“Now he truly knows God who proves that he has his love by keeping his commandments. For knowing God means loving him. Someone who does not love him show clearly that he does not know how loveable he is; he has not learnt to taste and see how sweet and delightful the Lord is, who is not at pains by unceasing effort to be pleasing in his sight.
Again the apostle says: He who keeps my commandments abides in God, and God in him. (1 John 3:24) Let God then be your home, and do you be in God’s home. Abide in God, and let God abide in you; may God abide in you so that he mau contain you, and may you abide in God so that you may not fall. Keep his commandments, hold fast to charity. Do not separate yourself from faith in him, so that you may glory in his person, and you will abide securely in him, according to the saying: “They shall exult for ever, and you will dwell among them” (Psalm 5:12)
God is love; and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. (1 John 4:16).”
Smaragdus of Saint-Mihiel
Commentary on the Rule of St. Benedict, 164
Trans. Rev. David Barry, OSB
