Love produces love

Conferences of the Rev. Père Lacordaire, p. 377

Catholic doctrine appearing in the world does not say like Spartacus: “Arouse, arm yourselves, lay claim to your rights”— it says, with calm and simplicity, “Love one another.” If there is any one among you who complains that he is not loved, let him love the first: love produces love. When two shall love each other, and the joy of their hearts shall be seen, a third will come who will desire to be loved also in giving his love; and then a fourth. That which is wanting to you is not a right, it is a virtue. Now no law can give you a virtue, no victory can create it for you. If Spartacus had vanquished, the world would have become on the morrow what it was the day before: the slaves would have become masters, the masters slaves; and yet all those victors, intoxicated with the spoils of Rome, would have slain each other in the name of fraternity. A virtue is not born upon battlefields; the soul is the only ground in which God sows its seed and from which he gathers the harvest … the kingdom of God is within you; the land is your soul, and you have just received the seed; it is contained in these words: Love one another.