It is a commonplace to say that charity is the fulfilment of the law. Did not St Paul say that charity is ‘the bond of perfection’ ? Charity is to the soul as the soul is to the life of the body, since it is the well-spring of our love of God, which in its expansiveness goes out to all others who claim our love. The love of God cannot stand still if it is not to become retarded and to lose its grip on the spirit. ‘In the way of God, he who does not go forward falls backwards.'l It is within human power, with the grace of God, to desire a greater love of God. As St Francis of sales said, ‘The disgusted sick man has no appetite for eating, yet has he an appetite to have an appetite; he desires no meat, but he desires to desire it.'2