4. Is there one chief Commandment that includes all the others?
Yes; the Commandment of Charity—i.e., the Commandment of the love of God and of our neighbor.
5. How is this Commandment of Charity expressed?
It is expressed in these terms: 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole hearty and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the greatest and the first Commandment. And the second is like to this: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself' (Mark xii. 30, 31; Matt. xxii. 37-40).
§ 1. On the Love of God.
6. What is the love of God?
It is a virtue infused by God into our soul, by which we give ourselves up with all our heart to Him, the Sovereign Good, in order to please Him by fulfilling His will, and to be united with Him.
7. What qualities must our love of God have?
It must be, 1. Supernatural; 2. Sovereign; and 3. Active.
8. When is our love 'supernatural'?
Our love is supernatural when, with the help of God's grace, we love Him as we know Him, not only by our reason, but by our faith.
'Now the end of the commandment is charity, from a pure heart, and a good conscience, and an unfeigned faith. From which things some going astray, are turned aside unto vain babbling' (1 Tim. i. 5, 6). 'My just man liveth by faith; but if he withdraw himself, he shall not please my soul' (Heb. x. 38). By faith we know God, not only as the Creator of the world, and the Giver of all natural goods, which we can likewise perceive by our reason; but also as the Author and Giver of the supernatural graces and benefits; as the most merciful Father, who has most graciously adopted us, and has given His own Son, in order to save us, to sanctify us, and make us on© day eternally happy in the kingdom of His glory.
