Our feelings towards others will be very much as our feelings within ourselves; and our feelings within ourselves will be, according to our faith in God, through Christ. Hence, as we have faith in God, so will be our kindness towards men. So true it is that Faith worketh by love. And this: Every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. And this also: In this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep His commandments. The peace which dwells within us will seek for objects over which to shed its own calm and blessedness. It will press outwards therefore towards our fellow men; softening what is evil in them; believing with the hope of charity all that should be found in them; bearing with meek patience all that is aggressive in them; dispersing abroad, with free and cheerful liberality, all that may be useful to them; obscuring and chastening down to the view all that is harsh, angular, and repugnant in them, as the brilliant haze of a fine October day softens down the hard outlines of a landscape, and mellows each object into a broad neutral tint of mild splendour. Do you desire to possess or increase in yourselves this most valuable and blessed state of heart and mind? Go to God, and He will give it you; wait on Him, and He will cause it to grow within you. Let your prayer be: Lord, increase our faith, and the result will be that the same Holy Spirit, by which Jesus answered their prayer, who then made it, will answer yours. You will exemplify Saint Peter's advice: Purifying your souls in the obedience of charity, with a brotherly love; from a sincere heart, love one another earnestly. This is true Catholicity, and the spirit of the Catholic Church in her well instructed individual members.
- text taken from Daily Bread - Bring a Few Morning Meditations for the Use of Catholic Christians by Father Richard Waldo Sibthorp