Order love in me
Order love in meHe has spoken elegantly: order; for with many, love is disordered. What they ought to love in the first place, they love in the second; what in the second, in the first. God is first to be loved with the whole heart; then the neighbor. Whoever loves children more than Christ loves with disordered love. Whoever loves parents more than the Word loves out of order. Whoever loves a wife more than the Bridegroom of the soul loves with disturbed order. Therefore order love in me: first God, then the things that are God’s.
Latin
Ordinate in me caritatem. Eleganter locutus est: ordinate; plurimorum quippe inordinata est caritas. Quod in primo loco debent diligere, diligunt in secundo; quod in secundo, in primo. Deus primus amandus est ex toto corde; deinde proximus. Qui filios plus quam Christum amat, inordinata caritate amat. Qui parentes plus quam Verbum, inordinate diligit. Qui uxorem plus quam sponsum animae, perturbato ordine amat. Ordinate ergo in me caritatem: primum Deum, deinde quae Dei sunt.