“To Christ belongs everything we can do; we live because he quickens us, we move and have our being because he enlivens us, we love because he first loved us. It was out of love he created and quickened us, nourished and guarded us; he led us to the bath of rebirth, renewed us, governed us and brought us to the age of understanding. All this God did for us mercifully and through love. Therefore, O monk, open the eyes of your heart, and know that you are so much loved by Jesus Christ that you may have no doubt his blood was shed for you. Hang your heart on his love; love the Lord your God, not just a little but with your whole heart and not only part of it, with your whole soul and with your whole mind, so that you do not put the love of anything before the love of your Lord. … Blessed, therefore, is the virtue of the love of Christ, which is called simply love and charity. For it cherishes everyone, and in the secret place of the mind it stores up the love of all as though they were one neighbor. Truly blessed is that which nourishes virtues and wipes out sins, quells anger, shuts off hatred, expels avarice, checks quarreling, and routs all vices at the same time. It endures all things, believes all things, hopes all things; amidst reproaches it is secure, amidst angry outbursts it remains calm, amidst hatred it is kind and always remains firm in the truth; it is not conquered by the assaults of evil, ravaged by plunderers, stolen by robbers or burnt by fire; it remains unconquerable, cannot be unsettled, perseveres unshaken, rejoices unspoilt. It is the bond of all the virtues, the glue of souls, the harmony of minds, the fellowship of the elect and the exultation of the holy angels. The mind it powerfully strengthens to prevent it from being broken by adversities; the heart it carefully tempers to prevent it from being lifted up by prosperity.’”
Smaragdus of Saint-Mihiel
Commentary of the Rule of St. Benedict
Trans. By David Barry, OSB
