The ladder of love


Rev. John A. O’Brien





The Ladder of Love

Four addresses delivered on The Catholic Hour from June 5, 1955,

through June 26, 1955, by the Rev. John A. O’Brien. The program is

produced by the National Council of Catholic Men in cooperation with

the National Broadcasting Company.

BY

REV. JOHN A. O’BRIEN

First Edition

August 15, 1955

National Council of Catholic Men

1312 Massachusetts Ave., N. W.

Washington 5, D.C.



Nihil Obstat:

REV. EDWARD A. MILLER
Censor Librorum

Imprimatur:

4* JOHN FRANCIS NOLL, D.D.
Archbishop, Bishop of Fort Wayne



TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Great Commandment 5

Love’s Magic and Mystery 12

The Home: A Citadel Of Love 19

The Mark Of A Christian 25



Digitized by the Internet Archive

in 2016

https://archive.org/details/ladderofloveOOobri



The Great Commandment
Address Delivered on June 5, 1955

One of the most significant
scenes in the life of Christ was
enacted in Jerusalem when one
of the Pharisees, a doctor of the

law, asked Jesus: “Master,

which is the great command-
ment in the law?” Here was a
question which went to the
very heart of the Master’s

teachings: Its answer would
render possible the establish-

ment of a hierarchy of values
without which no ethical sys-
tem or philosophy of life is
possible.

Recognizing its relevance,

Christ immediately replied:
“Thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with thy whole heart, and
with thy whole soul, and with
thy whole mind. This is the
greatest and the first com-
mandment. And the second is
like to this: Thou shalt love
thy neighbor as thyself.” Then
He added: “On these two com-
mandments dependeth the
whole law and the prophets.”

This twofold commandment
to love God and our neighbor
epitomizes Christ’s essential

message to mankind. It con-
stitutes the foundation and the
apex of the Christian faith; it
runs like threads of gold
through the warp and woof of
the New Testament; in its ob-
servance is the fulfillment of
all the commandments. If one
loves God, he will keep His

commandments and if he loves
his fellow man, he will respect
his rights.

No other teaching of the di-
vine Master stands in such ur-
gent need of being written up-
on the skies of America and of
the world today. Following as
an aftermath of the war with
its emphasis upon hatred and
destruction, a tidal wave of
rancor and bitterness has swept
across the nations of the world,

arraying class against class and
kindling the embers of sus-
picion into the flames of hatred
and strife. The tragedy of mod-
ern civilization is that we
have prostituted the findings
of science to implement our
hatred instead of our love.

We are speaking of love not
as a mere instinct, an expres-
sion of the sensual appetite, an
emotional reaction to sensory
stimuli or an ephemeral senti-
ment, but as a theological vir-
tue, of which the other two are
faith and hope. In this sense
love is a divinely infused habit
inclining the will to cherish
God for His own sake above
all things, and man for the sake
of God. It is the virtue which
joins us to God in the bonds of
the highest friendship so that
our will is intimately united
with His. “God is love,” says St.
John, “and he who abides in
love abides in God, and God in



6 THE LADDER OF LOVE

Him.” 1 This union, begun in
this life, finds its completion
through the beatific vision in
Heaven. Indeed, this is the
chief joy of Heaven and its
very essence.

We are indebted not to any
movement of the sensible ap-
petite but to God for this divine
gift. “The charity of Christ,” St.
Paul tells us, “is poured forth
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit
who has been given to us.” 2 It
is infused along with sanctify-
ing grace to which it is closely
related. Its seat is not in the
emotions but in the rational
will, thus enabling us to direct
it to a person regardless of the
reactions of the senses—wheth-
er he appeals to us as attrac-
tive or not.

Great as are faith and hope,
love towers above them. “The
greatest of these,” says St.

Paul, “is charity.”3 “The other
two virtues, faith and hope,”
Cardinal Wiseman beautifully
observes, “dwell in the porch
of God’s house; they are as the
lamp and the perfume of the
outer sanctuary, placed here to
enlighten and refresh us, who
worship without the veil.”

God is our first beginning
and our last end, the alpha and
omega of our being. He is the

1 1 John 4 :16

2 Romans 5 :5

3 1 Corinthians 13:13

4 John 14:15

5 1 John 3:18

highest Good and we must love
Him with our whole heart and
soul and desire to have Him
honored, glorified and loved by
all His creatures. In addition,

we must manifest our love by
keeping His commandments.

“If you love me,” says Jesus,
“keep my commandments.” 4
Echoing this admonition, St.
Paul says, “Love is the fulfill-
ment of the law.” With what
tenderness and love does the
Beloved Disciple drive this
truth home to us when he says,
“Little children, let us not love

in word nor in tongue, but in
deed and in truth.” 5

Our First Duty

We should love God above
all other persons and things
because He alone is infinitely
worthy of our love, and we
should be willing to lose every-
thing, even life itself, rather
than offend Him. God dwells
in the soul of those who love
Him, and in possessing Him
they possess everything of val-

ue — gladness, peace and joy.
Where love is, there is God;
where God is, there is Heaven;
where God is not, there is Hell.
The first duty of the creature

then is to give God the homage,
worship and reverence which
are due Him as the Creator.
To withhold that from God is
to defraud Him. How disturb-
ing it is to realize that in this

country on any Sunday in the
year there are more than a
hundred million men, women
and children who attend no



THE GREAT COMMANDMENT 7

religious service, who raise no
hands in prayer and homage to
the God who made them. This
is the subversion of the whole
moral order, the crime of trea-
son against the Sovereign of
the universe and the cancer
gnawing deeply into the spirit-
ual life of our nation.

But, you may ask, why are
we obliged to give homage to
Almighty God? Because He is
our Creator, to whom we owe
our very existence as well as
all the faculties of our minds
and bodies. The new-born babe
is a picture of utter helpless-

ness, unable to provide for a
single one of its many needs.
Unless the parents feed and
shelter it, it speedily dies.

Even greater is our depend-
ence upon God, without whose
sustaining power we would
cease to be and without whose
active cooperation we are un-
able to do so much as move a
finger. The dependence of the
babe upon his parents is, more-
over, a temporary one which
will be outgrown; whereas our
dependence upon the Creator
for both our continuance in ex-
istence and for all our thoughts
and actions is permanent and
absolute. Written upon every
atom of our being is the Cre-
ator’s title-deed, “Thou art
mine, body, mind and soul, and
all thou canst do.”

A Dictate of Reason
It is a dictate of reason and

a mandate of the Most High
that the creature should ack-

nowledge that indebtedness.
That is precisely what we do
when we worship God, when
we offer Him sacrifice and
when we give Him our homage
and our love. The essence of
religion consists in the free and
practical acknowledgement of
God’s supreme and sovereign
dominion over us and of our
complete and abiding depend-
ence upon Him.

What would you think of the
child who ignores the father
who begot him, who utters no
word of gratitude and love to
the mother who bore him and
ministered to his every need?
Suppose he were to say to
them? “Though I am indebted
to you for my every existence
and for all the tender and lov-
ing care you bestowed upon me,
I shall address to you no word
of honor, gratitude or love. I
shall not recognize you as my
parents and I shall ignore you
as if you didn’t even exist.”

Wouldn’t you say that such
a child was a monster of in-
gratitude, a moral degenerate,
worthy only of scorn and re-
probation? Must not the same
sentence of condemnation be
passed upon the creature who
acts in substantially the same
manner in regard to his Heav-
enly Father, Almighty God?
Isn’t it apparent that such a
person is guilty of a profound-
ly immoral act — an act of in-
gratitude, disloyalty and of
treason to the God who made
him?



8 THE LADDER OF LOVE

Surely if the worldling who
turns his back upon God and
ignores His existence were to
reflect upon these facts he
would see that he is not less
guilty than the man who re-
fuses to pay his debts to his
grocer, butcher or baker. In
these latter instances, he is
cheating a fellow creature, in

the former he is defrauding
God Himself. He is duplicating
the action of Lucifer whose re-
bellious cry, “I will not serve

Thee!” has blackened the cen-
turies with the tragedy of
treason. He is walking in the
footsteps of Judas Iscariot who
betrayed his Lord for thirty
pieces of silver.

Considering the vast num-
ber of people who rarely, if
ever, attend any church, there
is no truth that needs to be
sounded so loudly or so persist-
ently in the ears of the Ameri-
can people as that of the duty
of rendering homage and wor-
ship to the God who made
them. It is man’s first and su-
preme duty. Anyone who vio-
lates it should feel upon his
brow the mark of Cain, in his
heart the treason of Benedict
Arnold, and in his conscience
the guilt of Judas.

An Inspiring Example

For nineteen centuries the
love of God and the desire to
see Him loved and glorified by
all creatures have prompted
young men and women to leave
father and mother, sister and

brother, land and kinsfolk to
bring the good tidings of man’s
redemption and of Christ’s
consuming love to all people,
both at home and abroad. But
it is not necessary to be a re-
ligious or a missionary to
spread the knowledge and the
love of God. This is a task in
which the lay person can par-
ticipate with unusual effective-
ness because of his many con-
tacts.

Charlie Fischer, a laborer at
the Illinois Central shop at
Champaign, Illinois, had only a
grade school education but he
was able to kindle the love of
God in the hearts of many of
his fellow-workers. Each year
for twenty years he won one
churchless man for Christ and
each of these subsequently
brought their families into ac-
tive religious life and worship,
so that no fewer than a hun-
dred persons had their drab
empty lives filled with the
radiance, beauty, and love of
God because of his neighborly
zeal.

“Charlie,” I once asked, “how
in the world did you manage
to kindle the love of God in so
many souls?”

“Father,” he replied, “I
didn’t find it especially hard.

On Monday morning I would
say to a fellow-worker,

“ ‘Hank, did you go to church
yesterday?’

“When he would acknow-
ledge that he hadn’t, I would
say,



THE GREAT COMMANDMENT 9

“
‘But, Hank, aren’t you

more than an animal that eats,
sleeps, propagates and dies?’

“
‘Yes,’ he would reply.

“Then I would ask him why
he thought he was more than
an animal. Usually he would
be at a loss to say why.

“Then I’d say, ‘You’re more
than an animal, Hank, because
you have an immortal soul
made in the image and likeness
of God. That’s the part of our
nature that we must nourish by
contact with God, by prayer,
by worship, by acts of faith,
hope and love. God wants us
to know Him, to love Him and
to serve Him in this life that
we may be happy with Him
for all eternity.’

“
‘How,’ Hank would ask, ‘do

I go about doing that?’
“ ‘You can come to church

with me,’ I would reply, ‘and
I’ll see that you get a good
course of instruction about God
and His plan for your salvation.

“That, Father, was the simple
way I was able to bring God
and His love into the hearts of
a hundred churchless people.
They said it meant more to
them than if I had given them
a million dollars.”

Filling a Void

If every person who be-
lieves in God, loves Him and
worships Him were to take
such an unselfish interest in
his churchless neighbor, the

hundred million churchless

people in our land would soon
find their lives transformed by
the knowledge and love of God.
They would not fail to wor-
ship and reverence Him on the
Lord’s day and to pray to Him
every day of their lives. That
is the most precious contribu-
tion we can make to the en-
richment of the lives of our
non-church-going friends and
neighbors. It must be done
humbly, prayerfully and un-
selfishly, with no thought but
of his deepest welfare and
happiness.

There is an emptiness in the
life of the individual who is
untouched by God. Like a ship
without a rudder, he is travel-
ing in circles, with no goal, no
destiny to achieve. Man is more
than an animal, and deep in his
soul is the hunger and craving
which only God can fill.

There is a God-ache which
all the material pleasures of

life can’t appease. St. Augustine
who sought to ease that ache
by indulgence in the sensual
pleasures of Carthage and
Rome cried out at last: “Our
hearts have been made for Thee,
O God, and they shall never
rest until they rest in Thee.”
In that cry is reflected the ex-
perience of man since time be-
gan, and it will still be true
at the crack of doom.

For many years the noted
Fulton Oursler wandered in the
fog of unbelief. Restless and ill
at ease, he had started to write



10 THE LADDER OF LOVE

a book, A Sceptic in the Holy
Land. But the more carefully
he studied the life of Christ and
meditated on those scenes in
the Holy Land, the more clearly
did he see the beauty of that
divine personality and the truth
of His teachings. Embracing
the Catholic faith, he wrote a
beautiful and reverent life of
Christ. Shortly before his death
he said, “To all those who are
attracted and yet frightened
and reluctant, I say there is
no way to peace on earth ex-
cept in the footsteps of the

Master.” In finding Christ and
His love, he found the peace
of soul for which he had long
been searching.

Jacques Maritain is one of
the most eminent philosophers
of our day, but he was led to
Christ by a man who had no
philosophic training — Leon
Bloy. Bloy spoke to him simply
of the mercy and love of God
and had him read the lives of
the saints and the mystics and
begin to pray. Maritain, a pro-

fessor at the Sorbonne, began
with the hypothetical prayer,
“My God, if you exist, and if
you are the Truth, make me
know it.” Later he knelt down
and recited the Lord’s Prayer
for the first time in his life.

Nc man on his bended knees
ever prays to God in vain.
God heard his cry and gave
him the grace of faith.

On the day when Jacques
Maritain and his wife Raissa

were baptized, Bloy wrote in

his diary: “It is something to
think that when I die I shall
leave, kneeling beside me and
weeping from love, people who
knew nothing of God or of His
love before they met me.” Into
the darkness of two souls Leon
Bloy brought the radiance and
the love of God. That is the
role that we are all called upon
to play — the role of a Christo-
pher, carrying Christ to others.

Religion floods our darkness
with a divine light. It discloses
our ultimate destiny and pro-
vides us with the means of at-
taining it. It makes clear to us
that only in the possession of
God, who is infinite Beauty,
Truth and Love, will the soul
find the answer to its ceaseless
questing.

Thus does religion enable us
to form a true hierarchy of
values by appraising all things
in accordance with the degree
in which they aid us in the
achievement of eternal life. It
enables us to put first things
first. It guides us in offering
our supreme loyalty to God and
in putting ourselves in the
right relationship to God. “If
you are not right toward God,”
wrote Lord Chatham to his
nephew, “you can never be so
toward man; and this is for-
ever true, whether wits and
rakes allow it or not.”

God Brings Peace

Without religion we cannot
be right toward God, toward
man or toward ourselves. With
religion and with the faithful



THE GREAT COMMANDMENT 11

fulfillment of all it commands
we look upon life and the uni-
verse with a serene eye and a
peaceful heart. Clasping His al-

mighty hand, we know that no
evil can befall us. We can see
His face in earth and sky, His
laughter in the running brook,
and His voice in every song
bird’s call. To the believer, as
Hood points out,

Each cloud-capped mountain
is a holy altar,

An organ breathes in every
grove;

And the full heart’s a Psalter,
Rich in deep hymns of grati-

tude and love.

The great commandment to
love God with our whole heart,
mind and soul requires us then
to honor, reverence and wor-
ship Him and to strive to see
Him loved and glorified by all
His creatures. To bring God,
His truth and love to all who

know Him not is then an ex-
pression of unselfish love: it is

good Christianity and good
patriotism. For the citizen who
is rooted in the knowledge and
love of God will be devoted to
his country, his community and
his neighbor. He will be vacci-
nated against the poison of

atheistic communism with its
threat to everything we hold
dear in Christian civilization.

Today the world asks the
question, put to the Lord by
the doctor of the law centuries
ago: “Master, which is the
great commandment in the
law?” We fain would write His
answer in every mind and heart
and emblazon it upon the skies
of all the world, “Thou shalt
love the Lord thy God with thy
whole heart, and with thy

whole soul, and with thy whole
mind. This is the greatest and

the first commandment.”



Love’s Magic and Mystery

Address Delivered on June 12, 1955

Christianity is a religion of

love and its first and greatest
commandment is: “Thou shalt
love the Lord thy God with thy
whole heart, and with thy
whole soul, and with thy whole
mind.” To love God is to wish
Him all honor and glory and
every good and endeavor to ob-
tain it for Him. Thus it is the
love of God that inspires all
missionary work and all efforts
to win souls for Him. “Let us
love God,” says St. John, “for
God hath first loved us.”
The greatest incentive toward

living a good life is the love of
God. It makes the keeping of
the commandments a pleasure
and a joy. Indeed, the first
three commandments are em-
bodied in this commandment
and the remaining seven are
embodied in the commandment
to love one’s neighbor as one-
self. The love of God is more
than a precept; it is the prin-
ciple and goal of moral per-
fection and the most important
factor in the two main phases
of our spiritual life: justifica-
tion and the acquisition of
merit.

When motivated by love, all
our actions, even those which
are indifferent in themselves,
are made meritorious. Thus the
widow who out of love gives
her mite receives a greater re-
ward than the proud Pharisee
who gave his offering of gold
largely out of vanity.

To keep the love of God burn-
ing in our hearts we should not
only keep His commandments
but also utter frequent ejacula-
tions and acts of love. Say of-
ten: “My God and my all!”
“My Jesus, I love Thee with my
whole heart and soul!” “O
Lord, I offer Thee all my
thoughts, words and deeds.”
“Grant, dear Jesus, that I may
love Thee more and more!”
“Jesus, my God, I love Thee
above all things.” Never allow
a day to go by without utter-
ing many such brief expressions
of love for the God who made
you. They will keep the flame
of love ever burning in your
heart.

St. Thomas Aquinas distin-
guishes three principal stages of

growth in the love of God. The
first is freedom from mortal sin
by strenuous resistance to
temptation. The second is the
avoidance of deliberate venial
sins by the diligent practice of
virtue. The third stage is
union with God through the
frequent recurrence of acts of
love. To these, ascetic writers
like St. Teresa and St. Francis
de Sales add many more stages
or degrees, thus anticipating
even in this world the “many
mansions in the Father’s
house.” “The true measure of
our love of God,” says St. Ber-
nard, “is to love Him without
measure.”



LOVE’S MAGIC AND MYSTERY 13

The act most pleasing to God
and most meritorious for the
individual is an act of perfect
love. This means that we love
God above all things because
He is infinitely perfect and
worthy of our love, and that we
are heartily sorry for ever
having offended Him and deter-
mined never more to offend
Him. That act of perfect love
or perfect contrition washes
away every stain of sin and re-
stores the soul immediately to
the friendship of God and to
sanctifying grace. “If any man
love me,” said Jesus, “my fa-
ther will love him, and we will
come to him and make our
abode in him.” 1 This implies,
of course, the intention to con-
fess one’s sins when one next
goes to Confession.

Perfect Love

When God is present in the
soul, no serious sin or guilt
can co-exist there. The indi-
vidual who has made an act of
perfect love has God dwelling
within him. It is the conscious-
ness of the sheer presence of
God within the soul that fills
one with perfect serenity and a
peace of mind which this world
cannot give. “God is love,” said
St. John, “and he who abides
in love abides in God, and God
in him . . . Perfect love casts
out fear, because fear hath
pain.”2

Such an act of perfect love is
possible not only for saints and

1. John 14 :23

2. John 4:16-18

holy people but also for the or-
dinary person who sincerely
and earnestly tries to love God
with his whole heart and to
keep himself always in His love.
To elicit an act it is well to
kneel before a crucifix and re-
flect upon the immensity of
God’s love which prompted
Him to send His only begotten
Son Jesus Christ to redeem us
by His death on Calvary.

How easy and natural it is to
say, “My Jesus, Thou didst die
for love of me. I love Thee
with my whole heart and soul
because thou art infinitely
worthy of my love, and I shall
be willing to die rather than
to offend Thee again.”

That is the act of perfect love
and perfect contrition that one
should make not only before
going to Confession but also as
part of one’s daily prayers. In-

deed, he should keep himself
always in that state of perfect
friendship with his Creator so
that God will dwell perma-
nently in his heart as in a holy
tabernacle.

Love Surpasses All

“The greater is our love of
God,” says St. Francis de Sales,
“the more meritorious are our
actions. God does not regard
the greatness of the work so
much as the love wherewith it
is performed.” St. Paul admon-
ishes us that all gifts, no matter
how great, and all good works
and austerities are utterly
worthless without charity.
Gcod works without the love



14 THE LADDER OF LOVE

of God are like lamps without
oil. Just as food is tasteless
and insipid without a condi-
ment, so if charity is lacking
our works are without savor
before God. He who loves God
most will receive the greatest
reward. Love is the only ladder
on which we can climb from
earth to Heaven.

Grievous sin alone can ex-
tinguish the love of God in our
hearts. Hence it is to be avoid-
ed as the greatest evil that can
befall us. “I am sure,” says St.
Paul, ‘‘that neither death nor
life, nor angels nor principali-
ties, nor powers, nor things
present, nor things to come, nor
any other creature, shall be
able to separate us from the
love of God.”3

In his first epistle to the Cor-
inthians St. Paul gives us the
most beautiful and penetrating
exposition of the virtue of love

or charity that has ever been
written. By charity he means
the love of God above all things
and the love of neighbor for
God’s sake, implying an appre-
ciation of the worth of God in
Himself and in one’s neighbor.

“If I should speak with the
tongues of men and of angels,”
he says, “but do not have char-
ity, I have become a sounding
brass or a tinkling cymbal. And
if I have prophecy and know all
mysteries and all knowledge,
and if I have all faith so as to
remove mountains, yet do not
have charity, I am nothing. And

if I distribute all my goods to
feed the poor, and if I deliver
my body to be burned, yet do
not have charity, it profits me
nothing.”

Then commenting on the self-
effacing character of true char-

ity, he continues, “Charity is
patient, is kind; charity does

not envy, is not pretentious, is

not puffed up, is not ambitious,

is not self-seeking, is not pro-

voked; thinks no evil, does not
rejoice over wickedness, but re-
joices with the truth; bears
with all things, believes all
things, hopes all things, en-
dures all things.”

Contrasting charity with
other gifts, St. Paul says:
“Charity never fails, whereas
prophecies will disappear, and
tongues will cease, and knowl-
edge will be destroyed. For we
know in part and we prophesy
in part; but when that which
is perfect has come, that which
is imperfect will be done away
with. When I was a child, I
spoke as a child, I felt as a child,
I thought as a child. Now that
I have become a man, I have
put away the things of a
child.”

Then the Apostle brings his
treatment to the following
glorious climax: “We see now
through a mirror in an obscure
manner, but then face to face.
Now I know in part, but then I
shall know even as I have been
known. So there abide faith,
hope and charity, these three;
but the greatest of these is3. Romans 8 :38



LOVE’S MAGIC AND MYSTERY 15

charity.” 4 Yes, it towers up
above all the virtues as Mount
Everest towers above all other
mountains.

The Second Commandment

God is, of course, the pri-
mary object of our love, but it
must extend likewise to our
fellow men. Christ rendered
this duty explicit when, after
enunciating the first command-
ment, He added: “And the
second is like to this: Thou
shalt love thy neighbor as thy-
self.” God is our common Fa-
ther, and we are all His chil-
dren, and for that reason we
ought to love one another as
brothers. We are all made in
the image of God and we must
see the lineaments of the face
of Christ in every man and love
him for God’s sake.

It is this divine endowment
which constitutes the basis of
the dignity of every person and
makes him a being precious be-
yond all price: it is the basis
of the spiritual kinship of all

men regardless of race or color.
Just as the moon derives its
light from the sun, so man de-
rives his right to respect and
love from his kinship with
God. Our love for God must
flow out to all the creatures
made in His likeness: in loving
them we are also loving Him.
“God being the principle of all
good,” points out St. Thomas
Aquinas, “that which a man

4. 13 :1-13

5. St. Th. S.2.2,q.26,A.4,C

6. 1 John 4 :7-ll

loves in himself is the Divine

Good communicated to him,
and he loves his neighbor by
reason of fellowship in that

good.” 5

“Dearly beloved,” says St.
John, “let us love one another,
for love is from God. And
everyone who loves is born of
God, and knows God. He who
does not love does not know
God; for God is love . . . Be-
loved, if God has so loved us,
we also ought to love one an-
other.” 6

The Beloved Disciple then
proceeds to drive this truth
home in a forceful manner, say-
ing, “If anyone says, T love
God,’ and hates his brother, he
is a liar. For how can he who
does not love his brother, whom
he sees, love God, whom he does
not see? And this command-
ment we have from him, that
he who loves God should love
his brother also.” 7

The members of one’s family
have the first claim upon his
love, for “charity begins at
home,” though it must not be
confined there. The home in
which the members reinforce
their love for one another by
the love of God is like the
house that is built not on shift-
ing sands but upon solid bed-
rock: it will withstand the tu-
mult of the storm and the fury
of all the winds that blow. The
home in which a deep and abid-
ing love prevails is a home

7.

1 John 4: 20-21



16 THE LADDER OF LOVE

filled with peace and happi-
ness.

Conjugal Love

The love of husband and wife
is a sacred love, kindled by a
spark from the divine love. It
is a divinely implanted love
which prompts a man to obey
the mandate of the Most High,
uttered at the dawn of crea-
tion: “Wherefore a man shall
leave father and mother and
shall cleave to his wife; and
they shall be two in one flesh.’ ,

The union of husband and wife,
raised by Christ to the dignity
of a sacrament, is the most in-
timate and sacred union that
can take place between two
creatures.

“By matrimony,” declared
Pope Pius XI in his beautiful
encyclical On Christian Mar-
riage, “the souls of the contract-

ing parties are joined and knit
together more directly and
more intimately than are their
bodies, and that not by any
passing affection of sense or
spirit, but by a deliberate and
firm act of the will, and from
this union of souls, by God’s
decree, a sacred and inviolable
bond arises.” Conjugal love is
thus not a mere transient emo-
tion but a union of minds,
hearts and souls, permeated by
the love of God.

Emphasizing the beauty and
the sanctity of that love, the
Apostle Paul says: “Husbands,
love your wives, just as Christ
also loved the Church . . . Even

8. Ephesians 5:27-30

thus ought husbands also to
love their wives as their own
bodies. He who loves his own
wife, loves himself. For no one
ever hated his own flesh; on the
contrary he nourishes and cher-
ishes it, as Christ also does the

Church (because we are mem-
bers of his body, made from his
flesh and from his bones.)” 8

The love of husband and
wife, elevated on their wedding
day to a sacramental dignity,
should deepen and grow with
the passing years and spread its
lovely fragrance throughout the
home. One of the greatest men-
aces to that love is the angry
word that cuts and burns.
Spoken in a moment of irrita-
tion, it hurts and humiliates
the person who is the closest
and dearest of all to you and
sears its ugly way into the
memory. It acts as a termite
that eats away the foundations
and pulls the shining castle of
love’s dream into dust and
ashes.

The Second Vow

My first sick call was to a
home that was on the verge of
being destroyed by strife, kind-
led by the angry word. “Fa-
ther,” said a man who called
late one night at the Rectory,
“my wife and I have had a vio-
lent quarrel. She is preparing
to leave and it will mean the
end of our marriage. Will you
come and see if you can save
it?”

As we walked to his home, he
said, “Father, I love my wife



LOVE’S MAGIC AND MYSTERY 17

and I’m confident that she loves
me. But I have an ungovern-
able temper and I let fly a tor-
rent of angry words. They bring
angry words in return. Then
there we are—fighting like cats
and dogs—we who should love
each other more than any other
person.” He broke down and
cried, his whole frame shaking
with convulsive sobs as he real-
ized the ruin that he had
brought to his home.

After several hours of plead-
ing, the wife relented and
agreed to remain. They both
knelt down and each repeated
after me these words: “I sol-
emnly promise on my word of
honor that I shall never speak
an angry, bitter or spiteful
word but shall discuss all dif-
ferences in a kind and affection-
ate manner. So help me God!”
Then I had them seal their
promise by kissing the crucifix
on my rosary.

It enabled them to perceive,
as they never had before, the
menace of the angry, bitter
word; and it marked the turn-
ing point in their domestic life.
The experience moved me so
much that I have made it a
practice to propose that prom-
ise as a sort of second vow to
every couple I have married
over the intervening forty
years.

After the wedding ceremony
I take the bridal couple aside
and say to them: “You have
just uttered your vow of con-
jugal loyalty. I think it would
be well to supplement that vow

with another simple one. Don’t
laugh at me when I tell you
w^hat it is. It’s the vow not to
speak harsh, bitter, angry
words to each other. You love
one another so much now that
you can scarcely conceive of
yourself doing such a thing.
But it can happen, and the

best way to safeguard the
beauty and integrity of your
love is to promise each other
on your wedding day that you
will go through your whole life
without marring that love with
bitter, ugly words. Differences,
of course, will arise, but they
can always be discussed in a
calm, iriendly and affectionate
manner. That spirit of sym-
pathy and understanding will
enable you to solve any prob-
lem, and if that spirit is lack-
ing, no problem, no matter
how small, can be properly
solved.”

I have never had a couple
refuse to take that second vow,
and I’ve never heard of one
such marriage hitting the rocks
nor even being clouded by do-
mestic strife. Of course, a mere
resolution is not a panacea for
unhappy couples. There is no
magic elixir for any sickness
of the heart. But this simple
little vow is an effective tech-
nique that safeguards the heart
from its most common enemy:
the angry, bitter word that
smarts and stings. If this
enemy is excluded, kindness,
sympathy, tenderness and love
will flourish and they consti-
tute a remedy more potent than
any medicine doctors can de-



18 THE LADDER OF LOVE

vise. It’s nature’s remedy and
God’s as well.

Many have written to tell me
that the second vow saved them
when strife was imminent.
“When you suggested that we
promise not to speak angrily
to each other,” writes Mar-
jorie, “Bob and I thought
it was sort of silly: that
we would ever be tempted
to do so seemed inconceiv-
able then. We know differ-
ently now. After the glamor of
the honeymoon yielded to life’s
work-a-day world, each of us
began to be conscious of little
mannerisms and habits of the
other, which got on our nerves.
We’re both rather high-strung
and often we were on the point
of ‘blowing our top.’ Then one
of us would say softly, ‘Re-
member our second vow.’
“Then we’d clasp hands in

silence for a moment or two,
and say in a calm kindly man-
ner whatever was in our minds.
It has worked like a charm.
The irritation quickly passes
under such treatment and we
have been able to solve our
problems without ever hurting
one another or saying things
we’d be sorry for later on. That
bloom of love you spoke of on
our wedding day is still there;
it’s made our home life beauti-
ful, and we know we’ll hold
fast to it to the end. We wish
others could share the secret

—

the precious secret—of our
happiness: our love has never
been sacrificed to the Moloch
of the angry, spiteful world.”

Marjorie’s letter is typical of

hundreds. That second vow is
but the application of the di-

vine command, “Thou shalt love
thy neighbor as thyself,” to the
closest of all neighbors—hus-
band and wife. I think it is
well for all young couples to
take that vow on their wedding
day and for couples already
married to promise each other
this very day that they shall go
through the rest of their lives

without ever uttering an angry
spiteful word to one another. It
will keep their love untarnished
and bring God’s blessing on
their home. Such is the trans-
forming and uplifting power of
love—its magic and its mys-
tery.

Just as other forms of life,

deprived of the sun’s rays,

wither and die, so human life,
robbed of the sunshine of love

and sympathy, loses its zest,

enthusiasm and vigor. Love is
the radiance which brightens

the world of human existence
with the warm sunshine of hap-
piness. This thought is beau-

tifully expressed by Francis
William Bourdillon in the lines,

with which I close:

The night has a thousand eyes,
And the day but one;
Yet the light of the bright

world dies
with the dying sun.

The mind has a thousand eyes,
And the heart but one;
Yet the light of a whole life

dies

When love is done.



The Home: A Citadel Of Love
Address Delivered on June 19, 1955

In passing an art store in
London one day, I happened to
spy a painting which has haunt-
ed my memory ever since. It
was a picture of a little thatch-
ed cottage in the English coun-
tryside. On the doorstep is
seated a mother holding her
babe in her arms. Back of them
stands the husband looking
down with tender affection up-
on his wife and babe. Love for
each other and for the little
child, which binds them more
closely together, lightens the
faces of each with a beautiful
radiance.

Coming along the roadside
are two white-robed nuns who
turn to gaze upon the tender
scene. Then one of them re-
marks, “Ah, Sister! There too is
a sanctuary.”

Yes, every home should be a
sanctuary, an ark of the Coven-
ant, a house of God, and a gate-
way to Heaven. It should be a
citadel of love, and we propose
to showT how the twofold com-
mandment to love God and
one's neighbor may be best ful-
filled therein. From the Chris-
tian home as from a wellspring
love will flow out and leaven all
of society.

“A dining room table,” ob-
serves Simeon Strunsky, “with
children's eager, hungry faces
around it, ceases to be a mere
dining room table, and becomes
an altar.” Christ should be the

head of every home, the witness
of every deed, the auditor of
every spoken word, and the
reader of every thought that
stirs in the silent kingdom of
the soul.

The home should be distin-
guished above all by a spirit of
love which binds husband, wife
and children in the closest
union that exists upon this
earth. Conjugal love transforms
two persons who were probab-
ly complete strangers for the
first eighteen or twenty years
of their lives into the most inti-
mate and dearest of friends —
making them one in mind,
heart, body and soul. Obvious-
ly the divine command, “Thou
shalt love thy neighbor as thy-
self,” applies with peculiar and
unique force to husband and
wife and to their offspring.

Cure for Delinquency

By words and deeds of sym-
pathy, kindness and affection
they must strive each day to
deepen and strengthen the love,
which was consecrated by a vow
on their wedding day, until it
becomes the most beautiful,
tender and sacred love of their
lives. They will do this best by
twining their love around the
love of God as the fragile vine
twines its tendrils around the
stalwart oak and thus with-
stands all the winds that blow.
Conjugal love which warms it-
self at the fire of divine love



20 THE LADDER OF LOVE

will never grow cold. God will
be with them in the bright mor-
ning of their journey, at high
noontide and when the shadows
of evening lengthen around
them.

Parents are under a divine
obligation to love their children

and to rear them in the fear and
love of God. '‘But if anyone
does not take care of his own,”
says St. Paul, “and especially of
his own household, he has de-
nied the faith and is worse than
an unbeliever.” 1 Parents are
a child’s best teachers, and the
lessons he learns at a mother’s
knee are the ones which he is
most likely to carry to the jour-
ney’s end. “Train up a child in
the way he should go,” says the
Book of Proverbs, “and when
he is old, he will not depart
from it .”2

The only real cure for juve-
nile delinquency consists in
proper parental care and direc-
tion. “A return to old fashioned
home and Church life,” says J.
Edgar Hoover, “is essential if
we are to provide an effective
remedy for juvenile delinquen-
cy.” Parents must teach their
children by precept and train
them by example.

Carving A Masterpiece

One day Michelangelo was
passing along one of the streets
of Florence when he saw a large
block of Carrara marble lying in
the gutter. It had been hacked

1 1 Timothy 5:8
2 22:6

and cut by an unskilled sculptor
and thrown away as worthless.
Michelangelo had it brought to
his studio and there he labored
for months, carving that marble
into the likeness of the youth-
ful King David. When the statue
was first unveiled it created a
sensation. It seems to be instinct
with the very breath of life. In-
deed, when the sculptor had
finally completed it, he ap-
proached it and, striking it with
his mallet, cried, “Speak!
Speak!” For centuries it has
stood there in the Pitti Palace,

speaking its message of beauty,
perfection to all visitors. It has

been acclaimed as one of the
great masterpieces of all time.

Parents, however, are called
upon to achieve a still greater
transformation and a still great-
er masterpiece. They take a
babe, unable to utter a word or
lift a finger to help itself and
over the years they transform it
into a well-trained child, fash-

ioned into the image of God.
They transform the veined mar-
ble of flesh and blood into a
living masterpiece which will
dwarf into insignificance any
inanimate statue of marble.

Thus are parents designed by
God to be the greatest of all
sculptors, and woe unto them if
they waste their opportunity
and turn out a spoiled product.
“What is more noble,” asks St.
John Chrysostom, “than to form
the minds of youth? He who
fashions the morals of children
performs a task in my judgment



THE HOME: A CITADEL OF LOVE 21

more sublime than that of any
painter or sculptor.”

One of the most beloved of
all the kings of France is Louis
IX, who was elevated to saint-
hood. Knowing all the tempta-
tions which would surround
him when he would be on the
throne, his saintly mother,
Queen Blanche, said to him
when he was a child of twelve:
“Louis, my son, I love you most
dearly, but sooner would I see
you a corpse at my feet, and
France bereft of an heir to the
throne, than have you commit
one mortal sin.” Louis never
forgot those words.

If Queen Blanche, in spite of
the engrossing duties of state,

could pay so much attention to
the religious training of her son,
surely the mothers of today in
the private walks of life can do
as much. Though their sons may
not ascend the thrones of Kings,
they can ascend the thrones of
high citizenship, honest and
faithful in the discharge of all
their duties. There is more truth
than poetry in the saying, “The
hand that rocks the cradle is the
hand that rules the world.”

Family Prayer

Workers in large factories
and dwellers in cities are daily
breathing an atmosphere laden
with smoke, soot and dust. After
many years their lungs become
discolored by the defilement
which seeps in unknowingly
upon them. So likewise are

3 Matthew 18 :20

dwellers in our cities exposed
to a pagan atmosphere which
tends to leave its mark upon
their hearts. The home must be
alive to this danger and seek by
positive and vigorous measures
to counteract its debilitating in-
fluence. Parents must strive to
keep the souls of their children
white and clean and delicately
sensitive to God’s holy laws.

One of the practices that will
help to do this is family prayer.
“Where two or three are gath-
ered together for my sake,” said
Jesus, “there am I in the midst
of them.” 3 In a pastoral letter
our bishops declare: “We heart-
ily commend the beautiful prac-
tice of family prayer . . . The
presence of Jesus will surely be
a source of blessing to the home
where parents and children
unite to offer up prayer in com-
mon. The spirit of piety which
this custom develops will sanc-
tify the bonds of family love
and ward off the dangers which
often bring sorrow and shame.”

The experience of the Church
the world over testifies abund-
antly to the profound influence
of family prayer in preserving
the faith intact, in stimulating

Christians to lives of virtue and
holiness, and in keeping alive
in them the consciousness of the
abiding presence of God. For
this reason the practice of say-
ing grace aloud before and after
all the meals should be observ-
ed in every home.

Especially commendable is
the custom of reciting together
immediately after the evening



22 THE LADDER OF LOVE

meal the rosary. The rosary may
well be called the thermometer

of Christianity. Where it is
used, Christianity is flourishing;

where it is neglected, Christian-

ity falls to a low ebb. Pope Pius

IX was accustomed to say: “In

the whole of the Vatican there

is no greater treasurer than the

rosary. If you desire peace in

your hearts, in your homes, in

your country, assemble every

evening to recite the rosary.

These are my last words to you:
the memorial I leave behind

me.”

Father Abram J. Ryan, poet-
priest of the South, expressed

in poetic form what the rosary
means to all who make it their
daily prayer:

Sweet blessed beads! I would

not part

With one of you for
richest gem

That gleams in kingly

diadem;
You know the history of
my heart.

Family Holy Communion

Another means by which par-

ents can help to fashion their

children into the image of Jesus

is that of receiving together

frequent and even daily Holy

Communion. No influence is so
powerful in strengthening one

to live a good and holy life as

the practice of frequently re-

ceiving our Eucharistic Lord.

In Holy Communion the Bread
of Angels becomes our daily

bread and the manna for our
hungry souls.

An omnipotent God can be-
stow no greater gift upon mor-

tal man. How can any family
grow more deeply in the love of

God than by opening the door of
their hearts frequently, at least

weekly, to Him in Holy Com-
munion?

Closely associated with the

custom of frequent Holy Com-
munion is, of course, attendance

at weekday Mass. The great gift

of the Holy Eucharist comes to

us through the sacrifice of the

Mass. The individual who as-
sists at Mass devoutly offers up

to almighty God the same infin-
ite Victim Who was immolated
on Calvary’s Cross. The Mass

is therefore the supreme act of

adoration, thanksgiving, suppli-

cation and atonement. Parents

who wish to keep the love of
God burning in their hearts and
in the hearts of their children

will not fail to attend Mass to-

gether on one or more weekdays

each week.

To create the proper atmos-

phere a crucifix and holy pic-

tures should adorn the walls of

the Christian home. Especially

appropriate are pictures of the

Holy Family and of the Sacred

Heart of Jesus. Pope Leo XII

requested that all Christian

families be consecrated to the

Holy Family and model their

home after that of Jesus, Mary
and Joseph at Nazareth.

The enthronement of the Sac-

red Heart should be made in
everv he re. This consists in

setting up a picture of the Sac-



THE HOME: A CITADEL OF LOVE 23

red Heart with appropriate
prayers, and in consecrating the
family to the Sacred Heart in
permanent recognition of His
Kingship over the home. Surely
the daily sight of the heart
which loved man even unto
death will keep aflame the love
of God and of one another in
our own hearts.

Source of Strength

God is the source both of the
stability of a home and of its
happiness. “Our home joys,”
observes Johann Pestalozzi, “are
the most delightful earth af-
fords, and the joy of parents in
their children is the most holy
joy of humanity. It makes their
hearts pure and good; it lifts
men up to their Father in
heaven.”

That which constitutes the
atmosphere of the home, mak-
ing it so dear and precious to
all, is the spirit of love that
hovers over it and binds togeth-
er all its members with bonds
stronger than steel. In that con-
stant and abiding love one sens-
es most clearly the presence of
God in the home. “God is love,”
says St. John, “and he who
abides in love abides in God,
and God in him.”

4

The love of a youth for a
maid is sometimes fickle and
uncertain. But the love of father
and mother for their children
and for each other increases
with the years. Spring passes,
but autumn brings a richer

4 1 John 4 :16
5 1:8

beauty. It is on this note that
Eugene O’Neil ends his play Ah!
Wilderness:

Standing for a moment in the
full moonlight, Miller puts his

arm around his wife Essie, and
seeing his love-struck son Rich-
ard, says in a low voice:

“There he is—like a statue of
Love’s Young Dream.”

Then he sighs and speaks
with a gentle nostalgic melan-
choly:

“What’s it that the Rubaiyat
says:

“
‘Yet, ah, that spring should

vanish with the rose!

That youth’s sweet-scented
manuscript should close!’

”

Then throwing off his melan-
choly, he says, with a loving
smile at his wife:

“Well, spring isn’t everything,

is it, Essie? There’s a lot to be
said for autumn. That’s got
beauty, too. And winter — if
you’re together.”

Ah! Yes, rf you're together!
No matter what winds may
blow, the family bound togeth-
er by the strong bond of the
love of God and of one another
will remain intact. It is like the
house that is built upon the
rock.

The Supreme Achievement

We have indicated how par-
ents can show their love for
their children by making their
home a house of God, where
love characterizes the relations



24 THE LADDER OF LOVE

of all the members of the fam-
ily. We should balance the pic-
ture by pointing out that chil-
dren too have duties. “Honor
thy father and thy mother,” is
the command of God Himself.
Children must honor, love and
obey their parents in all that is
not sin.

Hear the instruction of thy
father,” warns the Book of Pro-
verbs, “and forsake not the law
of thy mother,” 5 To the same
effect are the words of St. Paul:
“Children, obey your parents in
the Lord, for that is right. ‘Hon-
or thy father and thy mother’

—

such is the first commmand-
ment with a promise—that
it may be well with thee,
and that thou mayest be long-
lived upon the earth.’ ” G

All too often sons and daugh-
ters realize how much they owe
to their parents only after they
have passed away. Then their
eyes moisten and a lump forms
in their throats as they say,
“How I wish I could show them
how much I appreciate all that
they have done for me and how
much I really love them.” Far
better than to place flowers on
their graves is to show your
love for them now, while they
are still living. God will rich-
ly reward the children who

honor and obey their parents
and love them next to God.
The building of a stable home

where peace, joy and love
abide constitutes the supreme
achievement in life. No other
enterprise can compare with it
in importance to the individual
and to society. Neither can suc-
cess in business or politics, in

social or professional life or in

any other field, act as a substi-
tute for failure in the building

of a stable and happy home.
Fame and loneliness are sorry
substitutes for domestic happi-
ness, the essence of which is the
enduring love of one’s family.
To the parents and the chil-

dren of America, I say in clos-
ing: “Make your home a house
of God and a gateway to Heav-
en. Make it a citadel of love,
where you fulfill the twofold
command to love God with your
whole heart and soul and your
neighbor as yourself. Make it
a shrine of holiness where
young lips lisp the sweet name
of Jesus and dwell in the com-
panionship of the saints and
angels, touching earth with
their feet but heaven with their
heads. In such a home you will
best learn the meaning of those
words of the Beloved Disciple,
“God is love, and he who abides
in love abides in God, and God
in him.”

6 Epesians 6 :l-3



The Mark Of A Christian
Address Delivered on June 26, 1955

“Master, which is the great
commandment in the law?”
This question, put to Jesus by
the doctor of the law, looks in-

nocent enough, but in reality is
loaded. The rabbinical com-
mentators had teased out of the
Mosaic law no less than 613
ceremonial and moral precepts.
Some of these were styled
heavy and others light

, and bit-
ter controversies raged as to
which was the most important.

Slashing like a scythe through
massive weeds, Jesus cuts
through the confused tangled
mass of casuistic controversy
and sums up “the whole law
and the prophets” in the two-
fold command: Love God 'with
your whole heart and for His
sake love your neighbor as
yourself. This is the Gospel
which Jesus preached in season
and out of season and which He
exemplified each day of His
life, He lifted the term “neigh-
bor” from its narrow meaning
of a member of the same tribe
or clan to any human being.
To His disciples Jesus said:

“A new commandment I give
you, that you love one another;
that as I have loved you, you
also love one another. By this
will all men know that you are
my disciples, if you have love
for one another.” 1 This is the
mark which is forever to dis-

1 John 13:34-35
2 Galations 5:14-15

tinguish His disciples, the un-
failing credential by which they
are to be recognized. So earn-
estly did the early Christians

strive to fulfill this command-
ment that the Romans were
wont to say, “See these Chris-
tians! How they love one an-
other.”

Reflecting the supreme im-
portance Christ attached to this
commandment, St. Paul de-
clares: For the whole law is
fulfilled in one word: “Thou
shalt love thy neighbor as thy-
self. But if you bite and de-
vour one another, take heed or
you will be consumed by one
another.”2 Hence it is only
when we strive with undiscour-
ageable good will, day in and
day out, to love one another
that we are worthy of the name
of Christians.

Love Your Enemies

It is not too difficult to love
those near and dear to us, those
who are pleasant and agreeable
to us and who love us. It is
more difficult, however, to love
those who are unattractive, dis-
agreeable, who irritate, hate
and hurt us. But even these we
are called upon by Christ to
love.

“You have heard,” declared
Jesus, “that it was said, ‘An eye
for an eye/ and, ‘A tooth for a
tooth.’ But I say to you not to
resist the evildoer; on the con-



26 THE LADDER OF LOVE

trary, if someone strikes thee on
the right cheek, turn to him the
other also; and if anyone would
go to law with thee and take
thy tunic, let him take thy cloak
as well; and whoever forces
thee to go for one mile, go with
him two.”3

Does this sound like a strange
and revolutionary doctrine?
Yes, and it is. When it fell from
the Savior’s lips in the Sermon
on the Mount it must have
seemed incredibly strange to
His hearers; even after the
lapse of nineteen centuries it
still seems strange. Yet there
is no mistaking Christ’s mean-
ing, for He then proceded to
reiterate it with unequivocal
clarity.

“You have heard,” He con-
tinued, “that it was said, ‘Thou
shalt love thy neighbor, and
shalt hate thy enemy.’ But I say
to you, love your enemies, do
good to those who hate you,
and pray for those who perse-
cute and caluminate you, so that
you may be children of your
Father in heaven, who makes
his sun to rise on the good and
the evil, and sends rain on the
just and the unjust. For if you
love those who love you, what
reward shall you have? Do not
even the publicans do that?
And if you salute your brethren
only, what are you doing more
than others? Do not even the
Gentiles do that? You therefore

3 Matthew 5:38-41
4 Matthew 43-48

are to be perfect, even as your
heavenly Father is perfect.” 4

This is not easy to do. It goes
against the grain of our fallen
human nature which clamors
for vengeance and returns blow
for blow and hate for hatred.
But it is only in proportion as
we go against the grain of the
old Adam and rise above the in-
stinctive urge for vengeance
that we are worthy to be called
followers of Christ. It is the

unfailing mark of a true Chris-
tian.

True Love

True, it may be psychologic-
ally impossible to have an emo-
tional fondness for some peo-
ple, especially for those who ir-
ritate, hate, hurt and persecute
us. But, as we have previously
pointed out, love is not to be
identified exclusively with such
an instinctive or emotional re-
action. Love is rooted in the
rational will, and hence it is
always possible to wish and to
will the deepest welfare, happi-
ness and the eternal salvation of
every person, be he friend or
foe, and to strive to assist him
in the attainment of those great
goods.

That is true and effective
love; it is love not “in word or
in tongue,” as St. John says,
“but in deed and in truth.” How
can anyone prove his love more
effectively than by striving to
help an individual achieve the
greatest values in life and in
eternity? By smothering our
resentment, choking the instinc-



THE MARK OF A CHRISTIAN 27

tive clamor for vengeance,
crowding back the hatred, and
reaching out a hand to a broth-
er in need, we demonstrate our
love for him most authentically.
Back of his scowling counten-
ance we see the lineaments of
the face of Christ and we seek
to free the divine image within
him from the fetters of hatred
and sin. Surely that is love “in
deed and in truth.”

Thus far we have set forth
the teaching of Christ concern-
ing the great commandment.
We shall now show how it has
been put into practice. Kather-
ine Drexel of Philadelphia was
a young lady of great wealth
and social prestige: every door
eagerly opened to welcome her.
A life of ease and pleasure in
high society stretched out be-
fore her. But upon learning of
the plight of the Indians, the
pitiful lack of schools and
teachers, she took their cause
to heart.

In the 1880’s she traveled
through the entire Indian coun-
try, covering more miles than
St. Paul did in all his voyages.
She journeyed by stagecoach,
canoe, horseback or burro, stay-
ing overnight in primitive mis-
sion stations or ruder inns, that
she might help those who need-
ed it most. She poured out mil-
lions to build schools for them.
She journeyed to Rome and
pleaded with Pope Leo XIII to
send them devoted Sisters to
spend their lives in teaching
and caring for them.

Looking at her with his pierc-
ing eyes, the venerable Pontiff
replied, “Why not become a Sis-
ter yourself, my child, and min-
ister to them?” The challenge
stirred her deeply. It was one
thing to give her millions; it
was another thing to give her-
self. She decided to give both.

Founding the Sisters of the
Blessed Sacrament for Indians
and Colored People, Mother
Katherine Drexel devoted her
talents, her wealth, her un-
bounded love and her life to
these underprivileged people.
For sixty-five years she labored
among them, bringing to them
the tenderness and the love of
Christ.

At her death on March 3,
1955 at the age of 96, 63 schools
and institutions and one univer-
versity, scattered over 21 states
and staffed by 501 of her Sis-
ters, stood as living monuments
to her Christlike love for peo-
ple who have so often been the
victims of the white man’s pre-
judice and hate. There were
tears in the eyes of a million
Negroes and a hundred thou-
sand Indians when they learned
that the big-hearted Sister,
whom they loved as a mother,
was no longer among them.

Rose Hawthorne

Not less striking is the case of
Rose Hawthorne, the daughter
of the noted American novelist,
Nathaniel Hawthorne. Along
with her husband, George Par-
sons Lathrop, assistant editor of
The Atlantic Monthly

,

she em-



28 THE LADDER OF LOVE

braced the Catholic faith. Upon
learning from a Paulist Father
the desperate plight of a cancer
patient, at whose bedside he
has just ministered, Rose deter-
mined to visit her. She found a
woman of refinement, left with-
out money and without friends,
who had became a city charge
at Blackwell’s Island. Soon she
was ministering to her and to
other needy victims of incur-
able cancer.

Shortly after the death of her
husband she founded in 1889
an order of Sisters, known as
Servants of Relief for Incurable

Cancer. She established in New
York St. Rose’s Free Home for
Incurable Cancer and later Ros-
ary Hill Home in Hawthorne,
New York. “I am trying,” she
said, ‘‘to serve the poor as a ser-
vant. I wish to serve the can-
cerous poor because they are
avoided more than any other
class of sufferers.”

Often she would arise at
night to attend the sick and the
dying and to speak a word of
comfort and of love to them
when their pains became in-
tense. Virtually every patient
felt the warm clasp of her hand
as his life ebbed away amid the
soft gentle murmur of her pray-
ers. A member of one of the
most distinguished families in
America, Rose Hawthorne
Lathrop was putting into prac-
tice the words of our Blessed
Lord when He said: “A new
commandment I give you, that
you love one another.” As the
recipients of her love, she chose

not her social equals but the
poor and the abandoned, victims
of one of the most painful of all
human afflictions.

Katherine Drexel and Rose
Hawthorne Lathrop reached up
gentle hands to take the glor-
ious ideal of love of neighbor
out of the blue of the skies
and weave it into the warp and
woof of their daily lives. They
demonstrated what rich and
glorious fruits are achieved
when human life is motivated
by a generous and unselfish
love. In a world like ours such
persons of undiscourageable

good will and unfailing love
are, in the words of George El-
iot, like “ a fine quotation from
the Bible ... in a paragraph of
today’s newspaper.” Their lives
show that love is the strongest
force in the world. As Shakes-
peare said, love is

. . . An ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and

is never shaken;
It is the star to every wan-

dering bark.

St. Francis of Assisi.

“If we love one another,” says
the Beloved Disciple John, “God
abides in us and His love is per-
fected in us. In this we know
that we abide in Him and He in
us, because He has given us of
His spirit. And we have seen,
and do testify, that the Father
hath sent His Son to be Savior
of the world. Whoever confess-
es that Jesus is the Son of God,
God abides in him and he in
God. And we have come to



THE MARK OF A CHRISTIAN 29

know, and have believed, the
love that God has in our behalf.
God is love, and he who abides
in love abides in God, and God
in him.”

These are the words upon
which St. Francis of Assisi oft-
en meditated and which he
sought to put into daily prac-
tice. As a youth Francis Berna-
done was a fastidious dresser,
a courtier of pleasure, a suitor

of beauty, eager for fun and
merriment. As he was riding
across the Umbrian plain, he
met a ragged leper begging
alms. Putting the spurs into his

steed, he turned his face away
to escape the repulsive sight.
Then suddenly he heard a voice
whispering, “Amen I say to you,
as long as you did it not to one
of these least, neither did you
do it to Me.” 5

Reining in his steed, he re-
turned and dismounted. Taking
the golden florins from his silk-
en waistcoat, he put them in
the beggar’s outstretched hand.
Then as he took him in his arms
he said, “You are my brother
and I love you as Christ does.”

It was the most difficult
thing Francis had ever done;
but it marked the turning point
in his life. He had found his
client and his life work. He
renounced all riches that he
might dedicate himself to the
poor, the sick and the lepers.
His bride henceforth was Lady
Poverty; even the clothes on

5 Matthew 25 :45

his back he gave away. With
a cloak given to him by the
Bishop of Assisi, he went off
into the woods of Mount Subas-
ia, singing for joy. All the

things of nature—the wind, the
sun, the sky, the flowers, grass

and trees, the birds and beasts
of the field—were his posses-
sions now, his “brothers and
sisters,” and God was his love
supreme.

God-intoxicated Man

So filled with love did he be-
come that he has been called
the “God-intoxicated man.” His
love of God and of all His crea-
tures flowed from him in words
so tender that they seem like
lyrics of love. The prayer which
he gave to the world is com-
monly ranked by people of all
faiths as second only to The
Lord’s Prayer.

“Lord,” prayed Francis,
“make me an instrument of Thy
peace. Where there is hatred,
let me sow love; where there is
injury, pardon; where there is
doubt, faith; where there is de-
spair, hope; where there is
darkness, light; where there is
sadness, joy.

“O Divine Master, grant that
I may not seek so much to be
consoled as to console; to be un-
derstood as to understand; to be
loved as to love; for it is in giv-

ing that we receive, it is in par-
doning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are
born to eternal life.”

Recalling the poverty of Jesus



30 THE LADDER OF LOVE

and His burial in a borrowed
grave, Francis prayed, “O poor-
est Jesus, the grace I beg of
Thee is to bestow on me the
treasure of the highest poverty.

Grant that the distinctive mark
of our Order may be never to
possess as its own anything
under the sun for the glory of
Thy Name.” The Franciscan Or-
der, which encircles the globe
like a beautiful rosary of self-

effacing love, is the lengthened
shadow of the personality of its
Christlike founder, the Pover-
ello of Assisi.

True to his injunctions, it will
be found not among the rich
and powerful, but among the
poor, the afflicted and the low-
ly. Thus did Francis weave
into the tapestry of the world’s
culture and civilization the gol-
den thread of Christ’s law of
love: “A new commandment
I give to you, that you love one
another.” More than any other
man since the time of Christ,
Francis has taught us to see in
the ragged poor, in the leper,
and in all the afflicted the
lineaments of the face of Jesus
and to love them as our broth-
ers.

Love Conquers All

“How lonely we are in the
world,” remarked Thackery.
“You and I are but a pair of in-
finite isolations, with some fel-
low-islands a little more or less
near to us.” But this is not the
society of Christians wherein

G Romans 12 :5

each man is a brother, full of
solicitude and love for all. “We
are,” as St. Paul tells, “all
members one of another.” 6 This
union is further deepened by
our common membership in the
Mystical Body of Christ: He is
the head and we are the mem-
bers.

During a serious illness John
Donne, the English poet, hear-
ing the death bell tolling for an-
other, remarked: “The Church
is Catholic, universal, so are all

her actions, all that she does be-

longs to all . . . Who bends not
his ear to any bell which upon
occasion rings? But who can
remove it from that bell which
is passing a piece of himself out

of this world? No man is an
island, entire of itself; every

man is a piece of the continent,
a part of the main.”

“Love your enemies,” said
Jesus, “do good to those who
hate you, and pray for those
who persecute and calumniate
you.” Yes, the best way both
morally and psychologically, to
overcome one’s enemies is to
love them. Lincoln perceived

this truth and practiced it. At
a dinner in Washington, he
spoke kindly and even in en-
dearing terms of some of the
Confederates.

“I am surprised, Mr. Presi-
dent,” said an elderly lady
nearby, “to hear you speak of
our enemies in such a kind way.
I should think you would seek
to destroy them instead of try-
ing to love them.”



THE MARK OF A CHRISTIAN 31

“But don’t I destroy them
as enemies,” replied Lincoln,

“when I make them our
friends?”

Such a procedure is not only
good Christianity but good
statesmanship as well.

An even more striking illus-
tration of this teaching of Jesus

was given by a priest during the
Civil War in Spain. At Sara-
gossa the communists were
leading a group of priests and
brothers to a place outside the

city where they were to be shot.

Turning to his Red captor, an
elderly priest said, “Will you
please cut these ropes from my
hands that I may bless you?”

“Yes,” sneered the commun-
ist, “I’ll cut them off you all
right,” as he seized his sword
and hacked off the priest’s
hands.

Then raising those bleeding
stumps aloft and tracing with
them the Sign of the Cross, the
priest said slowly, “God . . .

God . . . forgive you, and bless
you, and love you ... as I do!”

Probably no more striking
fulfillment of Christ’s command
to love your enemies and to
pray for those who persecute
you was given since Jesus,
dying on the Cross, raised His
eyes to Heaven and prayed for
His executioners, saying, “Fa-
ther, forgive them for they
know not what they do.”

Let us, in closing, write on
the tablets of our hearts and
memories the words of Jesus:

“Thou shalt love the Lord thy
God . . . and thy neighbor as
thyself. This is the law of the
prophets ... A new command-
ment I give you, that you love
one another as I have loved
you.” Yes, the love of God and
of our neighbor is the only lad-
der by which one can climb
from earth to heaven — the
golden ladder of love that never
faileth.



THE PURPOSE OF THE CATHOLIC HOUR

(Extract from the address of the late Patrick Cardinal Hayes at the in-
augural program of the Catholic Hour in the studio of the National
Broadcasting Company, New York City, March 2, 1930.)

Our congratulations and our gratitude are extended to the National
Council of Catholic Men and its officials, and to all who, by their financial
support, have made it possible to use this offer of the National Broad-
casting Company. The heavy expense of managing and financing a
weekly program, its musical numbers, its speakers, the subsequent an-
swering of inquiries, must be met . . .

This radio hour is for all the people of the United States. To our
fellow-citizens, in this word of dedication, we wish to express a cordial
greeting and, indeed, congratulations. For this radio hour is one of
service to America, which certainly will listen in interestedly, and even
sympathetically, I am sure, to the voice of the ancient Church with its
historic background of all the centuries of the Christian era, and with
its own notable contribution to the discovery, exploration, foundation
and growth of our glorious country . . .

Thus to voice before a vast public the Catholic Church is no light
task. Our prayers will be with those who have that task in hand. We
feel certain that it will have both the good will and the good wishes of
the great majority of our countrymen. Surely, there is no true lover
of our Country who does not eagerly hope for a less worldly, a less
material, and a more spiritual standard among our people.

With good will, with kindness and with Christ-like sympathy for
all, this work is inaugurated. So may it continue. So may it be ful-
filled. This word of dedication voices, therefore, the hope that this radio
hour may serve to make known, to explain with the charity of Christ,
our faith, which we love even as we love Christ Himself. May it serve
to make better understood that faith as it really is—a light revealing
the pathway to heaven; a strength, and a power divine through Christ;
pardoning our sins, elevating, consecrating our common every-day duties
and joys, bringing not only justice but gladness and peace to our search-
ing and questioning hearts.



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