CONTENTS.

Chapter I. — What Charity is, and how great its dignity and value 1

Chapter II. — How a man should dispose himself to acquire Charity through the Divine help, and how God infuses it according to His own Divine will 4

Chapter III.— What constitutes the love of God, and how He is to be loved principally for His own sake, and above all things 7

Chapter IV.— What it is to love God with our whole heart, and what are the three degrees of this love 12

Chapter V. — The greatness of the benefit conferred on us by God in thus commanding us to love Him 16

Chapter VI. — The chief motive that should move us to love God as we ought, is the love with which God Himself seeks us, and has sought us from all eternity 19

Chapter VII. — That God, besides loving us, delights in us ; and that we should practise the love which we owe Him by, in our turn, delighting in Him 24

Chapter VIII. — On the greatness of the Divine love as manifested in the mystery of the Incarnation, through which God has so fully communicated Himself to man 29

Chapter IX. — The greatness of this love is still more clearly manifested by the un worthiness of the person beloved 33

Chapter X. — The love which the Son of God shows to us in His Nativity, Circumcision, and Name of Jesus 36

Chapter XI. — Other proofs which Christ has given of His love for man, in calling all to His friendship and bestowing on them the Kingdom of Heaven 42

Chapter XII. — The signs of this love which Christ gave His disciples at the Last Supper, in washing their feet, and in instituting the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar 46

Chapter XIII. — Of Christ's union, through the Blessed Sacrament, with the soul, and the fresh proof which this gives to us of His love 49

Chapter XIV. — The love which Christ manifested in His sermon after the Last Supper 53

Chapter XV.— Of the love which Christ manifested in His Passion, and which He signified in the thirst, caused by His desire to save us and to suffer for us 55

Chapter XVI. — Of the love of Christ in refusing all sensible consolation during His torments on the Cross 58

Chapter XVII. — On the love manifested by Christ after His Resurrection, in the Wounds of His Sacred Body, and in His appearances when risen from the dead 61

Chapter XVIII. — On the means by which Christ taught us the nature of the love which we should bear towards God, and on that which constitutes the love of friendship 65

Chapter XIX. — Examples, by help of which Christ has taught us this love 68

Chapter XX. — How we are to exercise the love of complacency and benevolence towards God. Examples of this love given us by our Lord 72

Chapter XXI. — Further examples of the same love of complacency 76

Chapter XXII. — Of the care and study with which the Christian should strive to acquire the love of God, and of the effects which this love works in his soul 79

Chapter XXIII. — On the means by which we should procure this love of God, seeking it, desiring it, and eliciting it from all creatures and from all good works 85

Chapter XXIV. — How we ought to learn the love of God from the consideration of Divine things themselves 89

Chapter XXV. — On the love of charity which we owe to our neighbour, and which should be directed to the good of his soul, not to his mere temporal advantage 92

Chapter XXVI. — Our love to our neighbour should, especially in cases of necessity, be proved by works 98

Chapter XXVII. — In the commandment to love our neighbour, the goodness of God and His love towards men especially shine forth 100

Chapter XXVIII. — God has shown His love to us yet more fully by the new motives for loving one another which He has given us in the Evangelical law 104

Chapter XXIX. — Examples, by which Christ has taught us the love of our neighbour, infusing that love into all who come to Him and believe in Him 108

Chapter XXX. — A particular example given to us by Christ of honouring our neighbour on festive occasions 112

Chapter XXXI. — An example set us by Christ of helping our neighbours in their necessities 113

Chapter XXXII. — Fraternal charity requires the faithful to console one another in their distresses, as we see from the examples given of our Lord 119

Chapter XXXIII.— In our exercise of charity to our neighbour we must necessarily bear with his faults, and must sacrifice no little of our own convenience. Examples of this in the life of Christ 125

Chapter XXXIV. — Charity towards our neighbour must be so practised, that no act performed for him is opposed to the Divine will 130

Chapter XXXV. — We ought in the spirit of charity to rejoice at the prosperity of our neighbour, as Christ teaches us by examples 134

Chapter XXXVI. — Through the charity whereby we rejoice in the good of another envy is extinguished. What this vice is, and how it may be overcome 137

Chapter XXXVII. — The means of acquiring the charity by which we rejoice in our neighbour's good 142

Chapter XXXVIII. — How our Lord through this means of desiring, not earthly, but heavenly goods, cured the tendency of His disciples to envy. His wish that all should use the same remedy against this vice 146

Chapter XXXIX. — The order according to which we should regulate our love of our neighbour. The extent and reasons for our love even of bad men 150

Chapter XI. — In what degree the good are to be more loved by us than the bad 154

Chapter XLI. — Other reasons why the good should be loved by us rather than the bad 158

Chapter XLII. — The reasons which should direct us in loving some neighbours more than others 161

Chapter XLIII. — Although some persons ought to be loved above others, yet in all external intercourse marks of censure and offence must be carefully avoided 165

Chapter XLIV. — To what extent, and for what reason, enemies should be loved, and how excellent this duty is 168

Chapter XLV. — Another reason which makes the love of our enemies so excellent, and so much more perfect than that of our friends 173

Chapter XLVI. — In what way we ought to practise charity towards our enemies, by removing occasions of anger, and conceding our own rights in order to please them 174

Chapter XLVII. — Our enemies are sometimes to be propitiated by explaining to them the motive of our actions 178

Chapter XLVIII. — Love towards our enemies is to be preserved even while they are doing us an injury ; all anger and retaliation being at once checked within us 180

Chapter XLIX. — How greatly it is to the interest of the Christian that he should never retaliate an injury received 184

Chapter L. — We must fully forgive the injury done us by a neighbour, because charity requires this of us 187

Chapter LI. — It does not become those who have suffered an injury, to desire its punishment on the ground of justice, even for a good end 191

Chapter LII. — We have no right to rejoice in the misfortunes of an enemy, but should feel for and commiserate him 194

Chapter LIII. — We should not cause even shame or vexation to our enemies by way of slight retaliation, but be ready always to console them 198

Chapter LIV. — We should continue our good offices of charity towards a neighbour, even though we receive but small signs of friendship in return 200

Chapter LV. — That we may avoid scandal, a former friend is still to be spoken to and saluted, as though he had not become our enemy 205

Chapter LVI. — How we are to exercise towards an enemy the especial charity of conferring benefits on him, and how Christ teaches us to do so by His own example 211

Chapter LVII. — It behoves us to do good to our enemies in return for the benefit they do us by showing to us our faults and by helping us to correct them 218