§ 1. Interior Affection.

CHRIST our Lord saith in the Gospel, “This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you” (St. John xv. 12). And again, “By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another” (Ibid. xiii. 35). Do thou, therefore, with sincere charity, love all men, even thy enemies and adversaries, as brothers and sisters, having the same heavenly Father, the same Creator and Redeemer as thyself.

Consider within thyself what excellent creatures they are, as being stamped with the most noble image of God in their souls, and capable of eternal blessedness; and let this consideration lead thee to treat them with love and honour. For God made in Elis own image and likeness only the angelic spirits and men, giving them reason and intelligence; and on account of this admirable dignity, they far excel all other creatures.

When thou seest a man who is deformed or diseased, thou shouldst not love him the less because of his deformity, nor dwell upon the thought of his corruptible and mortal flesh, but pass on to the consideration of the fairness of his immortal soul. For so great is the loveliness and beauty of a rational soul which is undefiled by the stains of sin, that if thou couldst clearly discern it, thou wouldst almost lose thyself for joy and admiration.

True beauty is spiritual, and is beheld by the eye of the mind. A man of ordinary appearance who is righteous, is greatly to be preferred to one who is outwardly beautiful, but in his life and conversation wicked; for the former is in reality the most beautiful. And the body of the just man which is now without beauty, or even repulsive in our eyes, will one day rise again most fair and glorious. Do thou, therefore, love every man with true charity, according to the precept of God.