Vigils Reading

GOD REQUIRES ONLY LOVE

A letter to Hugh the Recluse from St Anselm of Canterbury4

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The person who will have the grace to reign in the kingdom of heaven will

see the realization of everything desired in heaven and on earth, and nothing

unwanted will be realized in heaven or on earth. The love which will unite God

with those who will live there, and the latter among themselves, will be such that

all will love one another as themselves, and all will love God more than

themselves.

If someone asks what price, here is the response: the one who offers a

kingdom in heaven has no need of earthly money. No one can give God what

already belongs to God, since everything that exists is God’s. Yet God does not

give such a great thing unless one attaches value to it; God does not give it to one

who does not appreciate it. For no one gives what he prizes to someone who

attaches no value to it. Hence, although God has no need of your goods, God will

not give you such a great thing as long as you disdain to love it; God requires

only love, but without it nothing obliges God to give. Love, then, and you will

receive the Kingdom. Love, and you will possess it.

And since to reign in heaven is nothing other than to adhere to God and all

the saints, through love, in a single will, to the point that all together exercise

only one power, love God more than yourself, and you will already begin to have

what you wish to possess perfectly in heaven. Put yourself at peace with God and

with others – if the latter do not separate themselves from God – and you will

already begin to reign with God and all the saints. For to the extent that you now

conform to the will of God and to that of all others, God and all the saints will

concur with your will. Hence, if you want to be king in heaven, love God and all

others as you should, and you will merit to be what you desire.

However, you will not be able to possess it to perfection unless you empty

your heart of every other love… This is why those who fill their hearts with love

for God and their neighbor have no other will than that of God – or that of

another, provided it is not contrary to God. That is why they are faithful in

praying as well as in carrying on a dialogue with and remembering heaven; for it

is pleasing to them to desire God and to speak of someone whom they love, to

hear him spoken about, and to think of him. It is also why they rejoice with

those who are joyful, weep with those who are in pain, have compassion on the

suffering, and give to the poor; for they love others as themselves.