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The sacred Council of Trent assures us, that the
friends of God, proceeding from virtue to virtue, are
day by day renewed, that is, they increase by good
works in the justice which they have received by
God's grace, and are more and more justified,
according to those heavenly admonitions; He that is
just let him be justified still: and he that is holy,
let him be sanctifced still.(1) And: Be not afraid to
be justified even to death.(2) The path of the just,
as a shining light, goeth forwards and inereaseth
even to perfect day.(3) Doing the truth in charity,
let us in all things grow up in him who is the head,
even Christ.(4) And finally: This I pray, that your
charity may more and more abound in knowledge and in
all understanding.(5) All these are sacred words out
of David, S. John, Ecclesiasticus, and S. Paul.
I never heard of any living creature whose growth
was not bounded and limited, except the crocodile,
who from an extremely little beginning never ceases
to grow till it comes to its end, representing
equally in this the good and the wicked: For the
pride of them that hate thee ascendeth
continually,(6) says the great king David; and the
good increase as the break of day, from brightness to
brightness.
And to remain at a standstill is impossible; he
that gains not, loses in this traffic; he that
ascends not, descends upon this ladder; he that
vanquishes not in this battle, is vanquished: we live
amidst the dangers of the wars which our enemies wage
against us, if we resist not we perish; and we cannot
resist unless we overcome, nor overcome without
triumph.
For as the glorious S. Bernard says: "It is
written in particular of man that he never continueth
in the same state;(7) he necessarily either goes
forward or returns backward. All run indeed but one
obtains the prize, so run that you may obtain.(8) Who
is the prize but Jesus Christ? And how can you take
hold on him if you follow him not? But if you follow
him you will march and run continually, for he never
stayed, but continued his course of love and
obedience until death and the death of the cross."
Go then, says S. Bernard; go, I say with him; go, my
dear Theotimus, and admit no other bounds than those
of life, and as long as it remains run after this
Saviour. But run ardently and swiftly: for what
better will you be for following him, if you be not
so happy as to take hold of him! Let us hear the
Prophet: I have inclined my heart to do thy
justifications for ever,(9) he does not say that he
will do them for a time only, but for ever, and
because he desires eternally to do well, he shall
have an eternal reward. Blessed are the undefiled in
the way, who walk in the law of the Lord.(10)
Accursed are they who are defiled, who walk not in
the law of the Lord: it is only for the devil to say
that he will sit in the sides of the north.(11)
Detestable one, wilt thou sit? Ah! knowest thou not
that thou art upon the way, and that the way is not
made to sit down but to go in, and it is so made to
go in, that going is called making way. And God
speaking to one of his greatest friends says: Walk
before me and be perfect.(12)
True virtue has no limits, it goes ever further;
but especially holy charity, which is the virtue of
virtues, and which, having an infinite object, would
be capable of becoming infinite if it could meet with
a heart capable of infinity. Nothing hinders this
love from being infinite except the condition of the
will which receives it, and which is to act by it: a
condition which prevents any one loving God as much
as God is amiable, as it prevents them from seeing
him as much as he is visible. The heart which could
love God with a love equal to the divine goodness
would have a will infinitely good, which cannot be
but in God.
Charity then in us may be perfected up to the
infinite, but exclusively; that is, charity may
become more and more, and ever more, excellent, yet
never infinite. The Holy Ghost may elevate our
hearts, and apply them to what supernatural actions
it may please him, so they be not infinite. Between
little and great things, though the one exceed the
other never so much, there is still some proportions
provided always that the excess of the thing which
exceeds be not an infinite excess: but between finite
and infinite there is no proportion, and to make any,
it would be necessary, either to raise the finite and
make it infinite, or to lower the infinite and make
it finite, which is impossible.
So that even the charity which is in our Redeemer, as
he is man, though greater than Angels or men can
comprehend, yet is not infinite of itself and in its
own being, but only in regard to its value and merit,
as being the charity of a divine Person who is the
eternal Son of the omnipotent Father.
Meanwhile it is an extreme honour to our souls
that they may still grow more and more in the love of
their God, as long as they shall live in this failing
life: Ascending by steps from virtue to virtue.(13)
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