3. This Is the Third Step

NEXT comes the third degree of the Ladder of Love, which is Purity of Soul and Chastity of Body.

Understand well what I am about to say. To keep the Soul pure, you must, for love of God, hate and despise every inordinate affection and attachment to your self, to father and mother, and to every creature ; so that you may love self and all creatures only for the service of God, and not otherwise. Then will you be able to say with the Christ : 53 D

Love's Gradatory

" Whosoever shall do the will of My Father, he is My brother and sister and mother." Then you will love your neighbour as yourself: thus are you pure. Do not let yourself be enticed or drawn away by anyone, either by words or actions, by gifts or baits, by courtesies or apparent sanctity. Under cover of the spiritual, such things may be come altogether carnal; it is fatal to place confidence in them. Do not seek to cultivate acquaintance with any, nor allow another to grow intimate with you.

'Neath appearance fair Evil lurketh there,

As a poison hidden ; Let thy soul beware, Holy Prudence share ;

Be not over-ridden.

Love's Gradatory

Feelest thou the charm, There lies hid the harm,

To the soul's deceiving ; Let all such things be : Take good heed to thee,

Jesus never leaving.

Fly a stranger's house ; Seek the spirit's Spouse,

With Him ever biding. Look within and mark His sole Love, and hark

Virtue gently chiding.

He shall nourish thee, Counsel, teach, and be

Thy support for ever ; He thy soul shall raise, To the Father's praise,

O'er all things whatever. Till in endless bliss, Where all comfort is,

He is thine for ever.

Thus is the life of a pure soul.

Then, next, as to Chastity of

Body : you know that God gave man a double nature, body and soul, spirit and flesh ; and these

Love's Gradatory two elements are united in one single person, forming human nature, conceived and born in sin. For although God created the Soul pure and spotless, by union with the flesh it becomes soiled by original sin. Thus we are all brought forth in a state of sin, for "that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." But although the spirit adheres to the flesh by the fact of natural birth, by a second birth coming from the Spirit of God, spirit and flesh become enemies and strive one against the other. " For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, for these are contrary one to another." If, then, we live ac-

Love's Gradatory cording to the lust of the flesh, we are dead in sin; if, on the contrary, by the Spirit we triumph over the works of the flesh, we live in virtue. Thus we must at one and the same time hate and despise the Body in so far as it is a mortal enemy who would detach us from God and deliver us up to sin, and yet love and esteem the Body of our sensible life as an instrument for God's service.

It is evident that without the Body we cannot render to God those exterior works which are due to Him from us, such as fasts, vigils, prayers, and other good works. For this reason we bestow on the Body such care, food, and nourishment as it requires, since it helps us to

Love's Gradatory serve God, our neighbour, and ourselves. But we must guard with care against three sorts of sin that reign in the Body : idleness, greediness, and impurity, since these three vices have caused many, even when of Goodwill, to fall into great sin.

To keep from the fault of greediness we should prefer and love the just measure of sobriety, in cutting off super fluities, in taking rather less than we may desire, and con tenting ourselves with a strict sufficiency.

Against idleness we must seek to possess inward loyalty and kindness, as well as mercy for those in need; and outwardly be prompt and assiduous, ever at the disposition of any who

Love's Gradatory ask our help, according to our power and with discretion.

Finally, as safeguard against impurity, fear and avoid all exterior disorderly conduct or manner, and interiorly every dishonest imagination or thought, never dwelling upon any such thing with pleasure, so as to be spotless and free from base imaginations. Turn, instead, to our Blessed Lord Jesus Christ, contemplate His Passion and Death, the generous outpouring of His Blood for love of us. In repeating this frequently His Image and resemblance will be formed in our hearts, senses, soul, body, and all our being, as a seal is printed and formed in wax. The Christ will then introduce us with Him into that

Love's Gradatory high life of union with God, where the pure Soul, by means of love, clings to and inhabits in the Holy Ghost. There flow torrents of honey, celestial dew and every Grace, which, when the Soul has once tasted, it finds no more attraction in flesh and blood, nor anything that is in the world.

As long as our sensitive life remains uplifted and united to that Spirit which draws us to God, to seek and to love Him, Purity and Chastity of soul and body are assured ; but when we descend from that height to satisfy the necessities of human existence, we must guard the palate against greediness, Soul and Body against idleness, and the whole nature against impure

Love's Gradatory tendencies. Avoid bad com panions, fly from those who delight in lies, evil words, blas phemies and backbiting, who are impure in word and act. They should be feared and shunned as the very devil. Frequent the Church and em ploy the hands in good works ; hate sloth, fly inordinate comfort, and give no place to self-love. Love all that is life and truth, and even if you believe you are pure, nevertheless avoid every occasion of sin. Love penitence and industry. Look at St. John the Baptist; he was sanctified before birth, and yet from his earliest years he left father and mother, honours and pleasures of the world; and the better to fly all occasion of sin, he

Love's Gradatory went into the desert. He was innocent, and his purity equal to that of the Angels ; he lived for the Truth, and taught it to others ; he was at length put to death for the sake of Justice, and his holiness praised above all others. Again, consider the ancient Fathers who lived in the deserts of Egypt. They left the world and crucified the flesh and every tendency of corrupt nature, com bating sin by penance, fasting, hunger, thirst, and the privation of everything they could do without. Then think of the sentence pronounced by the Christ against the rich man clothed in purple and fine linen, who fared sumptuously every day, and gave nothing to any one. He dies, and is buried by

Love's Gradatory the demons in Hell; there he suffers and burns in infernal flames, desiring one drop of water to cool his tongue, but no one can give it to him. On the other hand, the beggar who lay at his door, starving and burnt with thirst, covered with sores, desired but the crumbs from the table of the rich, but no one gave them to him. He dies, in his turn, and is carried by the Angels into Abraham's bosom :

Where is delight forever with the Blest, Life without end and everlasting rest.