357 part ii: meditations for more solemn feasts Highest Good, does not treat with love those who do him evil, does not merit to be loved by the Highest Good. Do you want God to love you? Love your neighbor for the sake of God. Indeed, if you daily receive from the hand of God so many good things, why would you not do good to others as well? God sacrificed His life for obtaining your salvation; and you flee from light labors on behalf of your neighbor’s salvation? Believe me: in [doing] this, neither do you love God, nor will God love you. “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (Jn 15:13). FOR THE FEAST OF ST. MARK THE EVANGELIST Before Holy Communion 1. “I am the true vine” (Jn 15:1). Imagine a farmer boasting of the goodness of his vines, exulting in the arrival of the produce, taking delight in the abundance of the grapes, but also inviting the harvesting workers (if he were not a miserly Euclio)168 to take some for themselves. Think about it, I say, but also, turning yourself to Christ, listen to Him as if He were speaking to you from the altar: He declares to be the true vine, and for this reason, He invites you gently and sweetly to approach Him. Hasten, therefore, to drink from the fruit of this Vine not only for pleasure, but also for quenching your thirst. 2. “Every branch of mine that bears no fruit, [H]e takes away” (Jn 15:2). Take note and strive to make your frequent Communions as fruitful as possible, for you have heard with what undoing Christ the Lord threatens [f.112r] the branch that does not bear fruit in 168 Euclio — “A penurious old [miser] in one of the comedies of Plautus (Aulularia)”: Ebenezer Cobham Brewer, Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, J.B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia, PA, 1894, p. 428. Cf. Titus Maccius Plautus, M. Actii Plauti Asinii Comici clarissimi comoediae quinque, Colophon, Argentorati 1514, pp. 73-101 (III. Aulularia).
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