Chapter I. Nature of Charity

CHARITY, as treated of here, is an act of the will by which we love God for his own sake above all things, and our neighbour for the sake of God. The love of charity, then, is different from the love of concupiscence, by which we love God as our reward exceeding great, and desire to possess him in whom our supreme and perfect happiness is placed. This love of concupiscence is good and belongs to the virtue of hope, but it is imperfect. By charity we rise above the consideration of our own reward and happiness; we see in God the infinite Good, the Source and Origin of all good, and we rejoice in his infinite Perfection. We wish him all honour and glory and every good, and desire, as far as we can, to obtain it for him, because he is infinitely worthy of our wholehearted devotion. So that the formal object of charity, the reason why we love God, is his own infinite goodness and worth; for this reason we love him and our neighbour, for such is his will. He has made us all in his image and likeness; all rational creatures form the great family of God, our common Father; all are capable by grace of eternal happiness with him in heaven.

The most intimate union with God by charity is the end for which we were created, and it is our duty to prepare ourselves for this high destiny by exercising ourselves in charity while on earth. It is the highest and the noblest of virtues, the queen of all the virtues, the seal and bond of human perfection. That we might cultivate charity all the more assiduously God has commanded it in express terms: “ Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind.¹ ‘This is the greatest and the first commandment. And the second is like to this: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” We are bound, then, to love God above all other things, to cling to him, come what may, never to allow ourselves to be separated from him by sin, for: “‘ He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me.”² If we do this, we need have no scruples about our charity; even though we seem to have a tenderer feeling for husband, child, or friend than for God, we may call to mind that charity belongs essentially to the will; if our will is firmly fixed on God, so that we are prepared to suffer the loss of anything rather than of God, we substantially fulfil the greatest of the precepts, on which the law and the prophets hang.

All rational beings that are capable of friendship with God, and of becoming his children by grace, are to be loved for the sake of God in charity. This love of charity towards our fellow-men does not exclude love for them as friends or relatives. Love of others for any honest motive is good and praiseworthy, and may by being supernaturalized become supernaturally meritorious with God. By the precept of charity towards our neighbour we are bound to wish well to all, to pray for all, never to allow ourselves any thought, word, or deed which is incompatible with mutual love, and we are bound to help others in their necessities as far as we can.

¹ Matt. xxii 37.

² John xiv 21.

As charity is the queen of all the virtues, it binds of itself under pain of grave sin, but when the matter is light the sin will be only venial. Sins, then, against charity are grievous of themselves, as we shall see while treating of them separately.

We are bound sometimes to elicit acts of charity, but, as we have already seen, it is very difficult to determine exactly how frequently. Nor is it necessary to attempt the task, for implicit acts such as are contained in a devout recital of the Our Father, sorrow because God is continually being offended by sin, pious meditation on the Passion of Christ, suffice for the fulfilment of the obligation. We must not suppose that it is difficult to love God with the love of charity, for God has commanded it, and his infinite love towards us and the desire he has of being loved by us in return prompt him to give us abundant grace to enable us to comply with his precept. By becoming bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh in Jesus Christ, God has made it especially easy for us to love him, inasmuch as it is easy for us to understand and to appreciate the infinite tenderness and loveliness of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It is of such great merit that an act of perfect charity at once blots out all sin and reconciles the sinner with God.