Internal Effects of Charity

(Summa Theologica, II-II, qq. 28-33.)

Internal Effects of Charity.—There are three acts of the soul that result from love, viz., joy, peace, mercy. (a) The joy of charity is a repose or delight of the soul in the perfections of God and in the union of self and the neighbor with Him: “The fruit of the Spirit is charity, joy” (Gal., v. 22). (b) The peace of charity is the harmony of man with God, self and the neighbor: “There is much peace to those that love Thy law” (Ps. cxviii. 165). (c) Mercy is an inclination of the will to relieve the misery of another; it follows from charity, for love of the brotherhood “weeps with them that weep” (Rom., xii. 10, 15).