards them, testifying a simplicity
accompanied with confidence as well in our words as
in our actions, we live modestly and humbly, cutting
off all superfluities and irregularities in meat,
drink, apparel, bed, games, pastimes and other such
desires and pleasures, by a holy continency,
repressing, especially, the inclinations and
rebellions of the flesh by a vigilant chastity; so
that our whole man may come to be engaged in holy
loving, as well interiorly by joy, peace, patience,
longanimity, goodness and fidelity, as exteriorly by
benignity, mildness, modesty, continency and
chastity.
Now charity is called a fruit inasmuch as it
delights us, and inasmuch as we enjoy its delicious
sweetness, the sweetness of a true apple of paradise,
gathered from the tree of life, which is the Holy
Spirit, grafted on our human spirits and dwelling in
us by his infinite mercy.
But when we not only rejoice in this heavenly love
and enjoy its delicious sweetness, but also place all
our glory therein as in the crown of our honour, then
it is not only a fruit, delightful to our palate, but
it is also a most desirable beatitude and felicity,
not only because it assures to us the felicity of the
next life, but also because even in this life it
enriches us with a contentment of inestimable value,
a contentment which is so strong that all the waters
of tribulation and the floods of persecution cannot
extinguish it. Y
ea, it is not only not extinguished, but it waxes
rich amidst poverty, it is glorified by abjections
and humiliations, it rejoices in tears, it gains
strength by being forsaken of justice and deprived of
the help thereof when it implores and no one will
grant; compassion and commiseration recreate it, when
it is surrounded by the miserable and suffering; it
delights in renouncing all sorts of sensual and
earthly delights to obtain purity and cleanness of
heart; it places its valour in stilling wars,
jarrings and dissensions, and in spurning temporal
grandeurs and reputations; it grows strong by
enduring all sorts of sufferings, and holds that its
true life consists in dying for the well-beloved.
So that in a word, Theotimus, most holy charity is a
virtue, a gift, a fruit and a beatitude.
As being a virtue, it makes us obedient to
the exterior inspirations which God gives us by his
commandments and counsels, in the execution of which
we practise all virtues; whence love is the virtue of
all virtues.
As being a gift, charity makes us docile
and tractable to interior inspirations, which are, as
it were, God's secret commandments and counsels, in
the execution of which the seven gifts of the Holy
Ghost are employed, so that charity is the gift of
gifts.
As being a fruit, it gives us an extreme
relish and pleasure in the practice of the devout
life, which is felt in the twelve fruits of the Holy
Ghost, and therefore it is the fruit of fruits.
As being a beatitude, it makes us repute
the affronts, calumnies, revilings and insults which
the world heaps upon us as the greatest of favours
and a singular honour; and withal makes us forsake,
renounce and reject all other glory save that which
comes from the well-beloved Crucified, for which
glory we glory in the abjection, abnegation and
annihilation of ourselves, desiring no other marks of
majesty than the thorn-crown of the Crucified, the
sceptre of His reed, the robe of scorn which was put
upon Him, and the throne of His cross, upon which
sacred lovers have more content, joy, glory and
felicity than ever Solomon had on his throne of
ivory.
Thus love is oftentimes represented by the
pomegranate, which, as it takes its properties from
the pomegranate-tree, may be said to be the virtue of
this tree; so again it seems to be its gift, which it
offers to man by love; and it is its fruit, since it
is eaten to please man's taste; and finally it is, so
to speak, its glory and beatitude, since it bears the
crown and diadem.
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