must nevertheless aspire to it, for the higher you aim the more noble will be your conduct.
You will doubtless urge that you cannot feel such affection for one who is a stranger to you. But you should not regard your neighbor as a stranger. Behold in him rather the image of God, the work of His divine hands, and a living member of Christ.[1] Hence St. Paul tells us that when we sin against our neighbor we sin against Christ.[2] Look on your neighbor, therefore, not as a man but as Christ Himself, or one of His living members; for though he is not so in body, he is truly so by participation in the spirit of Christ, and by the reward which is promised to us, for Christ assures us that He will consider as done to Himself all that we do to our neighbor.
Think of the affection which ties of blood establish between creatures, and blush to let nature influence you more powerfully than grace. You will doubtless urge that your relatives are descended with you from the same ancestor, and that the same blood flows in your veins. Remember, however, that there are closer and stronger bonds uniting us as brethren in Christ. In God we have one Father; in the Church one mother; and in Jesus Christ one Lord and Saviour. Our faith springs from the same source which enlightens all Christians and distinguishes them from the rest of men. The object of our hope is the same kingdom, where we shall have but one heart and one soul. Baptism has made us children of the same
