AC 1013 - A Likeness and An Image

AC 1013 [1-2, 3]

A likeness of the Lord means love to Him.

An "image" means spiritual love,
that is, love to the neighbor, or charity . . ..
That charity is the "image of God"
is most clearly evident from
the very essence of love, or charity.
Nothing else than love and charity
can make an image and likeness of anyone.
It is the essence of love and charity
to make of two as it were one.
When one person loves another as himself,
and more than himself,
he then sees the other in himself,
and himself in the other.
This may be known to everyone
if he only directs his attention to love,
or to those who love each other --
the will of the one is the will of the other,
they are interiorly as it were joined together,
and only in body distinct the one from the other.

Love to the Lord
makes a person one with the Lord,
that is, a likeness of Him.
So does charity, or love toward the neighbor,
make him one with the Lord, but as an image.

. . . the Lord has His abode with him who loves Him,
and also with him who loves his neighbor,
for this is love of the Lord.