“And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them who do such things, and dost the same, that thou shalt escape the judgement of God? Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness, and patience, and longsuffering? Knowest thou not, that the benignity of God leadeth thee to penance? But according to thy hardness and impenitent heart, thou treasurest up to thyself wrath, and revelation of the just judgement of God. Who will render to every man according to his works.”
The heights to which one is called to love! Here is a reminder to “Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22). Therefore, the Lord exhorts you: “Cast out first the beam out of thy own eye, and then shalt thou see to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye” (Matthew 7:5). Now, you will have a beam of some sort in your own eye to your death, so why look to the flaws, faults, and quirks of others with a judgemental eye? No, the spiritual ailments of others are cries for help, opportunities for love, which will aid you in your own journey to improve in love yourself. St. Paul then shows the balance between divine goodness and the extent to which it reaches. While there is an eternal judgement for a lifetime of renunciation of His love, His invitation to love is always extended with an open hand. He is good, He is patient, He bears with you through all of your actions against love: “Thus saith the Lord: ‘I have remembered thee, pitying thy youth, and the love of thy espousals, when thou followedst me in the desert, in a land that is not sown’” (Jeremias 2:2). This is a love that leads you to apologize for your poor love, because He continually sits as a patient Bridegroom, waiting for you to run back to His arms with adoration. Why, then, should one so captivated in love be malicious to the ones that the Holy Spirit puts in their path? “If any man say, I love God, and hateth his brother; he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother, whom he seeth, how can he love God, whom he seeth not?” (1 John 4:20). For Mary carries you through life like the Child Jesus, keeping you close to her Immaculate Heart, and the Holy Spirit draws before her those that you need to encounter: “And behold there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon…And he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when his parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the law, he also took him into his arms, and blessed God” (Luke 2:25-28). Your every neighbor is someone whom God loves, and is either present in their souls or longing to be: “Therefore the Lord waiteth that he may have mercy on you” (Isaias 30:18). To continue in sin, then, is to abuse the Lord’s extraordinary patience, forsaking merciful love for trivialities. A heart hardened against the Lord, choosing hatred, stores up for itself hatred: “I have brought up children, and exalted them: but they have despised me” (Isaias 1:2). To sin against the Holy Spirit, who is love, is to live a life despising God, remaining far from His tender embraces, and which cannot be forgiven when life comes to its close. The story of one’s life unfolds on its conclusion, being a tale to be told, and that which tells a magnificent love story, overcoming trial and sorrow and ailments, with a tender conclusion of dying of love, will be triumphantly extolled amongst the angels and saints: “And I beheld and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne, and the living creatures, and the ancients; and the number of them was thousands of thousands” (Apocalypse 5:11) all rejoicing in love. A tragedy, one of misery, wasted potential, hate, and living for oneself has no place in the eternal love song: “And whosoever was not found written in the book of life, was cast into the pool of fire” (Apocalypse 20:15). Make then, o Theophila, the book of your life a love story adorned with roses. Judge not your neighbor, but be a character in their particular story that adorns the tale with beauty and love. Do all things for love, live on love, hide your cross among flowers, that the divine romance may tell its story with no hindrance through you, that you may hand this book to your King with a joyful heart, that He may eagerly receive it and open it, rejoicing at the tale the two of you have written.