The foundation of a good spiritual life is love. Those who love others will be generous to them, demonstrating the way love, by its nature, will be giving. But it is important to note that the more someone develops and puts love into practice, the more they will discern other characteristics or qualities connected to and develop out of that love. This is why, as we engage love, we will find ourselves developing all kinds of virtues. Love is kind. It is long-suffering. It is encouraging. It is energizing. We can distinguish these characteristics which develop out of love, which are connected with love, and develop them on their own, and in doing so, we can see how love helps develop virtues which we can then further pursue on top of our embrace of love itself. Nonetheless, when we develop those characteristics or qualities as virtues in their own right, we must make sure we keep ourselves grounded with love, and that means, we must embrace them in ways which we can demonstrate the generous, giving nature of love. That way, we can develop various virtues without taking them away from the source and foundation of every virtue, that is, away from love; if we try to complete disassociate them from love, they will be for naught, as they will lead us astray. On the other hand, when we develop them alongside love, we will find ourselves embracing the fullness of what love is about, and become, in that fashion, more like God, growing in our perfection. If we want to do this, it is best to reflect upon the generous nature of love and use it as the foundation for our own personal development, for, as Śāntideva suggested, “Each of the perfections, beginning with generosity, is more excellent than its predecessor. One should not neglect a higher one for the sake of a lower, unless because of a fixed rule of conduct.”[1] We can say the development of each and every new virtue is more excellent than those which came before them only if they include what came before them. It is important to keep in mind compassion, and the charity which we should use along with it; for compassion helps us embrace the other with love, doing so, moreover, not through some legalistic assumption but rather, in a way which seeks the greatest good possible in a given situation. “Realizing this, one should always be striving for other’s well-being. Even what is proscribed is permitted for a compassionate person who sees it will be of benefit.” [2] This is why, even in the middle of fasts, monks and nuns, who personally engage greater discipline, often welcome people with feasts, putting forward charity above their normal discipline.
For our spiritual development, we should embrace compassion as it helps us love one another as ourselves; it does this by having us place ourselves in the position of the other and consider what it is we would want or need if we were in their position and try to make sure it is supplied. Compassion certainly was emphasized by various monastic communities for this reason:
The brothers used to say that each one ought to assume responsibility for his neighbour’s situation; to suffer with him in everything, to rejoice and to weep with him. One should have the same sentiments as though wearing the same body and be afflicted as though one suffered affliction oneself, as it is written: “We are a single body in Christ” [Rom 12:5] and “The multitude of believers had but one heart and a single soul” [Acts 4:32]. [3]
Love covers a multitude of sins. Those who are compassionate will often find themselves being asked to do things they either would desire not to do, or worse, think they should not do. Those who find themselves in such a situation will find their love being challenged, and they will have to determine what it is they will then do. The more they embrace love, the more compassionate they are, the more they will find their answer will be such as suggested by St. Paul who said he would risk losing his own salvation if he could help everyone he loved be saved. But because love covers a multitude of sins, by engaging our compassionate love, and helping those who need it, even if it means we will find other disciplines, or even expectations (like participating in divine liturgy) not being met, we will find ourselves moving closer to perfection than where we would find ourselves being if we merely followed what a rigid legalism which knew no love would suggest we should do. We must, in this sense, truly die to our selves, lose ourselves, in order to truly gain ourselves – the more we try to hold onto ourselves, and with it, even our own salvation, at the unjust expense of others, the further we will be from our salvation. Love will always transcend legalism; the church, understanding this, has always given the nod to mercy with economic dispensations, knowing that even its canonical disciplines cannot be seen as absolutes:
Precisely because of their exemplary and advisory character, in the practice of the Church the penalties laid down by the canons have always been relative and subject to economy. The application of the canons is, and always has been, a matter of economy; this does not necessarily mean that canonical penalties are reduced, but it does mean that they are adapted as closely as possible to the distinctiveness of each personal failure. [4]
This, truly, is something the church needs to always act upon in her relations to the world; she needs to be always merciful and kind, making sure that people within her domain are not hurt by harsh expectations and impossible burdens. It is through love and compassion, not a pursuit of power and worldly glory, that the church can follow through with it, and in doing so, fulfill its own calling. The more it ignores this foundation, the more it strays from the way it is meant to act. For the church is to be the body of Christ, and as the body of Christ, is to follow Christ and the merciful dispensation which Christ brought with him in the incarnation: “This whole mystery (which both humanity and divinity have completed together) was a dispensation of mercy and an act of love.” [5] Love, therefore, must be our personal, but also, communal foundation; without it, we obscure the image of God and impede our own perfection.
[1] Śāntideva, The Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra. Trans. Kate Crosby and Andrew Skilton (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995; repr. 1998), 41 [5.83].
[2] Śāntideva, The Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra, 41 [5.84].
[3] John Wortley, trans., The Anonymous Sayings Of The Desert Fathers: A Select Edition And Complete English Translation (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013), 249 [N389/18.44].
[4] Christos Yannaras, The Freedom of Morality. Trans. Elizabeth Briere (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1984), 181-2.
[5] St Leo the Great, Sermons. Trans. Jane Patricia Freeland CSJB and Agnes Josephine Conway SSJ (Washington, DC: CUA Press, 1996), 227 [Sermon 52].
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