94. Conjunction of the Lord with man and the reciprocal conjunction of man with the Lord is effected by loving the neighbour as oneself and loving the Lord above all things. To love the neighbour as oneself is to refrain from acting insincerely and unjustly towards him, not to hate him and burn with revenge against him, not to revile and defame him, not to commit adultery with his wife, and not to do other like things against him. Who cannot see that those who do such things do not love the neighbour as themselves? Those, however, who refrain from doing such things because they are evils against the neighbour and at the same time sins against the Lord deal in a sincere, just, friendly and faithful manner with the neighbour; and as the Lord does likewise, a reciprocal conjunction is effected. When there is reciprocal conjunction, whatever a man does to the neighbour he does from the Lord, and whatever a man does from the Lord is good. Then it is not the person but the good in the person that is the neighbour to him.
To love the Lord above all things is nothing else than to do no evil to the Word, because the Lord is in the Word, to do no evil to the holy things of the Church, because the Lord is in the holy things of the Church, and to do no evil to the soul of anyone, for the soul of everyone is in the hand of the Lord. Those who shun these evils as heinous sins love the Lord above all things. But this none can do except those who love the neighbour as themselves, for these two loves are joined together.