But all is dark, all is silent. God is hidden: we cannot form a picture of Him in our minds. We have never seen God at any time, and we shall not see Him as long as we remain in the flesh.
But God and our Lord Jesus Christ walk the streets every day. We meet them whenever we go abroad. How is that? It is in the person of every one we meet, particularly of the poor, the miserable, and the despised. The promise is absolute: "Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of these, ye did it unto Me." Love one of these poor men, entertain a sentiment of compassion for him, and you have made a genuine act of love of God. Entertain an habitual love for him, and respect him for the sake of the One he represents, and you will form the habit of God's love in your soul.
When St. Martin cut his cloak in two, and gave half of it to a poor man he met on the roadside, our Lord appeared to him the same night with the half cloak upon his shoulders, and said: "Martin the catechumen (St. Martin was at that time under instruction for his baptism) has clothed Me in this garment."
In the account of the last judgment, everything is described as being settled on this one principle. "Then the King shall say to them that shall be on the right hand: Come, ye blessed of My Father, possess the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me to eat: I was thirsty, and you gave Me to drink: I was a stranger, and ye took Me in: naked, and ye clothed Me: sick, and ye visited Me. I was in prison, and ye came to Me. Then shall the just answer: Lord, when did we see Thee hungry, and fed Thee; thirsty, and gave Thee drink? and when did we see Thee a stranger, and took Thee in? or naked, and covered Thee? or when did we ever see Thee sick or in prison, and visit Thee? And the King answering, shall say to them: Amen, I say to you, as long as ye did it unto the least of these, my brethren, ye did it unto Me." [Footnote 119]
[Footnote 119: St. Matt. xxv. 34-40.]
This is what the saints understood and fully realized. St. Catharine of Sienna found an old woman sick of the leprosy. She was so disgusting and loathsome an object that everybody had deserted her, and she was perishing of neglect and starvation. The saint gladly took charge of her, cleansed her sores, prepared her food, and lavished upon her every possible attention. The mother of the saint was not so charitable. She heard of her daughter's proceedings, and became very angry. In her fear of the infection, she forbade her to attend the sick woman any longer. But St. Catharine pleaded our Lord's case so strongly that her mother was obliged to yield. Then the old woman, overcome by her miseries, took a dislike to her, and repaid her kindness by a constant torrent of the foulest abuse. St. Catharine, in spite of all this, never relaxed her kindness a moment. As a further trial, she caught the infection, and her hands were all covered with the loathsome disorder. But nothing deterred her from her purpose until she had the satisfaction of receiving the last breath of this poor creature, who died in sentiments of the deepest contrition. Then the saint finished her work by burying her with her own hands, and, as she cast the earth into the grave, those hands became instantly freed from all traces of disease, and became white and more beautiful than ever before.
If we love for God's sake, we shall love all, and no one will be excluded from our love. Love will flow from our hearts, like the water from a perpetual, inexhaustible fountain, which makes all the soil it waters fertile, producing rich fruits and beautiful flowers, These fruits and flowers of divine charity are well enumerated by St. Paul: "Charity is patient, is kind: charity envieth not, dealeth not perversely: is not puffed up; is not ambitious; seeketh not her own; is not provoked to anger; thinketh no evil: rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth: beareth all things; believeth all things; hopeth all things; endureth all things." [Footnote 120]
[Footnote 120: I Cor. xiii. 4-7.]