Page:MyPrayerBookHappinessInGoodness.djvu/56

 "God is  charity.  By  this  hath  the  charity  of  God appeared  toward  us,  because  God  hath  sent  His  only begotten  Son  into  the  world,  that  we  may  live  by Him.  ...

"My dearest,  if  God  hath  so  loved  us,  we  also  ought to  love  one  another.  .  .  .  Let  us  love  God  because God  first  hath  loved  us.  And  this  commandment  we have  from  God,  that  he,  who  loveth  God,  love  also  his brother  "  (i  John  iv).

"And this  is  charity,  that  we  walk  according  to  His commandments"  (2  John  vi).

"Before all  things  have  a  constant  mutual  charity among  yourselves:  for  charity  covereth  a  multitude  of sins"  (1  Peter  iv.  8).

"Love is  the  fulfilling  of  the  law"  (Rom.  xiii.  10).

"All the  law  and  the  prophets  depend  upon  the  law of  love"  (Matt.  xxii.  40).

A rightly  ordered  love  moves  us  to  the  observance  of every  law. A loving  soul  is  most  obedient  to  the  law. Love is  the  spring  of  its  actions. Its love  impels  it  to obey. St. Augustine  understood  this  so  well,  that  he hesitated  not  to  say:  "Dilige  et  fac  quod  vis":  "Love, and  do  what  you  will." — St. Augustine, Tract. vii, in Epis.

"The end  of  the  commandment  is  charity  from  a pure  heart,  and  a  good  conscience,  and  an  unfeigned faith"  (1  Tim.  i.  5).

And this  is  the  "game  of  love". "By how  much  the more  a  man  dies  to  himself,  by  so  much  more  he  lives to  God." — St. Catherine Sien.,  Dialogue  on  Perfection.

All good  things,  all  great  things,  in  the  world,  have been accomplished  through  self-denial  and  self-control.

St. Teresa  says:  "Love  spurs  us  on  to  do  great