473 part iii: meditations for the commons unpleasant words said to you that caused your dissatisfaction,”232 for in the heart where there is no love for neighbor, God also is not there. After Holy Communion 1. Consider that the manner of making divine friendship is not unlike the one by which people make friends. People believe someone else to be their real friend, who complies not only with their requests, but also with their wills. Thus, God calls his friends such people whose will He perceives as matching His own in all things; as is clear from the exhortation to the apostles: “You are [M]y friends if you do what I command you” (Jn 15:14). How many are those who seek various ways of insinuating themselves [f.152v] into the friendship of princes and other people. As for you, you can easily become a friend of the immortal King if only you do His will. Indeed, what would you not be willing to do to become a friend of God and to have His favor, when you see indeed how servants do extraordinary, and sometimes lowly, duties in order to gain the favor of their lords? Beware, lest the sons of darkness be more prudent than you, who are a son of light (cf. Lk 16:8). 2. Consider that God shows you kindness out of pure love for you. Hence, it so happened, that He did not leave you in the world to perish, but called you to the religious life; that He did not rightly punish you there while you were sinning, as He usually does with many; that He was very patiently waiting for your improvement, whenever you fell and deviated from the way of perfection; that He enriched you each day; indeed, each moment, with graces; and He does so out of pure love of you. 232 A note in the margins of the manuscript attributes this quote to St. Philip Neri. Although this exact quote is not found among his sayings, something similar is found. Cf. Carlo Gasbarri, Filippo Neri nella testimonianza dei contemporanei, Città Nuova Editrice, Roma 1974, p. 66: “As for tolerance towards others, Philip said: ‘Howmuch patience Christ the King and Lord of Heaven and earth must have had with the Apostles, suffering from them many incivilities and bad manners … how much more should we put up with our neighbor if he is uncivil with us.’”
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