Opusculum II Sive Liber De Quatuor Virtutibus Charitatis

Second Opusculum, or Book on the Four Virtues of Charity. The desire of your charity demands from us the due office of discourse; but so many things terrify and recall our mind that, if we wish to obey your desire, it is not without danger to us. For about to speak on charity, I shall not pass over in silence what goods proceed from it and what accompanies it; but, constrained by the narrowness of time, whither shall I first betake myself except to the very footsteps of holy charity herself, and beseech her that she grant me something worthy to say about herself, whereby I may both fulfill my ministry and satisfy your desire? Among her other virtues, moreover, which the apostle Paul mentions, he says that charity does not envy, does not act perversely, is not provoked, does not think evil; and finally he comprehends these four of her virtues in a brief saying: She endures all things, believes all things, hopes all things, sustains all things. Concerning these four virtues of holy charity, therefore, it befits your holiness to speak, and it delights me first to consider how, just as the four hinges of the world, she has possessed the whole earth. Let us therefore seek, if you please, some examples of the saints, namely those who have been possessed by these virtues, and let us assign each virtue to each of them in such a way that we may know all to be in all, since everyone who piously endures, rightly believes something, and who hopes, sustains, lest he fall without hope.

But let us now see who these are, whose faith we may be able to attain insofar as we are aided from above. The virtue of holy charity, which endures all things, shone forth in Saint Noah; which believes all things, in Saint Abraham; which hopes all things, in our fathers, that is, in the people of Israel, from whom the Lord Himself arose; which sustains all things, in the head Himself, our Lord Jesus Christ, who is true charity that never falls. Nor should your charity consider the other saints as strangers to these virtues, whom, for the brevity of time and for the sake of the discourse undertaken, you should know to have been passed over in such a way that you may yet most certainly know that all are in Christ and Christ in all. But let us now see how Saint Noah possessed the virtue of charity which endures all things. As soon as he was warned, he fled to the wood and, after the pleasant face of the fields, shut himself up in the narrow ark: he endures the roaring of the sky, the crashing of loosened waters and rains, and after all these things, he who was accustomed to rejoice in the company of men becomes in some way a companion of serpents and wild beasts, nor does this man fear that beasts are with him in the ark; rather, there ferocity recognizes its order, because humanity recognized itself, and the beasts obey the commanding man, because they recognize that man obeys a superior Lord. It was shown in Noah what Adam lost by despising the Lord's command, and it was demonstrated that men can even rule over beasts if they submit themselves to the obedience of the Creator.

This holy man waits and endures until the end of the flood, nor does he leave the ark before the cause of the beasts is finished. The good man tolerates the wicked, and until the end, when they are also separated in body, he remains within, separated in heart, not in body. If you are a soul who desires to possess the virtue of charity which endures all things, leave the world, flee to the wood of the cross; do not fear the storms and whirlwinds of this flood; you will not sink if you are carried by the wood. He who deigned to create knows how to steer: only let the virtue of charity which endures all things be present, let no thing tear you away from the solid citadel; remain good and tolerate the wicked; for it is better that you, placed within, tolerate the wicked for the sake of the good, than that you, going outside, should both perish and abandon the good and the wicked. If, therefore, beasts are with you—that is, if in the Church there are those who teach perversely, who hold false opinions, heretics or schismatics, or even evil Catholics themselves, who like beasts seek to devour souls—let them be tolerated until the end of the age as the end of the flood. Let them roar, let them gnash their teeth, and let them try to break the ark itself. Do not be afraid; when the flood is over, the empty and thorny forest will snatch them away, and the fertile land will receive you. After the end of the age, the impious will be snatched away to the outer darkness; there will be WEEPING AND GNASHING OF TEETH there; the land of the living will receive the pious. For Saint Noah himself, after the end of the flood, offered a sacrifice to God, but from clean animals, not from unclean ones.

For both clean and unclean animals were able to enter the ark together; but the evil did not come through to the sacrifice of God. But let us now at length pass on from this point so that we may be able to examine the rest. Let that holy man Abraham come forward, and teach us by his example to possess the virtue of charity which believes all things; he who did not hesitate at a single call to leave behind his homeland, his seat, his house, his family. All things are left behind in order to obey the Lord who commands. "Go forth," says God, "from your kindred and from your house and come into the land which I will show you." Nor did this holy man think within himself and say, "Where am I to go? To whom shall I entrust myself? Into what land shall I go?" But as soon as he hears, he rises, runs, hastens, speeds; he does not see the promised land, but by believing he holds it firmly. He walks a straight path, nor did he turn aside with wandering steps to any other place than he ought, because the one who sent him to an unknown land—he, I say, who sent him, did not abandon him, nor did he himself deceive him. The reward is rendered to the believer: he reaches the land, he is enlarged, he is multiplied, from poor he becomes rich, from lowly he becomes powerful, he is enriched with all goods, and in him is fulfilled what the Lord promised to his disciples in the Gospel, saying: "If anyone has left a house or a field or parents for the sake of my name, in this life he will receive a hundredfold and in the future age he will obtain eternal life." The reward of this faith is further heaped up, and a son is promised to the old man.

The virtue of charity is present in him, which believes all things; he hears, rejoices, loves more deeply, receives a son from a barren wife, whom sterility and age had already left destitute of hope of bearing, and in that son he most firmly holds the blessing of all nations promised; but charity still tests him, and having tested him commends him, and later shows how he prefers nothing to God. The Lord calls him from heaven, saying: Abraham, Abraham, and he, like an obedient servant, says, Behold, here I am, and the Lord says, Take, he says, that son of yours whom you love, Isaac, and go to the high land, and offer him as a holocaust on one of the mountains which I will tell you. Not even by this command is the faithful servant disturbed or broken. For the virtue of charity is present in him, which believes all things. He rises, goes home, saddles the donkey, cuts wood, takes sword and fire, brings the boy along, and proceeds to the place. Now Isaac, intent, questions his father, saying, Father, he says, and he replies, What is it, son? And the son: Behold, he says, fire and wood, where is the sheep which you are about to sacrifice as a holocaust? And the father replied: God will provide a sheep for himself for the sacrifice, son. This I see as a great and profound mystery: Abraham was carrying one thing in his heart and promising another to his son, but neither did what he promised deceive his son, nor did any weakness change his heart from his purpose. What more?

He continues on his way, sees the place from afar, and, stationing his boys there, he speaks these words to them, saying: "Sit here with the donkey; I and the boy will go as far as that place, and when we have worshipped, we will return to you." Holy Abraham, what is this you say, when another thing is to be done with the boy? Do you deceive either yourself or your own? "No," he says, "but what I prophetically either say or do, the virtue of charity is in me, remaining, which believes all things and does and says them. For I hear it without the noise of a voice, speaking within to my heart and saying to me: 'You indeed, although believing that he will rise again, with a full and perfect vow lead the boy to be sacrificed, your son will not be burned in this sacrifice, because the resurrection is reserved for the Son of God.'" The apostle James, recalling the faith of this man, says rightly: "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness, and he was called the friend of God." Friends, as we know, are made by a union of souls. Whence a certain wise man of this world says: "To will and to will the same thing—that, finally, is firm friendship." Therefore, friends, as we know, are made by a union of souls. But how this holy man united his soul with God, so that he was called His friend, it helps us to know. For just as God the Father did not spare His only Son, so, when God commanded that the son whom He had given him be sacrificed to Him, he offered him with a devoted heart. But let us see what follows; for it delights us, with the Lord's help, to render to you a full understanding of this history.

After leaving the boys at the place of sacrifice, the father came with his son, set up an altar, arranged the wood, laid aside the signs of human paternal affection, put on the devoted constancy of a priest, and drew his sword to slay his son. What do you think, brothers? Here we perceive nothing human; rather, we recognize everything as divine. But that son, who shortly before was asking for a sheep, under immense silence felt such things being done to him, and is found so patient, as if he were already the one who, like a sheep, was led to sacrifice; and like a lamb before its shearer without a sound, so he did not open his mouth. O you too, holy Isaac, reveal to us the great secret of this silence. A little while ago you felt nothing being done to you, and you were asking your father for a ram; but now you are bound by the hands, placed on the altar, suspended in a way on the wood, and you are silent? "I am silent," he says. "Tell why, I beg, so that we may know." "Do you wish to know," he says, "why I am now silent? Because I bear the figure of him who lays down his soul willingly, not by necessity." In this so great and mystical sacrament of faith, both holy Abraham appeared proven, and the son was freed in the present. If there is any soul that desires to follow the footsteps of the faith of our father Abraham, depart from your land and your kindred: leave your people and your father's house, that is, faithfully renounce the devil, his pomps and his angels, and follow the straight path that leads you to the land in which you will grow rich and stand out and become a companion of Abraham.

But when you have done all these things, if the virtue of charity, which believes all things, is in you, it will still test you and, having proved you, will crown you; it demands from you the sacrifice of your beloved. What does it demand from you? What was said to Abraham: Give me your only beloved son. Wisdom says to you: Give me, my son, your heart; that is the only beloved; why do you fear to offer your heart? Offer the sacrifice of a contrite heart to your Lord God, and say with the prophet: You will not delight in burnt offerings. A spirit afflicted, a heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not despise as a sacrifice. Fear nothing when such a sacrifice is offered; it will be acceptable to you, and what you offer will remain whole. It pleases me now to examine another virtue of charity, which surpasses all, which we know was assigned above to the people of Israel and to our fathers. For the voice of that virtue is in that prophetic verse: In you our fathers hoped; they hoped, and you freed them. And they themselves are ordered to flee from Egypt; a land flowing with milk and honey is promised to them; they cross the Red Sea; they come to the desert; the hope of charity led them so that they might learn to love God freely. The reward of faith is given to them; for he who deigns to make himself a debtor cannot fail to repay. After the desert, honey flowed from the rock; they ate the bread of heaven; they were not deprived of their desire, which they had hoped for; they even received the promised land.

Let the soul that is seized by the power of this charity arise; let it flee from Egypt, that is, from the desire of this world, and proceed to the Red Sea, namely, the baptism of Christ—red because it is purified by the blood of Christ. Let the enemies, that is, sins with their author the devil, pursue, raging like the Egyptians with their king Pharaoh; they follow the fleeing ones—what do you fear? They will rage as far as the water; you will enter, and they will enter after you, but the water, turned back, will be their destruction and will profit you for salvation. It will overwhelm them, wash you; it will condemn them, set you free. After this you will receive honey from the rock, with which you will satisfy your hunger and thirst; for the rock was Christ, from whose precepts, as from fountains of sweetness, you will be sated. You will also taste bread, namely that bread which says: I am the living bread that came down from heaven. You will taste and see that the Lord is sweet, and if the virtue of charity, which hopes all things, stands out in you, you must pass through the desert—that is, you must use this world as if not using it, and know yourself to be a pilgrim in this life, if you wish to enter the promised land. This land is that of which the prophet sings and says: I believe I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living. The last virtue of charity remains, which endures all things and never falls.

We know that this applies to our head himself, the Lord Jesus Christ, and therefore it is placed last, because the end of the law is Christ. But how much he himself endured for us, I think your charity cannot be ignorant. Nevertheless, I will say something about it, if indeed I can say anything worthy of so great a subject. First, that God became man, that the Word was made flesh, that he did many good things and suffered many evils; that he raised the dead and died; that with that singular patience he endured the diabolical tempter, the disciple who was a traitor, that he himself endured the thief Judas before he was a traitor, and before the experience of bonds, the cross, and death, he did not deny the kiss of peace to his deceitful lips. But in death itself, how much did he endure? He endured the flames of hatred, the tongues, the servants of the most evil heart. The Jews cried out, "Crucify, crucify," and so that the Jews might remain guilty, the innocent Son of God was crucified by them; he is led to the cross, he who is the palm of victory is slapped, he who came to break the thorns of our sins is crowned with thorns; he who frees the fettered is bound; he who raises the fallen is hung on wood; the fountain of life is given vinegar to drink, health is struck by the lash, salvation is wounded, life dies, life is killed for a time by death, so that death might be killed by life forever. What did the Jews do in this death of Christ? They exulted as if victors, and while they feared losing an earthly and transitory kingdom, they did not hesitate to kill the king of heaven and earth.

But they did not, as they thought, emerge as victors. For if they had conquered, how did they lose their kingdom? How have they remained slaves to this day? For this is the reason why Christ was killed by them. For the princes of the Jews said among themselves, as the evangelist relates: "You see," they say, "that the whole world has gone after him; if we let him live, the Romans will come and take from us both our place and our kingdom." And they killed Christ, and they lost both their place and their kingdom. What good did it do you, O mad Jews, that you committed such a crime? Did you not, because you refused to serve Christ the Lord as was fitting, become evil servants of the good servants of Christ? Through them He crushes your stubbornness, through them He scatters your plans, through them He visits your crimes upon your own heads. But the Lord Himself, whom you killed, wanted you not to be servants, but free, when He said: "If the Son frees you, then you will be truly free." But you not only rejected God and the Lord King, and true freedom itself, but, wishing to deny it, you shouted: "We have no king but Caesar." But do not even boast in this, that you killed Christ; rather, it was done to you, and you do not know it. Hear the Lord Himself speaking through the prophet: "I slept and I began to sleep," calling the death inflicted by you a sleep. Moreover, what kind of death could be three days long, especially for Him who says through the same prophet in another place: "Does not one who sleep rise again?

I," he says, "I slept, I who have the power to lay down my life; I slept, not because you raged, not because you were mad; I accomplished what I willed, you remained in your crime." Who demands so much from our God, brothers, for our redemption and salvation, except charity which never falls? Charity which has great strength, and brought God down from heaven; O dear health, O holy and true charity, which is so great on earth as you will be in heaven! Which can do so much in this (??) struggle of mortality, still anxious, as you will be able in that perfect, secure peace? Therefore, let every Christian soul awake, and if the virtue of charity which endures all things stands out in you, imitate the footsteps of your Lord. For Christ, says the apostle Peter, suffered for you, leaving you an example that you may follow in his footsteps: and if he descended from the heavenly seat to earthly things for your sake, you, for your own sake, flee earthly things, seek heavenly things. If the world is sweet, Christ is sweeter; if the world is bitter, Christ endured everything for you. The Savior himself has become a way for you; arise, walk, you have a path; do not be sluggish; but perhaps you ask, where to? You see the way and you ask where this very way leads? To truth and to life. If you love truth, if you love life, and you desire to come to truth and to life, do not stray from the way. "I see," you say, "the way and I desire to walk; but it is bitter: for the way that leads to life is narrow and constricted; Christ passed through it, and is it still rough?

The old have passed, the young have passed, the maidens have passed, who made for you the path which you fear and dread, well-trodden. Walk therefore the path in safety: walk, for what do you fear on this path? Death? And do you fear death, you who are running toward life? You are good; you run well in this life. Death is a door for you, which presents you, not which takes away life. Walk therefore the path; nay, He who for your sake became the path, He Himself leads you through Himself; for He is the way, the truth, and the life. Say therefore, O faithful and pious soul, say in safety, say and cry out truthfully with the prophet: "Lead me, Lord, in your way, and I will walk in your truth: then I will arrive safely to you, if I do not abandon your grace until the end." These things, most beloved brothers, which have been spoken to your holiness by the Lord of charity itself, let them so cleave to your minds and hearts, that this same charity may find in you the fruit of work, not the leaves of praise.