Pilate, we are told, knew that it was through envy that Caiphas and Annas had delivered up Our Lord. Indeed, he would have to be extremely dullwitted not to have seen through the hatred with which they pursued this Victim.
Hardness of heart and consequent lack of charity can cause frightful damage to an otherwise fervent Catholic life. There are Catholics who work very hard in the field of the apostolate; they will leave nothing undone to help any deserving cause; they spend much time in prayer; they practice penance; possibly they emulate the saints in the voluntary sacrifices they impose upon themselves. It is saddening and frightening to find, as sometimes one does find, that such splendid gifts are all lost. Why? Through lack of charity. The type of person we have in mind will, at the same time that he works and prays and does penance, criticize harshly and regularly the sayings and doings of his neighbor. He will prove himself touchy almost to a childish degree if a syllable of criticism be directed against himself. He will brag of his successes; by an innuendo here and there in conversation he will let you in on all the great things he is doing and perhaps more than insinuate his superiority over others.
All this is pride and the poor man is stuffed with pride and cannot see it. If you dare to try to show it to him, you become Enemy Number One overnight. So most people leave him alone to carry on as he wants. It is calamitous to observe such selfdeception and terrifying to read what Our Lord has to say about it. Far better in God's sight so says St. Gregory is the man who, as a result of sin, even serious sin, is now humble in heart, than the person who, though he may have escaped weightier and grosser faults, is now filled with pride. Pride is the hardest of all sins to abandon. The Pharisees and the scribes, witnesses of Our Lord's miracles and of His divine patience, still remained chained to this vice.
A certain scribe once asked Our Lord "which was the first commandment of all." We know the answer he received that it was love or charity, love of God and love of the neighbor. But it is very well worth while pursuing the story to the end. The scribe, on hearing about love, made answer: "Well, Master, Thou hast said in truth that there is one God and there is no other besides Him. And that He should be loved with one's whole heart and with one's whole understanding and with one's whole soul and with one's whole strength. And to love one's neighbor as oneself is a greater thing than all holocausts and sacrifices."
This statement met with divine approval and that scribe was given an assurance that must surely have sent a thrill of joy through his heart. "Jesus, seeing that he had answered wisely, said to him: Thou are not far from the kingdom of God." Divine love, proving itself by supernatural love of one's neighbor, breaks down the barriers to grace which obstinacy and pride and boastfulness and an unforgiving disposition erect.
In how many ways does Our Lord strive to enforce this same lesson! In His account of the Last Judgment, in proposing His own special commandment, in His complaint to Saul on the Damascus Road, in parables like those of the rich man who forgot to help his neighbor and of the Good Samaritan who helped the forlorn stranger in all these ways the divine Teacher labors to impress upon all who would follow Him that love is the fulfilling of the law. "Without love," wrote Saint Therese, "the most brilliant deeds are nothing." She might have added that with love the tiniest trifles become diamonds for the eternal crown.
To love those who are naturally unlovable because one finds Christ in them; to discern Christ in those who are ungrateful, full of selfpity, who are prepared to take unfair advantage of what they consider to be one's credulity; to forget injuries and refuse to discuss them or even to allow one's own mind to dwell upon them; if one learns that another has spoken ill of one or has been unjust and false in his statements, to go out of one's way to show him marks of kindness, even to treat him as one's best friend; to admit one's own mistakes, one's own lack of consideration all this is not easy on human nature, but it leads to the perfection of the great commandment. It breaks in small pieces one of the big obstacles to the inflowing of grace into the soul. It wins from the Savior the divine encomium: "Thou art not far from the kingdom of God."
Jesus, teach me how to love, since my perfection consists in loving You and for Your sake loving my neighbor. Soul of Christ, sanctify me by the streams of grace flowing from the Sacred Heart into my soul, and breaking down as they flow
the obstinate barriers that would hold them in check, that would even divert them into other channels. Do not permit me to be separated from You.