Faith Works Through Love

Aristotle, Father Hugo explained, wished us to live according to our intellect, but "the just man lives by faith."  We had to conform our lives according to faith--that was the teaching of the Jews before Christ..."Without faith it is impossible to please God."

Faith that works through love is the mark of the supernatural life. God always gives us a chance to show our preference for Him. With Abraham it was to sacrifice his only son. With me it was to give up my married life with Forster. You do these things blindly, not because it is your natural inclination--you are going against nature when you do them--but because you wish to live in conformity with the will of God.

Love is a commandment, Father Hugo said. It is a choice, a preference. If we love God with our whole hearts, how much heart have we left? If we love with our whole mind and soul and strength, how much mind and soul and strength have we left? We must live this life now. Death changes nothing. If we do not learn to enjoy God now we never will. If we do not learn to praise Him and thank Him and rejoice in Him now, we never will.

Fearful thoughts, but glorious too! Not like that retreat of Daedelus in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man....--Dorothy Day, The Long Loneliness, pg. 256-257