Page:Spiritual Reflections for Every Day in the Year - Vol 3.pdf/307



T is impossible to read the chapter from which we have selected our motto, without seeing how all-essential is the doctrine of love or charity in the salvation of the soul. The Lord is the essential Divine Love, and the Evangelist John is the representative of love; but all the virtues and graces which dignify and adorn the Christian are referred to in this chapter.

The source of happiness, the conjunction between God and man, the essence of the Christian life, the necessity for practical holiness, the happiness the good enjoy, their sources of consolation, the love which the disciples of the Lord should ever evince towards each other, and towards all mankind, together with the most pure and perfect of all love and friendship, as evinced in the conduct of our great Lord and Saviour, are treated of throughout this divine portion of the Holy Word.

John is described in the gospels as the disciple whom Jesus loved. He it was who leaned on his Master's breast at supper. By an attentive perusal of the gospels it may be seen that his representative character is love. John indeed appeared receptive of a larger measure of love than either of the other apostles. He was all affection, charity, and tenderness; therefore was he the person most suitable to illustrate the subject of the Lord's divine love. In our study of the gospels,