The Two Wings of Sanctity

Gospel of Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time

I – Created to Love

The Holy Curé of Ars, whom the Church has set as a model for priests, once began to weep while returning from the French village of Savigneux. Some time later, in a sermon, he revealed the reason for his tears: “I was returning from Savigneux. The birds were singing in the woods, and I began to cry. Lowly creatures, I thought, God created you to sing, and you sing… Man was made to love God and does not love Him!” ¹

The greater part of St. Jean-Baptiste Marie Vianney’s life unfolded in the nineteenth century, whose historical circumstances might explain his sadness. But if he were with us today, perhaps he would not manage to wipe away one tear without shedding another, for men fail to love God much more in our days than in his. And yet this is the essence of the First Commandment, which sums up all the others, as Our Lord Jesus Christ teaches us on the Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time.

II – The First Commandment

According to the narrative of the synoptic Gospels, disputes between the Divine Master and His enemies reached their apex on the eve of the Passion. St. Mark relates the sequence of attacks instigated by the high priests, the scribes and elders, the Pharisees and Herodians and, finally, the Sadducees (cf. Mk 11:27–12:27). The latter, who did not acknowledge the resurrection of the dead, raised the question of who, post mortem, should be considered the spouse of the woman who had married seven times. Jesus’ reply showed the error into which they had fallen, in denying the resurrection and entertaining a materialistic idea of the future life. Despite the hatred the Pharisees nurtured for Christ, they were quite pleased to see how He had left His interlocutors speechless, for the topic of the resurrection was one of the points of disagreement between the two sects.

A good intention tainted by human vanity?

In this context, one can imagine the attitude of this scribe – also a Pharisee (cf. Mt 22:34-35a) –, who came to Our Lord showing a certain uprightness of spirit and good intention, according to St. Mark’s description. However, the real reason for his question is debatable: unrestrained euphoria at Jesus’ victory? The desire to draw attention to himself and compete with Our Lord out of pure vainglory, flaunting his own knowledge of Scripture? St. Matthew affirms that he questioned the Master “to test Him” (Mt 22:35b), an expression that “need not always be interpreted in a bad sense, since the verb can mean, for example, to test in order to know.” ²

An eternal Law

Jesus Christ replies in a very direct and amiable manner, straightaway proposing the First Commandment just as it was understood by the Jewish people, a conciliatory and incontestable point: God should be loved above all things.

This was a precept given on Mount Sinai to Moses, who transmitted it to the people, as the first reading (Dt 6:2-6) of this Sunday narrates. However, its origin is eternal, for it exists in the bosom of the Blessed Trinity from before the creation of the world. The Father and the Son, in contemplating one another, love one another with a love so abundant and fecund that a Third Person proceeds from Them, equal to both: the Holy Spirit. By divine benevolence, this Law was broadened to encompass not only the little birds that touched the Curé of Ars with their song, but also us men. “We love, because He first loved us” (1 Jn 4:19). Indeed, our charity is nothing more than repayment for the countless favours we have received from His goodness. As Creator, He gave us being, maintains and will maintain us always; as Redeemer, He saved us, taking on flesh and suffering the torments of the Passion; as Father, He wished to instil in us the divine life, “that we should be called children of God” (1 Jn 3:1). God is our beatitude! He is Goodness par excellence, substantial Goodness, Goodness in essence. Thus, it is in total adhesion to Him, by the practice of this Commandment – and not in earthly and fragmentary delights – that we find the fullness of happiness.

A “Lord alone”

If God is the “Lord alone,” we are not permitted to have another beside Him. Nevertheless, whoever becomes attached to a creature – whether it be a pen, a pillow, a person… – sets up another lord that is not the true God, “for whatever overcomes a man, to that he is enslaved” (2 Pt 2:19). This implies a transgression of the First Commandment of the Law of God, to be mentioned in the confessional. In fact, this precept is violated much more easily than one would imagine; it entails merely loving a given object more intensely than one loves God! How many truly know what it is to love God above all things? No human activity may be performed outside of this Law.

“With all your heart, with all your soul”

St. John of the Cross affirms that “God does not place His grace and love in the soul except according to its desire and love.” ³ That is why we must love Him with all our heart – not just a portion of it! – placing Him at the centre of our attention, our fervour, our enthusiasm and our concerns. “The expression ‘with all’ does not allow for any divisions. That portion of your love given over to inferior things is what is missing from the ‘all’,” ⁴ comments St. Basil the Great.

In common language, the heart symbolizes love. Among the human organs it is the most sensible to emotions, and constitutes the font from which charity springs. The Apostle of Rome, St. Philip Neri, was at prayer one day when he perceived that a globe of fire entered him and produced a prominence the size of a fist in his chest, which remained for the rest of his life, and which, his autopsy later revealed, broke two of his ribs. His heart was taken by such an impetuous love for God that the Saint was often obliged to uncover it, so as not to be consumed by the ardour that burned within him, fearing that he would die of joy. Many contemporaries attested to having noted this heat, and even to having heard the strong pulsations of his heart. ⁵ Such a singular mystical gift is an accurate image of the enraptured love that every Christian should bear in his heart. This love should be at once affective, that is, an act of the will which tends to God in a direct and immediate manner, and effective – reflecting itself in the practice of Christian virtues and in obedience to the Commandments as the Divine Master taught: “If a man loves Me, he will keep My word” (Jn 14:23). In the opposite sense, St. John the Evangelist is categorical in declaring: “If any one loves the world, love for the Father is not in him” (1 Jn 2:15). Consequently, to love “with all your heart” means freeing yourself from any egoistic affection and directing your intentions exclusively to God, doing everything by Him and for Him. Such will be our love in Heaven, where we will see God face to face, and be absorbed in His infinite grandeur.

How might we also love Him with all our soul? We know that the soul possesses various faculties – such as intelligence, will, and memory – with which we can turn to God. To practise charity, it is indispensable to maintain our soul in the state of grace, keeping far from whatever might lead us to break with God, that is, exercising vigilance to avoid occasions of sin. Furthermore, we must create a supernatural climate around ourselves that will allow these faculties to develop, being divinized by the virtues and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, so that we may be increasingly united to God.

“With all your mind, and with all your strength”

St. Thomas Aquinas⁶ explains that the understanding is the faculty that gives us the knowledge of the truth. Now, since God is Absolute Truth, the purpose of the understanding is to know God to the highest degree possible in this world, with our sights on eternity, in accordance with Our Lord’s affirmation: “And this is eternal life, that they know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent” (Jn 17:3). From this perspective, faith and understanding harmonize without dichotomy. While the intellect provides the rational support to adhere to the object of faith, it is also perfected by faith, which makes it soar like an eagle. In this way, reason illuminated by the virtue of faith is an instrument to help us grow in charity, and to prepare ourselves to contemplate God in His own light in Heaven, where faith will give way to vision. It would be difficult to find a better model of this than the same Angelic Doctor. Without ever growing proud, he employed his intelligence – perhaps the most brilliant known to the centuries – in the constant search for the Truth in essence, the sole objective of his vast work, meriting these words of praise from one Pope: “His doctrine could not exist without a miracle.” ⁷ And this intellectual genius was no obstacle to the integral preservation of his baptismal innocence; indeed the priest who heard his General Confession on his deathbed declared having found the Saint to be “as pure as a five-year-old child.” ⁸

And with what strength must we love? It is the Divine Redeemer who gives us the answer: “As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you” (Jn 15:9). If He has loved us to the end (cf. Jn 13:1) and this is the measure of His love, our love should reciprocally be without measure, as St. Bernard teaches. ⁹ Authentic and pure love exists when one loves in a measure proportionate to the love received. It is not enough for us to reach a specific degree of love and come to a halt; our goal ought to be as St. Paul indicated when he said: “that your love may abound more and more” (Phil 1:9).

The primacy of the love of God

Despite its importance, this Commandment is often silenced and relegated to oblivion. What is propagated far and wide is the idea that love of neighbour is the most sublime precept, superior to any other… Nevertheless, that of love for God is, without a doubt, the loftiest, and the others flow from it. Thus, it is essential that our life revolve around the love of God, and that we not allow our daily affairs to supplant it. Rather, they should help us to better serve and praise the One who redeemed us, shedding His Blood for us. Therefore, any endeavour that is not directed to this purpose, even in the field of the apostolate, will be vain. St. Anthony Mary Claret¹⁰ compared the love of God with the gunpowder that impels the bullet of a rifle toward its target. Without it, the projectile is useless. Likewise, astute words will bear little or no fruit if they do not proceed from an inflamed heart. “At the twilight of this life,” says St. John of the Cross, “we will be judged by our love.” ¹¹ Indeed, on the day of Judgement the Lord will ask us: “What have you loved? If it was Me, My Kingdom is reserved for you; if the contrary of Me, hell awaits you.” In short, everything comes down to charity. If we practise it with perfection, or at least strive to do so despite our miseries, God will treat us with special benevolence.

III – The Second Commandment

At the end of each day of creation, God saw that His work was good; and, on the seventh, in contemplating creation as a whole, He concluded that it was excellent. This distinction shows how the whole gives Him more joy than one person considered individually. In creating man, He did not intend to make him an anchorite of the desert, except in rare cases. Rather, man was made to live in society, as comes to light in the words of Genesis: “It is not good that the man should be alone” (2:18).

For this reason, in pointing out the greatest of the Commandments, Jesus Christ does not separate love of God from love of neighbour: “These two Commandments are bound together and are interchangeable, one with the other. For he who loves God, loves also His creature; but the chief of His creatures is man, wherefore he who loves God ought to love all men.” ¹² The love of God that does not lead to love of neighbour is never authentic, as St. John affirms: “he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen” (1 Jn 4:20). The Saviour unites these two loves to show how they constitute the highest aspect of divine Law.

For an Israelite, who was a neighbour?

Although the Master was referring to a well-known passage from the Law (cf. Lv 19:18), the fact that He attributed such importance to love of neighbour rang as a novelty. For His listeners, this second part did not sum the other Commandments up as well as the first, for the Chosen People understood human relations within exceedingly narrow criteria. One problem lay in the concept of neighbour, as can be gathered from the question of another doctor of the Law, whom Jesus answers by telling the parable of the Good Samaritan (cf. Lk 10:25-37).

The Jews had an erroneous conception of their neighbour, originating as far back as the time of their arrival in the Promised Land. Before introducing the people into Canaan, God had made a pact with Moses, commanding that they expel all the pagans living there, and prohibiting them from establishing any type of alliance with them (cf. Nm 33:50-56). Nevertheless, it happened that, in perceiving the material benefits they stood to gain from the region’s inhabitants, they broke the oath and associated with idolaters (cf. Jgs 1:27-35). In chastisement, an Angel gathered the Hebrews in a place called Bochim–which means “those who cry” – and announced that they would be enslaved by those very peoples (cf. Jgs 2:1-5).

All of this led the Israelites to form a highly restricted idea of who were their neighbours – exclusively sons of the chosen nation. Foreigners were regarded as creatures destined to hell, unless they assimilated the religion of Israel and submitted themselves to its rituals. Only in this case could they be admitted, with due reserve, as the most distant of neighbours.

An old Commandment, with a new visualization

Jesus universalized the notion of neighbour with a novel feature, which did not abolish existing legislation, so often contravened, but rather completed and perfected it. To those men of barbaric customs, whose treatment of others was based on a torrent of disdain, He pointed to a measure of love far greater than that of the Mosaic Law, as He would later proclaim: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another” (Jn 13:34). This love is only possible with the help of grace, not by human effort. Therefore, it behoves each of us to give, give of ourselves, give ourselves entirely and, if necessary, to give up our very life in imitation of Our Lord Jesus Christ, so that our fellow man might attain all the benefits of the Redemption and be saved. It is a new perspective– not only for Our Lord’s epoch, but also for us who, though born into the regime of grace, were conceived in original sin and have the tendency to set limits on our love according to Old Law criteria.

Among the numerous episodes of Church history highlighting this principle, one from the third century, involving the priest Sapricius, is especially eloquent. On the verge of receiving the crown of martyrdom under the violent persecution lead by Valerian, he repeatedly refused to forgive his disciple Nicephorus, with whom he had had a serious disagreement some time earlier. Finally, with his head on the block awaiting the executioner’s blow, pride gained the upper hand, and Sapricius renounced the Faith to burn incense to the idols, while St. Nicephorus was sacrificed in his place.¹³ At that supreme moment, a pretended love of God was of no use for one who had closed his heart to a brother humbly imploring reconciliation.

Christ’s example: love for the Father and love for us

In light of the Divine Master’s declaration and cases like the one just described, we can understand the verticality and horizontality of the law of love. From this perspective, the Holy Cross is the figure that aptly synthesizes the lesson of this Liturgy. The Cross is composed of a vertical beam, representing the powers of our soul focused on God above all things, and a horizontal one, symbolic of love for our neighbour as ourselves – an extension of the love for God. It also represents the call to sacralize society, in view of the fulfilment of the request reiterated over two thousand years by the Church militant: “Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven” (Mt 6:10).

IV – He Understood that He Ought to Love, but…Did He?

The legist’s exclamation denotes his interest and good will in accepting Christ’s teachings, as well as his astonishment at the response, for he would not have been able to interpret this Mosaic precept with such precision. He repeats what Our Lord had said, and adds that love of God and neighbour “is worth more than all burnt offerings.” As St. Bede affirms, “he openly professed the doctrine proper to the New Testament and to Gospel perfection,” ¹⁴ defending an authentic Christian view, unimaginable for the mentality and customs of the Pharisees. Indeed, they lied, stole, committed all sorts of crimes, and believed that the offering of a victim was sufficient to wipe away these faults, for sacrifice surpassed all the other acts. In this sense, the expert in the Law had taken a big step, but he had to take yet another, even more important one.

Understanding brings us to the gates of the Kingdom of God

Christ’s words are weighed, counted, and measured; they are objective and hold precise meaning. He did not say that the scribe had arrived at the Kingdom of God, but, rather, that he was close to it. The latter had responded “with understanding,” because he was able to expound upon the First Commandment, clearly aware of the entire theory concerning it, but he lacked supernatural spirit. Good doctrine is, in fact, a precious aid – of absolute value when based on the Word of God – and must not be spurned. However, knowing it is not enough… And whenever men base themselves on mere reasoning and do not seek the wisdom that springs from a pure and integral love, heresies arise.

Therefore, understanding was not enough for the scribe; his natural capacities had attained their maximum limit. What did he lack? The virtue of charity, perfected by the gift of wisdom. Indeed, to acquire vast knowledge by the honest application of the intelligence is an excellent thing, and brings us close to the Kingdom of Heaven; but to enter therein is the privilege of those who love and live what they have learned, as ordained in the Commandment the Pharisee cited by heart. When, during a sermon, it was announced to Jesus that His Mother and brothers were outside and wished to see Him, He answered: “My mother and My brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it” (Lk 8:21).

This scribe was invited, then, to abandon Pharisaic concepts and to accept Our Lord Jesus Christ as the personification of the Law and the fulfilment of the prophecies, acknowledging Him as his Creator and Redeemer, the very God Incarnate. The concrete application this man was lacking was to say with faith: “I must love Thee, Lord, with all my intelligence, with all the strength of my will, and with all my sensibility. And if Thou hast taught that I should love my neighbour as myself, my obligation is to love Thee much more than myself and to serve Thee.” Had he done this, he would have spoken not only with understanding, but with his heart; he would have practised the First Commandment and would have been in possession of the Kingdom.

Our Lord silences His adversaries

This dialogue closes the sequence of debates collected by St. Mark, in which Jesus defeats all His adversaries. They realized that the Divine Master could not be beaten, and became convinced that, in order to obtain their goal of silencing Him, they would have to resort to other means. “For since they were confuted in argument, they asked Him no further questions, but took Him without any disguise, and gave Him up to the Roman power,” ¹⁵ concludes St. Bede.

V – To Know or to Love?

St. Thomas¹⁶ demonstrates that the intelligence and the will have contrary operations: while the first draws to itself the object known, the second flies toward the thing loved. In understanding something inferior to ourselves, we bestow upon it a greater value than it has in reality. For example, when we analyse a ladybug and note the relationship existing between it, the order of the universe, and God, and we develop a philosophy about it, attributing qualities to it that, absolutely speaking, it may not even possess, the ladybug is enriched in our mind. In contrast, when we attempt to understand something that is, in itself, superior to us – a holy man, a person full of wisdom –, we end up diminishing him to make him fit into our intellect.

Our will, in turn, follows the opposite trajectory and moves toward the object just as it is. If the object is something less than us, our will is thereby diminished; but before a higher object, it expands. Above all, if we love Our Lady and God, our will takes on extraordinary proportions. This is the secret behind the strength of great men, capable of sublime acts of heroism: they truly love.

Love is more important, but we must not undervalue knowledge

Knowledge and love! They are two wings which must be well positioned and developed if we are to soar in the firmament of sanctity. In the rules of parachuting, it is indispensable to keep the arms firmly open during free fall to maintain stability; drawing in one of the two members would make the body gyrate and lose its balance. The same occurs in the spiritual life when we try to fly with only one wing.

We all have the duty to study and to take our intelligence as far as it will go, according to the measure of each one. However, this effort has to be accompanied by loving God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength, leading a life in keeping with the doctrine learned, and making the maximum effort to practise virtue. For a Catholic, the Commandments are like an escalator, with ten steps leading to perfection, by way of love. Now, this is only possible with the impetus of grace, with the aid of Our Lord Jesus Christ and in union with Mary Most Holy. Our strength lies in Them; we should place our confidence in Them, and in Them we will find the means and the equilibrium necessary to understand and to love. Let us correspond in a manner full of light and substance, to render Them all the glory, honour and praise that They deserve! ◊

 

Notes

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¹ TROCHU, Francis. O Cura d’Ars. São João Maria Batista Vianney. 2.ed. Petrópolis: Vozes, 1959, p.451.

² TUYA, OP, Manuel de. Biblia Comentada. Evangelios. Madrid: BAC, 1964, v.V, p.490.

³ ST. JOHN OF THE CROSS. Cántico espiritual. C.XIII, n.12. In: Vida y Obras. 5.ed. Madrid: BAC, 1964, p.663.

⁴ ST. BASIL THE GREAT. Homilia in psalmum LXIV. C.II: PG 29, 392.

⁵ Cf. MAYNARD, Theodore. Il buffone di Dio. Vita di San Filippo Neri. Genova-Milano: Marietti, 2011, p.50-51.

⁶ Cf. ST. THOMAS AQUINAS. Suma Teológica. II-II, q.2, a.1; a.3.

⁷ TOCCO, Guillaume de. L’histoire de Saint Thomas d’Aquin. Paris: Du Cerf, 2005, p.145.

⁸ Idem, p.126.

⁹ Cf. ST. BERNARD. Tratado sobre el amor a Dios. C.VI, n.16. In: Obras Completas. 2.ed. Madrid: BAC, 1993, v.I, p.323.

¹⁰ Cf. ST. ANTHONY MARY CLARET. Autobiografia. P.II, c.30, n.438-441. In: Escritos autobiográficos. 2.ed. Madrid: BAC, 1981, p.259-260.

¹¹ ST. JOHN OF THE CROSS. Dichos de Luz y Amor, n.59. In: Vida y Obras, op. cit., p.963.

¹² TEOFILATO, apud ST. THOMAS AQUINAS. Catena Aurea. In Marcum, c.XII, v.28-34.

¹³ Cf. BERNET, Anne. Les chrétiens dans l’Empire Romain. Des persécutions à la conversion. I^er–IV^e siècle. Paris: Perrin, 2003, p.384-385.

¹⁴ ST. BEDE. In Marci Evangelium Expositio. L.III, c.12: PL 92, 256.

¹⁵ Idem, ibidem.

¹⁶ Cf. ST. THOMAS AQUINAS. Suma Teológica. II-II, q.23, a.6, ad 1; I, q.108, a.6, ad 3.