Love your neighbour as you love yourself.” But who is our neighbour?

Love your neighbour as you love yourself.” But who is our neighbour?

Jesus goes towards that hedge and begins to speak. The people become

silent and crowd round Him.

«Peace be with you. Listen. It is written: “Love your neighbour as you love

yourself.” But who is our neighbour? The whole of mankind, in a general

meaning. In a narrower sense all our countrymen; in an even narrower sense, all

our fellow citizens; then in a more and more narrow meaning, all our relatives;

finally, the last circle of this crown of love closed like the petals of a rose round

the heart of the flower, the love for our full-brothers: our first neighbour. God is

the centre of the heart of the flower of love, so love for Him is the first to be

had. Around His centre there is the love for our parents, the second to be had,

because father and mother are really the little “God” on the earth, as they

procreated us and cooperated with God to our creation, besides taking care of us

with untiring love. The various love rings press round that ovary which shines

with pistils and exhales the perfume of the most choice love. The first is the love

for our brothers born of the same womb and same blood as ourselves. How is

our brother to be loved? Only because his flesh and blood are the same as ours?

Even the little birds which are together in one nest can do that. In fact, this is all

they have in common: they were born in the same brood and have on their

tongues the flavour of their father's and mother's saliva. We men are worth more

than birds. We have more than flesh and blood. We have the Father besides

having a father and mother. We have a soul and we have God, the Father of all

men. So we must love our brother as a brother, because of our father and mother

who gave birth to us, and as a brother because of God Who is the universal

Father.

We must love him, therefore, spiritually not only corporeally. We must love him

not only because of his body and blood, but because of the spirit which we have

in common. And we must love, as it is to be loved, the spirit of our brother more

than his body. Because the spirit is more important than the body. Because the

Father God is more important than the man father. Because the spirit is worth

more than the flesh. Because our brother would be much more unhappy if he

lost the Father God than he would be if he lost his man father. It is heart-rending

to be deprived of the man father, but it is only half an orphanhood. It is

detrimental only to what is earthly, that is to our need for help and caresses. But

the spirit, if it can believe, is not damaged by the death of the father. On the

contrary, in order to join the just father where he is, the spirit of the son rises as

if it were attracted by a loving force. And I tell you solemnly that that is love,

love for God and for the father, who has ascended with his soul to the place of

wisdom. He ascends to the place where he is closer to God and acts with greater

rectitude, because he does not lack true help, that is the prayers of the father

whom he now loves perfectly, neither does he lack restraint due both to the

certainty that the father does now see the deeds of his son, better than he did in

his lifetime, and to the desire to be able to join him through a holy life.

That is why one must take greater care of the spirit than of the body of the

brother. It would certainly be a very poor love if it took care of what is

perishable, neglecting what is not perishable and which, if neglected, may lose

eternal joy. Too many people tire themselves with useless things and worry

themselves about what is of comparative merit, losing sight of what is really

necessary. Good sisters and brothers must not worry only about keeping clothes

tidy and having meals ready, or helping their brothers with their work. But they

must bend over their spirits and listen to their voices, perceive their faults, and

with loving patience busy themselves to give them a wholesome holy spirit, if in

those voices and faults they see a danger for their eternal lives. And if their

brother has sinned against them, they must forgive him and get God to forgive

him, through his return to love, without which God will not forgive.

It is written in Leviticus: “You must not bear hatred for your brother in your

heart, you must openly tell him of his offence, this way you will not take a sin

upon yourself because of him.” But there is an abyss between not hating and

loving. You may think that aversion, detachment, indifference are not sins,

because they are not hatred. No. I have come to bring new light to love, and

consequently, to hatred, because what makes the former shine in every detail,

makes every detail of the latter shine as well. The very elevation to high spheres

of the former, brings out, as a consequence, a greater detachment from the latter,

because the higher love ascends, the lower hatred seems to sink.

My doctrine is perfection. It is refinement of feelings and judgement. It is truth

without metaphors and paraphrases. And I tell you that aversion, detachment

and indifference are already hatred. Simply because they are not love. Hatred is

the opposite of love. Can you find another name for aversion? For being

detached from a being? For indifference? He who loves has a liking for the

person loved. So if he dislikes him, he no longer loves him. He who loves, even

if he is separated materially from the person he loves, continues to be near him

with his spirit. So if one is detached with one's spirit from the other, one no

longer loves the other. He who loves is never indifferent towards the person he

loves, on the contrary he is interested in everything concerning that person. So if

one is indifferent towards another, it means that one does not love the other.

276.In the Garden of Mary of Magdala: Love for One's Neighbour. 11

You can thus see that those three attitudes are branches of one plant: hatred.

Now what happens when we are offended by one whom we love? In ninety per

cent of cases, if hatred does not arise, aversion, detachment or indifference will

result. No. Do not do that. Do not freeze your hearts by means of those three

forms of hatred. Love.

But you are asking yourselves: “How can we?” I reply to you: “As God can, as

He loves those who offend Him. A sorrowful but still good love.” You say:

“How do we do that?” I am giving a new law on the relationship with a guilty

brother, and I say: “If your brother offends you, do not humiliate him by

reproaching him in public, but urge your love to cover up your brother's fault in

the eyes of the world.” Because great will be your merit in the eyes of God, by

barring, out of love, every satisfaction to your pride.

Oh! How man loves to let people know that he was offended and grieved

thereby! Like a foolish beggar he does not go to a king asking for alms in gold,

but he goes to other foolish beggars like himself asking for handfuls of ash and

manure and mouthfuls of burning poison. That is what the world gives to the

offended person who goes complaining and begging for comfort. God, the King,

gives pure gold to him, who, being offended, goes without any grudge to weep

only at His feet and ask Him, Love and Wisdom, for comfort of love and how to

behave in the sorrowful circumstance. Therefore, if you want comfort, go to

God and act with love.

I say to you, correcting the old law: “If your brother has sinned against you, go

and correct him by yourself. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother

once again. And at the same time you have gained many blessings from God. If

your brother does not listen to you, but he rejects you persisting in his fault, take

with you two or three grave, clever, reliable witnesses, so that no one may say

that you are agreeable to his fault or indifferent to the welfare of his soul, and go

back to your brother with them, and kindly repeat your remarks in their

presence, so that the witnesses may be able to repeat that you have done

everything in your power to correct your brother in a holy way. Because that is

the duty of a good brother, since the sin committed by him against you is

detrimental to his soul, and you must take care of his soul. If that is of no avail,

inform the synagogue, so that he may be called to order in the name of God. If

even so he does not make amends and he rejects the synagogue or the Temple as

he rejected you, consider him as a publican and a Gentile.”

Do that both with your full brothers and with the people you love. Because also

with your remote neighbour you must behave with holiness, generosity,

flexibility and love. And when it is a law-suit and it is necessary to go to court

and you go with your adversary, I tell you, o man, who often find yourself in

greater evils through your own fault, to do everything in your power, while you

are on the way, to make your peace with him, whether you are right or wrong.

Because human justice is always imperfect and a shrewd man generally defeats

justice and the offender might be considered innocent, whilst you, who are

innocent, might be found guilty. And then not only your right would not be

acknowledged, but you would lose the case and from being innocent you would

be found guilty of slander and so the judge would hand you over to the lawexecutor

who would not let you free until you had paid down to the last penny.

Be conciliating. Does your pride suffer by it? Very well. Is money squeezed out

of you? Better still. Providing your holiness increases. Do not feel nostalgia for

gold. Do not crave for praises. Let God praise you. Ensure that you have your

purse in Heaven. And pray for those who offend you. That they may make

amends. If that happens, they themselves will give you back honour and goods.

If they do not, God will.