CHAPTER XI.
CHARITY BELIEVETH ALL THINGS.
(Charitas omnia credit.)
He that loves Jesus Christ believes all His Words.
Whoever loves a person, believes all that proceeds from the lips of that person; consequently, the more a soul loves Jesus Christ, the more lively and unshaken is her faith. When the good thief beheld our Redeemer, though he had done no ill, suffering death upon the cross with such patience, he began at once to love him; under the influence of this love, and of the divine light which then broke upon his soul, he believed that this was truly the Son of God, and begged not to be forgotten by him when he should have passed into his kingdom.
Faith is the foundation of charity; but faith after wards receives its perfection from charity. His faith is most perfect whose love of God is most perfect. Charity produces in man not merely the faith of the understanding, but the faith of the will also: those who believe only with the understanding, but not with the will, as is the case with sinners who are perfectly convinced of the truths of the faith, but do not choose to live according to the divine commandments,—such as these have a very weak faith; for had they a more lively belief that the grace of God is a priceless treasure, and that sin, because it. robs us of this grace, is the worst of evils, they would assuredly change their lives. If, then, they prefer the miserable creatures of this earth to God, it is because they either do not believe, or because their faith is very weak. On the contrary, he who believes not only with
