From
the Moral Reflections on Job
The
law of the Lord is manifold
How
must we interpret this law of God? How,
if not by love? The love that stamps the
precepts of right-living on the mind and bids us put them into practice. Listen to Truth speaking of this law:
This is my commandment, that you love one another. Listen to
Paul: The whole law, he declares, is
summed up in love; and again: Help one another in your troubles, and you
will fulfill the law of Christ. The
law of Christ—does anything other than love more fittingly describe it? Truly we are keeping this law when, out of
love, we go to the help of a brother in trouble.
But
we are told that this law is manifold.
Why? Because love’s lively
concern for others is reflected in all the virtues. It begins with two commands, but it soon
embraces many more. Paul gives a good
summary of its various aspects. Love is patient, he says, and kind; it is
never jealous or conceited; its conduct is blameless; it is not ambitious, not
selfish, not quick to take offense; it harbors no evil thoughts, does not gloat
over other people’s sins, but is gladdened by an upright life.
The
man ruled by this love shows his patience by bearing wrongs with equanimity;
his kindness by generously repaying good for evil. Jealously is foreign to him. It is impossible to envy worldly
desires. He is not conceited. The prizes he covets lie within; outward
blessings do not elate him. His conduct
is blameless, for he cannot do wrong in devoting himself entirely to love of
God and his neighbor. He is not
ambitious. The welfare of his own soul
is what he cares about. Apart from that
he seeks nothing. He is not selfish.
Unable to keep anything he has in this world, he is as indifferent to it
as if it were another’s. Indeed, in his
eyes nothing is his own but what will be so always. He is not quick to take offense. Even under provocation, thought of revenge
never crosses his mind. The reward he
seeks hereafter will be greater in proportion to his endurance. He harbors no evil thoughts. Hatred is utterly rooted out of a heart whose
only love is goodness. Thoughts that defile
a man can find no entry. He does not
gloat over other people’s sins. No; an
enemy’s fall affords him no delight, for loving all men, he longs for their
salvation.
On
the other hand, he is gladdened by an
upright life. Since he loves others
as himself, he takes as much pleasure in whatever good he sees in them as if
the progress were his own. That is why
this law of God is manifold.
Taken from the Liturgy of the Hours,
According to the Roman Rite, Ordinary Time, Catholic Book Publishing Corp. New York, 1975
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