The Dialogue

How every virtue and every defect is obtained by means of our neighbour.

" I WISH also that thou shouldest know that every vfrtue is obtained by means of thy neighbour, and likewise, every

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defect, he, therefore, who stands in hatred of Me, does an injury to his neighbour, and to himself, who is his own chief neighbour, and this injury is both general and particular. It is general because you are obliged to love your neigh bour as yourself, and loving him, you ought to help him spiritually, with prayer, counselling him with words, and assisting him both spiritually and temporally, according to the need in which he may be, at least with your goodwill if you have nothing else. A man therefore, who does not love, does not help him, and thereby does himself an injury ;, for he cuts off from himself grace, and injures his neigh bour, by depriving him of the benefit of the prayers and of the sweet desires that he is bound to offer for him to Me. Thus, every act of help that he performs should proceed from the charity which he has through love of Me. And every evil also, is done by means of his neighbour, for, if he do not love Me, he cannot be in charity with his neighbour ; and thus, all evils derive from the soul's deprivation of love of Me and her neighbour ; whence, inasmuch as such a man does no good, it follows that he must do evil. To whom does he evil ? First of all to himself, and then to hisneighbour, not against Me, for no evil can touch Me, except in so far as I count done to Me that which he does to himself. To himself he does the injury of sin, which deprives him of grace, and worse than this he cannot do to his neighbour. Him he injures in not paying him the debtr which he owes him, of love, with which he ought to help him by means of prayer and holy desire offered to Me for him. This is an assistance which is owed in general to every rational creature ; but its usefulness is more particular when it is done to those who are close at hand, under your eyes, as to whom, I say, you are all obliged to help one another by word and doctrine, and the example of good works, and in every other respect in which your neighbour may be seen to be in need ; counselling him exactly as youwould yourselves, without any passion of self-love ; and he (a man not loving God) does not do this, because he has no love towards his neighbour; and, by not doing it, he does him, as thou seest, a special injury. And he does him evil,.

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not only by not doing him the good that he might do him, but by doing him a positive injury and a constant evil. In this way sin causes a physical and a mental injury. The mental injury is already done when the sinner has conceived pleasure in the idea of sin, and hatred of virtue, that is, pleasure from sensual self-love, which has deprived him of the affection of love which he ought to have towards Me, .and his neighbour, as has been said. And, after he has conceived, he brings forth one sin after another against his neighbour, according to the diverse ways which may please his perverse sensual will. Sometimes it is seen that he brings forth cruelty, and that both in general and in particular.

" His general cruelty is to see himself and other creatures in danger of death and damnation through privation of grace, and so cruel is he that he reminds neither himself nor others of the love of virtue and hatred of vice. Being thus cruel he may wish to extend his cruelty still further, that is, not content with not giving an example of virtue, the villain also usurps the office of the demons, tempting, according to his power, his fellow-creatures to abandon virtue for vice ; this is cruelty towards his neighbours, for he makes himself an instrument to destroy life and to give death. Cruelty towards the body has its origin in cupidity, which, not only prevents a man from helping his neighbour, but causes him -to seize the goods of others, robbing the poor creatures ; sometimes this is done by the arbitrary use of power, and at other times by cheating and fraud, his neighbour being forced to redeem, to his own loss, his own goods, and often indeed his own person.

" Oh, miserable vice of cruelty, which will deprive the man who practises it of all mercy, unless he turn to kind ness and benevolence towards his neighbour !

" Sometimes the sinner brings forth insults on which often follows murder ; sometimes also impurity against the person of his neighbour, by which he becomes a brute beast full of stench, and in this case he does not poison one only, but whoever approaches him, with love or in conversation, is poisoned.

" Against whom does pride bring forth evils ? Against

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the neighbour, through love of one's own reputation, whence comes hatred of the neighbour, reputing one's self to be greater than he ; and in this way is injury done to him. And if a man be in a position of authority, he produces also injustice and cruelty and becomes a retailer of the flesh of men. Oh, dearest daughter, grieve for the offence against Me, and weep over these corpses, so that, by prayer, the bands of their death may be loosened !

" See now, that, in all places and in all kinds of people, sin is always produced against the neighbour, and through his medium ; in no other way could sin ever be committed either secret or open. A secret sin is when you deprive your neighbour of that which you ought to give him ; an open sin is where you perform positive acts of sin, as I have related to thee. It is, therefore, indeed the truth that every sin done against Me, is done through the medium of the neighbour."