HOW WE GROW COLD IN HOLY LOVE
The soul is often saddened and troubled in the body to such an extent that it moves out from many of its members which remain deprived of movement and feeling. But it never forsakes the heart, staying on there always fully till the very end of life. Similarly, charity is sometimes so weakened and downcast in the heart that it is hardly seen in any action, and yet it continues to be entire in the highest part of the soul. This takes place when the fire of holy love remains covered, its flame choked under the ashes of a great number of venial sins, though it is not dead or put out. The presence of a diamond prevents the exercise and action of the ability which a magnet has of attracting iron. But the diamond does not destroy the ability, since the magnet will work as soon as the diamond is taken away. Similarly, the presence of venial sin does not in any way take from charity its force and power to work. It makes it numb in some way and deprives it of the use of its activity. Thus it remains without action, sterile and unfruitful. It is true that neither venial sin, nor even attachment to venial sin, is contrary to the essential purpose of charity, which is to prefer God to everything else.
All the more so since by venial sin we love something outside reason but not against reason. We give in to a creature a little too much, and more than is suitable, but without preferring it to the Creator. We are occupied, more than we should be, with earthly things but without for all that setting aside heavenly things. In short, this kind of sin delays us on the way of charity, but does not take us out of it. Therefore venial sin, which is not contrary to charity, never destroys charity either wholly or partially.
God told the Bishop of Ephesus that he had abandoned the charity he had at first (Rev 2:4). He does not say that he had no charity, but only that it was no longer what it was in the beginning, that is, it was no longer prompt, fervent, flourishing and fruitful. We are accustomed to say of some-one who from being bold, cheerful and lively becomes gloomy, sluggish and morose, that he is not now what he was before. We do not want to imply that he is not the same in substance but only in his behaviour. And so Our Lord has said that in the last days of the world the charity of many shall grow cold (Mt 24:12), that is, it will not be so active and courageous because of the fear and anxiety which will burden people’s hearts.
Certainly, desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin (Jas 1:15). But this sin, though it is sin indeed, does not always produce death of the soul, but only when it has a malice that is complete and fully grown, as St. James says. Here he indicates very clearly the difference between venial sin and mortal sin, and I do not understand how some persons of our time have dared to deny it.[1]
Nevertheless, venial sin is sin and hence it disturbs charity. It is not as something contrary to charity itself but as contrary to its activity and growth and even to its intention which is that we direct all our actions to God. This intention is violated by venial sin which directs the actions by which we commit it not really against God, but outside God and his will. If a tree is hard hit and stripped bare by a storm, we say that nothing is left, because though the whole tree remains it is without fruit. Similarly, when our charity is shaken by our attachment to venial sins, we say it is reduced and weakened. This is not because the habit of love is not entire in our hearts, but because it is without the works which are its fruits.
The non-christian philosophers were so attached to serious sins that among them truth was made prisoner of injustice. And so, as the great Apostle says although they knew God they did not honour him (Rom 1:18 and 21) in the way this knowledge required. This attachment did not extinguish the natural light of reason, but made it unfruitful. In the same way, the attachment to venial sin does not put an end to charity but makes it a slave, tied hand and foot, with its liberty and its activity restricted. This attachment, drawing us to the excessive enjoyment of created things, deprives us of the spiritual familiarity between God and us to which charity, like true friendship, urges us. As a result, this attachment makes us lose the inner help and assistance which are the vital and animating spirit of the soul. The absence of it causes a certain spiritual paralysis which, if not cured, leads us in the end to death. After all, charity, being an active virtue, cannot remain for long without either acting or dying. Charity, said our early Fathers, is of the nature of Rachel, who exemplifies it. Give me children, she said to her husband, or I shall die (Gen 30:1). And charity entreats the heart she has espoused to make her fruitful in good works or she will die.
We are rarely without many temptations in this mortal life. People who are mean, slothful and given to exterior pleasures, not used to fighting nor trained in spiritual warfare, hardly ever hold on to charity. Usually, they let themselves be surprised by mortal sin. This happens more easily because by venial sin the soul is prepared for mortal sin. It is like the man who continuing to carry the same calf every day, still carried it when it was a huge ox, getting accustomed little by little to its increasing weight. In the same way, whoever enjoys gambling with small coins will in the end gamble for silver coins, gold coins and horses, and after his horses, all his possessions. He who gives in to small outbursts of anger becomes in the end an angry man, impossible to live with. And he who gets into the habit of telling lies for fun is in great danger of lying with calumny.
Finally, Theotimus we say of those who have a very weak constitution that they have no life. They do not have one ounce or even a handful of it, because what is to come to an end quickly seems already not to be. And so those good-for-nothing persons, addicted to pleasure and attached to passing things, may well say that they no longer have charity, for if they have it they are on the way to lose it soon.
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[1] Luther, Calvin, Wyclif, followed by Baius, denied any difference between sins on grounds of gravity; for them all sins were mortal.