Read it from the Original.
Start at the Beginning.
Morning Prayers.
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I. There is an order of priority in the exercise of charity towards the different objects of our love: this order extends to natural and supernatural love, and corresponds to the order of our adhesion to the different forms of life. God has "ordered all things in measure, number and weight" (Wisd. xi. 21). We must first adhere to the supreme and universal Life, as being the first and the only absolutely necessary life. Then we must seek the perfection of life in the sphere which is our special care; that is, we must love ourselves with a well-ordered love, for our personal salvation is above all other things, and the supernatural love of self is therefore above all love of other creatures, and above the love of our natural life. As regards our fellow-men, their supernatural life is much more than our own natural life, and we should be ready to make a sacrifice accordingly, whenever these two come into competition. If the choice is between the natural life of oneself and one's neighbour, the claims are equal, for we have to love our neighbour as ourselves; but, according to Christian law, it is a more perfect expression of well-ordered love if we give our life for our friends; and this is rational too, for it accords with those provisions of nature in the lower order which make for the maintenance of the life of the species in preference to individual life. Adhere above all to the supreme Life, and this will guide the order of your love in all its other degrees.
II. The supernatural order is not the destruction but the perfecting of the natural order. The vital forces and attractions of the natural sphere indicate in certain cases an order in love which is supernaturally correct. There is community of life in varying degrees between husband and (Page 187) wife, parents and children, between brethren, fellow-country men and fellow-men. These bonds are very close, but those more exclusively supernatural are closer still. The love of God and care for our salvation are above all earthly claims. "He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me" (Matt. x. 37). In God we are further united in the one Church as brethren; with them we "share in community of faith, of ideas, of worship, of persecution and calumny, of the breaking of bread in Holy Communion. We are bound to love the Church our spiritual mother, and the general life of that community, and each of our fellow-members in a special degree. Union in Jesus Christ is more than union of nationality or blood. Remember the duty imposed by the Apostle: "Work good to all men, but especially to those who are of the household of the faith" (Gal. vi. 10).
III. The order of Charity in heaven will be the same as its order on earth. The propension of being towards life will become an actual adhesion to life and fruition of it in all its forms. The sentiment of love will therefore be much stronger there than here, and there will be so much more delight in its fulfilment. We shall first be sensible of the infinite vigour of the divine life in its propension towards us, and we shall be drawn in return towards it, and, more fully than now, shall be "made partakers of the divine nature" (2 Pet. i. 4). The first natural law of self-preservation thus becomes identical with the first supernatural law of adhesion to God; and the love of God will include in itself the well-ordered love of self. Then, too, we shall love all our fellow-creatures in God, and by reason of our adhesion to the life in Him which overflows upon them. And doubtless those who have been associated with our supernatural life in this world will receive a proportionate recognition and love. Enter as fully as you can now into participation in the divine life as it is in God, in the Church, in your fellow-men, that you may participate fully in it hereafter.
