靈魂的心堡-林順明神父主講
Fifth step: Union with God, love of neighbor
It is exciting to move on into the interior castle. Getting close to the goal, the soul moves forward in resolutely. Fore-tastes of union with God are given to it by the Lord, and the soul desires to communicate the utter beauty of the Lord to others. The beauty of the Lord is indescribable, and the soul employs various means and images but they all fall short of the reality that the soul sees.
The soul is not satisfied with enjoying the Lord for himself, and wants others, in fact all people, to come to know and love the Lord. The soul works for the Lord through serving his people, and is indefatigable at doing good. This is not for the sake of gaining any merits but purely for the purpose of thanksgiving to the Lord for all His gifts and favours. Fired by divine Love, the soul works in and through love for the sake of others. Confucius has said the same: ‘Now the man of perfect virtue, wishing to be established himself, seeks also to establish others; wishing to be enlarged himself, he seeks also to enlarge others.’
子貢曰：夫仁者，己欲立而立人，己欲達而達人。雍也
Being a man of virtue, he attracts others to him by his good example and inspires them to practice virtue and good works for the love of God. He thus wins souls for God through love. This is true from the observation of Confucius: “Virtue is not left to stand alone. He who practices it will have neighbors.”
子曰：「德不孤，必有鄰。」里仁 （25）
« Fourth step: Prayer of Quiet, prayer of recollection | Sixth step: Spiritual graces, importance of the sacred humanity of Christ »
跳至: