Fulfillment of the Commandments of Charity

Fulfillment of the Commandments of Charity.—We speak now only of the commandment of love, in which the other commandments of charity are contained (see 1550 b). The love which is commanded must have the following qualities: (a) on the side of the subject who loves, it must be internal and made at the proper times—that is, one must love from the heart and affection, as well as in works and manifestations, and must make and renew the act of love as the law requires; (b) on the side of the object loved, it must be both universal and well-ordered; one must not only love all to whom charity is due (see 1133 sqq.), but one must also bestow love according to the rank of precedence in which charity is due (see 1158 sqq.).

The act of charity can be made in various ways.

(a) It is made in itself, when one elicits or expresses love; it is made in its manifestations, when one performs an act of virtue distinct from charity. One who sincerely loves God with his whole heart will keep the commandments (John, xiv. 21), and hence acts of temperance, justice, fortitude, etc., may be called acts of love, in the sense that they are indications of love.

(b) The act of charity may be made internally or externally. Thus, affection for another as a friend in God, and a sincere desire of his good, are internal acts of love; while spiritual or temporal alms bestowed upon him, such as instruction or aid in time of sickness, are external acts of love.

(c) The act of charity may be made explicitly or implicitly. Charity is called explicit with reference to a person or object which is loved in itself, and not as included in another; it is called implicit with reference to a person or object loved as included in another, as when means and end involve each other, or a part is contained in the whole. Thus, he who loves God above all things loves God explicitly and his neighbor implicitly; he who loves his neighbor as a future co-sharer in bliss loves his neighbor explicitly and God implicitly (see 1549); he who includes all mankind in a common act of love, gives explicit love to the race collectively, and implicit love to individual members of the race not mentioned (e.g., enemies or strangers).

For the fulfillment of the commandment of charity other acts of virtue are not enough. There must also be love. (a) Thus, as to charity towards God, our Lord declares that love of God is the great commandment on which the others depend, and St. Paul makes salvation depend on love: “If any man love not our Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema” (I Cor., xvi. 22). (b) As to charity towards the neighbor, the fulfillment of other commandments in his regard is inferior to the fulfillment of the commandment of fraternal love, and thus the commandments of justice to others are distinct from the commandment of love. Innocent XI condemned the proposition that we are not obliged to love our neighbor by a formal act of love (Denzinger, Enchiridion, n. 1160).

For the fulfillment of the law of charity, external acts of love are not enough; there must also be internal love or affection.

(a) With regard to charity towards God, there can be no question of external charity through acts of beneficence, as is clear; but one is obliged to signify one’s love of God, if silence would cause scandal or convey an expression of hatred of God. Mere lip-service, however, will not do, for God must be loved and served from the heart (Matt., xxii. 37; Eph., vi, 6; II Thess. iii., 5; etc.).

(b) With regard to charity towards the neighbor, external charity is commanded (see 1210 sqq. and 1551). But there must also be internal charity, for we are bidden to love our neighbor as we love ourselves (Matt, xxii. 39), as Christ loved us (John, xv. 12), from the heart (I Pet., i. 22). If a man distributed his goods to feed the poor, not out of love, but out of vanity or other sinful motives, his act would not be an exercise of charity. Innocent XI condemned the proposition that we may satisfy through external acts alone the precept of loving our neighbor (Denzinger, n. 1161).

Must the internal act of love be explicit? (a) Love of God should be explicit, for the commandment of charity is that God be loved as the Last End, and the other commandments are to be observed as means to that End (see 1120, 1547). The Last End is that which is loved for its own sake, and hence distinctly, while the means are loved for the sake of the Last End. (b) Love of the neighbor is required to be explicit as regards all neighbors in general, when this is necessary for the preservation of charity towards God, or the fulfillment of obligations of charity towards man; it should be explicit as regards an individual, when this is necessary for the proper discharge of external works or other duties of charity, as when one will not be able to overcome a temptation to hatred unless one makes an act of charity which expressly includes the person one is tempted to hate. But one who loves his neighbor implicitly through an act of supernatural love of God, and neglects no external duty of charity towards others, is considered to have sufficiently complied with the law in ordinary circumstances.

The Intention of Performing All Good Works out of Love for God.—(a) This intention is actual, when one expressly wills God as the Last End of one’s actions. The commandment of loving God above all things does not require an actual reference of each good work to His love (see 1120, 85, 86).

(b) This intention is virtual but explicit, when previously a person had the actual intention and never retracted it, and now acts under the influence of that explicit and unretracted intention, though he does not advert to the Last End as he now acts. Thus, if an act of love of God above all things is made supernaturally by a Christian or naturally by a non-Christian, and later on by reason of the acts of love these persons give alms to the poor and do not think of God as they give the alms, their works are not actually, but virtually and explicitly done for His love. The commandment of love of God, as we shall see (1593 sqq.), obliges one at certain times to elicit an act of love of God as the Last End, loved above all things else (in unbelievers it must be an act of natural benevolence, and in believers an act of supernatural charity); and, since such an act includes a consecration of one’s works to God, the commandment requires likewise at certain times a virtual and explicit reference of good works to the love of God.

(c) The intention is virtual and implicit, when there is no previous act of love of God influencing a present act, but this act itself is good, tending from its character and object to the Last End, and it is precisely its character and object that cause it to be chosen by the agent. Thus, if an infidel, who has made no offering of his works to God, gives an alms out of love of mercy, or honors his parents out of love of piety, or pays his debts out of love of justice, he has explicit love for virtue and implicit love for the Author and End of virtue. The commandment of love of God, being affirmative, does not oblige one at all times to elicit acts of love of God as the Supreme Good, and hence, apart from the occasions when that affirmative commandment calls for exercise, a virtual and implicit intention of acting for the sake of God suffices to excuse from sin.

Applications of the Preceding Paragraph.—(a) A Christian who makes acts of love of God at the necessary times fulfills the commandment of loving God with his whole heart and the precepts of doing all things for the glory of God (I Cor., x. 31), and in charity (I Cor., xvi. 14), and in the name of Christ (Col., iii. 17).

(b) An infidel invincibly ignorant of the supernatural law, who makes acts of natural benevolence with reference to God when he should, does not sin against the precept of charity, and observes the law of natural love.

(c) A person who in no way refers a deliberate act to love of God, natural or supernatural, sins in that act. His sin is venial, if the evil intended is small (e.g., an alms given purely out of vainglory); it is mortal, if the evil is grave (e.g., an alms given for the purpose of seduction into serious sin).

It should not be inferred from what has been said on the qualities which charity must have, or the influence it must exercise, that the duty of love of God is only for the perfect, or that it is with difficulty accomplished. (a) On the contrary, charity is a universal obligation, for it is the first commandment (Matt., xxii. 38), and he who does not love is accursed (I Cor., xvi. 22). (b) Neither is the commandment hard (I John, v. 3), for nature itself inclines one to love the Supreme Good, and grace helps one to remove the impediments to a love of friendship that will cling to God above all. The observance of the commandments indicates that one is guided habitually by love, while a devout recitation of the Lord’s Prayer is an actual expression of that love; and hence conscientious persons should not worry lest they may have been wanting in God’s love.

With reference to the times when the precepts of charity oblige, we should distinguish three kinds of precepts: (a) the negative precepts forbid sins against charity (such as hatred, envy, scandal, etc.), and they oblige at all times; (b) the positive precepts of external beneficence oblige when occasion requires, as was said above (see 1210 sqq.); (c) the positive precepts of internal love oblige at certain special times, as will now be explained.

The precept of love of God obliges directly—that is, by reason of the virtue of charity itself—at the following times: (a) at the beginning of the moral life, that is, of the use of reason; (b) during life; (c) at the close of life, or when one is about to die (Denzinger, nn. 1101, 1289).

The Obligation of an Act of Love of God at the Beginning of the Moral Life.—(a) The beginning of the moral life here signifies the moment when a child arrives at a full use of reason, and is able to deliberate on things of grave importance, such as the duty of having a supreme purpose in life and of doing good and avoiding evil. This moment does not coincide necessarily with any fixed period of the child’s age (e.g., the seventh year), but depends on the gradual development of the moral conscience and may be earlier or later according to intelligence, surroundings, education, etc, (see 932).

(b) The act of love of God here signifies the turning to God as one’s Last End, but it may be made either formally or virtually, according to the knowledge had. A formal act of love of God is made, when one has explicit knowledge, either through faith or through natural reason, concerning God as the Supreme Good and Last End, and when one loves Him as such. A virtual act of love of God consists in a resolution to direct one’s life according to reason, or in a love of the goodness of virtue; for in such an act there is implied a love of the Author and End of moral good. The faithful who cannot remember having made this first act of charity when they came to the use of reason, should not disturb themselves at this, for the commandment was fulfilled by any service they freely offered to God.

(c) The reason for requiring an act of love at the beginning of the moral life is, that in that moment one has the choice placed before one of good or evil, and that faith, hope and charity, being fundamental precepts, should precede the other virtues of the law.

Ignorance as Excusing from the Act of Love of God.—(a) Ignorance of God as the Author of the supernatural order excuses from the precept of supernatural love or charity, if it is invincible ignorance. Thus, a pagan who knows nothing of revelation does not sin by omitting an act of charity towards God.

(b) Ignorance of God as the Author of the order of nature does not excuse from a natural act of benevolence towards God, if the person in ignorance, though an infidel, has sufficient use of reason, for ignorance of God is then inexcusable (Rom., i. 20).

The Obligation of the Act of Love of God throughout Life.—(a) The existence of an obligation to make frequent acts of love of God during life is a consequence of the preponderant part played by charity among the virtues (see 1115 sqq.), for how is one to regulate one’s life according to the virtues, if one does not frequently renew that virtue which is the inspiration and direction of all the others? The Old Testament requires that one have the commandment of love of God frequently in one’s thoughts (Deut., vi. 5-7), and in the New Testament it is called the commandment on which all the others depend (Matt., xxii. 37-40). The Church has condemned propositions that made infrequent performance of the act of love—such as once in a lifetime, once in five years—sufficient (Denzinger, nn. 1155-1157).

(b) The details of this obligation—that is, the frequency with which and the times at which the act of love of God must be made under pain of grave sin—is a matter of dispute among authorities. Some think once in three years sufficient; others, guided perhaps by the analogy of the precept of yearly Communion, regard once a year as sufficient; others, with St. Alphonsus, hold for once a month, basing their opinion on the difficulty of overcoming temptations if acts of love of God are omitted for more than a month; others, with Scotus, think the act of love of God should be made once a week, for, since the Sundays are set aside for the worship of God, the Church seems to have thereby determined with regard to the act of divine charity that which the law of God had left undetermined; finally, some teach that an act of love of God must be made daily, arguing that Christ commanded the Lord’s Prayer to be said daily, and that its first petitions contain formal acts of love of God.

None of the opposed opinions just given can be considered as demonstrated and theoretically certain. But in actual life this offers no difficulty, and the following are accepted as practical rules that may be acted on:

(a) Those who live habitually in the state of grace may be regarded as having fulfilled sufficiently the commandment of love of God, for “if any man love Me, he will keep My word” (John, xiv. 23).

(b) Those who live habitually in an occasion of sin or in sin itself, no doubt neglect the commandment of love of God; but it is not necessary that they accuse themselves of the omission to their confessor, since it is understood in the mention of the occasion of sin or bad habit. The confessor, however, ought to admonish careless penitents about the obligation of love of God, of recitation of the Our Father, etc. Mortal sin revokes the direction of one’s works towards God, and, though one is not obliged to renew that direction immediately after repentance, a delay beyond four or five months according to some authors would be notable.

Obligation of the Act of Love of God at the Close of Life.—The duty of making an act of love of God when one is at the point of death is admitted by all for the following cases: (a) the dying person is directly obliged to make an act of love of God when this is the only way in which he can secure justification, as when he is not in the state of grace and cannot receive the Sacraments; (b) the dying person is indirectly obliged to make an act of love of God when otherwise he cannot securely struggle against temptations to despair, doubt, etc.

The duty of making an act of love of God at the time when death is near is considered as doubtful by some authorities when the following points are morally certain: (a) when the dying person has already sufficiently complied with the duty of making an act of love (e.g., when he made such an act just before he fell into danger of death), or is now in the state of grace (e.g., when he has received absolution with attrition just before or after the danger); and also (b) when the dying person will not expose himself on account of omission of the act of charity to the violation of any serious commandment.

In practice, the priest who is attending the dying person should act as follows:

(a) He should remind the dying person of the obligation, if it appears certain, and should suggest to him the motives and assist him in pronouncing the form. In many manuals of the Ritual exhortations and aspirations suitable for this purpose are given.

(b) The priest should recommend the act of love of God, even though the obligation does not appear certain, if no harm will result from his doing so. For this will better prepare the dying person for entrance into eternity.

(c) He should not speak of the act of love of God, if the obligation is uncertain and harm would result from his doing so (e.g., if the dying person is in good faith, and would be much disturbed if told about the act of love to be made).

Thus far we have spoken of the obligation which the precept of love of God imposes directly, or by reason of charity itself. There is also an obligation that is indirect, or by reason of some virtue or commandment distinct from charity.

(a) Thus, by reason of a virtue distinct from charity, one is bound to make an act of love of God, if this act is the only means of avoiding sin against that virtue. Example: Titus suffers severe temptations to injustice, and finds that only the love of God keeps him from injustice. In temptation, therefore, he should make an act of love of God.

(b) By reason of a commandment distinct from that of charity, one is bound to make an act of love of God, if otherwise one cannot fulfill rightly the commandment in question. Thus, if a person has to receive or administer a Sacrament of the living, or solemnly to administer a Sacrament, when he is not in the state of grace and has not the opportunity of receiving absolution, he is obliged to make an act of perfect contrition, which includes an act of love of God.

An implicit love of neighbor is contained in every true act of love of God (see 1549, 1586). But in some cases love of neighbor must be explicit (see 1589).

(a) Thus, one is bound to explicit love directly (or by reason of charity itself), when the law of charity requires this. Per accidens, charity requires an internal act of love, when without this act some good commanded by charity (e.g., reconciliation with an enemy, alms to one in distress) will not be done, or some evil forbidden by charity (e.g., hatred, revenge) will not be overcome. Per se, it does not seem that charity requires explicit acts of love towards the neighbor, but only those implicit acts contained in the love of God; in practice, however, conscientious persons frequently make explicit acts of fraternal charity, as when they pray for the living and the dead, or say the Our Father with due attention and devotion.

(b) One is bound to explicit love indirectly (or by reason of some other virtue than charity), when apart from such explicit love that other virtue cannot be exercised as commanded. Example: Balbus is often tempted to defraud Caius, and does not resist the temptation successfully, unless he puts himself into a charitable disposition towards Caius.

The Necessity of Charity.—(a) The habit of charity is necessary as a means (see 360, 785) for all persons, infants included, so that without it no one can be saved. For it is only with this virtue that one possesses the divine indwelling (I John, iv. 16), and is made a friend of God. Those who have not the wedding garment of charity are cast into the outer darkness (Matt., xxii. 13).

(b) The act of charity is also necessary as a means of salvation to all adults, for it is only by actual charity that they turn towards their Last End, and without actual charity they are in death (I John, iii. 14). A person who is justified through attrition joined with a Sacrament receives grace and the habit of charity, and by his voluntary acceptance he consents to the divine friendship and thus makes an act of charity.

(c) The act of charity is obligatory under grave precept at the beginning of the moral life, frequently during life, and at the hour of death (see 1594 sqq.).

Is it possible that a sin against the love of God be only venial? (a) The imperfection of the act makes such a sin only venial, as when without full deliberation one wishes to omit an obligatory act of love. (b) The slightness of the matter makes such a sin venial, when it is aside from, but not contrary to, the love of God, as when one makes an act of love of God with culpable lukewarmness. Venial sin is not, strictly speaking, opposed to the commandment of love, since it does not destroy love.

As the order of charity is commanded as a part of the law of charity, one is obliged not only to love those to whom love is commanded, but also to give greater love to those to whom greater love is due.

(a) God must be loved above all creatures, since He is to be loved with the whole heart (Deut., vi. 5; Matt., x. 37).

(b) Self must be loved more than the neighbor, for love of neighbor is commanded only as like to that of self (Matt., xxii. 9).

(c) One should love one’s neighbor more than one’s own body, since we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren (I John, iii. 16). The claims of self and of the neighbor to love are in the following order: the spiritual goods of self, the spiritual goods of the neighbor, the bodily goods of self, the bodily goods of the neighbor, the external goods of self, the external goods of the neighbor.

(d) Among neighbors, those who are better or more nearly related to self should be given the preference in love; for we should do good to all, but especially to those who are of the household of the faith (Gal, vi. 10), and those persons are specially blamed who have no care for their own and for those of their own house (I Tim., v. 8). The claims of neighbors on our help (as was explained in 1176 sqq.) rank in the following order: wife, children, parents, brothers and sisters, other relatives, friends, domestics, citizens of the same town, state, and country, and, finally, all others.

The order of charity is commanded, because it is a mode intrinsic to the performance of the act of charity (see 1554); it is a circumstance without which the act of love is not in proportion to the person to whom it is shown. Thus, love given to God is not in proportion to His lovableness, if it is exceeded by the love given to a creature; love given to the members of one’s family is not in proportion to their claims, if it is less than the love given to strangers.

(a) Hence, outside cases of a neighbor’s need, the law of charity requires that one give him the amount of internal love that corresponds with the external charity due to him. Thus, love for a father should be in proportion to the external honor one is bound to show one’s parent; love for a brother in proportion to the external marks of friendship that are due a brother. He who has no filial love for his parents, or fraternal love for his brethren, does not fulfill the law of charity.

(b) In cases of a neighbor’s need, the law of charity requires that the internal love be in proportion to the external charitable assistance one should give. Thus, if a parent and a stranger are in equal necessity, more help and more love are due the parent; but if a stranger is in need, and a parent is not in need, more help and more corresponding love, as to that particular case, are due the stranger.

It should be noted, however, that there is a twofold love of the neighbor.

(a) Obligatory love is that which is commanded, and which is due another as a debt, such as love for God, for a parent, for all neighbors in general, etc. The amount of love for fellow-creatures that is obligatory is, of course, not infinite, for no creature is infinitely lovable; neither is it mathematically fixed, for, as said above, it may be greater or less according to circumstances; but it is comparative or relative—that is, it should agree with the higher or lower claim to external charity that a neighbor has on one.

(b) Optional love, or love of supererogation, is that which is not commanded, but which may be given lawfully, such as special friendship outside a case of need for an enemy or stranger. As there is no precept regarding this kind of love, neither is there any precept regarding the order of love as between those to whom it is given, and one may invert the order that is obligatory as regards commanded love. Thus, if a brother and a cousin are both well-to-do, and one has property to bequeath to which neither of them has any right, it is not against charity to leave more to the cousin and less to the brother, or some to the cousin and none to the brother. This supposes, however, that in the matter of obligatory love the preference in order of charity has been shown the brother (as explained in 1158-1182).

S. Th. II-II, q. 44.

971. From natural-divine law there is given a precept of charity, obliging under grave sin, as is clear both from reason: for, supposing that God destines us to a supernatural end, to participation in His own life and to intimate friendship with Him, reverence toward Him demands that we love Him above all things as the supernatural end infinitely lovable for His own sake; and from Scripture, which establishes the commandment of this love, Deut. VI, 5 and Mt. XXII, 37. This precept is both negative, by which we are forbidden to cast away charity, and this obliges always; and affirmative, by which we are obliged to elicit an act of charity, and this does not oblige always.

Hence an act of charity is necessary; nevertheless in the present economy of the New Law it is not necessary by necessity of means. The habit of charity indeed is necessary for all by necessity of means for salvation, not only for adults but also for infants, because without it no one is pleasing to God, no one is in the state of grace or of divine friendship (I Cor. XIII; I John III, 14; IV, 16; Council of Trent, sess. 6, c. 7); but the act itself, in the New Testament, strictly is not of necessity of means for justification or salvation, because imperfect contrition with the sacrament really received now suffices. Nevertheless it is necessary by necessity of precept; and those do not satisfy this precept who remain for a long time in the state of mortal sin, or are justified only with imperfect contrition.

972. The obligation of eliciting an act of charity arises from various heads:

A. The virtue itself and the precept of charity obliges under grave sin per se, that is, in circumstances common to the condition of all men. For it is altogether necessary, indeed it is the greatest precept, to tend toward the ultimate supernatural end; yet we do not do this as is due except by an act of charity. Now this is especially necessary 1. at the beginning of the use of reason, when a man is bound to turn himself to God and to choose for himself an end; 2. in the article of death (or toward the end of life), when he is at the point of attaining the end; 3. often in life: for it does not suffice that we tend to God once or twice, but it is necessary to direct the whole life to the ultimate end, and therefore the act of charity must be repeated often (prop. condemned 1 by Alexander VII; 5, 6, and 7 by Innocent XI).1 Some determine this by saying: at least once a year; others, every month (St. Alphonsus), or even every week (Scotus); others finally, more probably: several times, at least three or four times a year. Yet this is easily fulfilled by leading a good Christian life; whence those who live as Christians abundantly satisfy the precept.

B. The virtue itself and the precept of charity obliges per accidens, that is, on the occasion of some special circumstance: 1. when a temptation rises up against charity, which is hoped to be overcome only by an act of this virtue; yet this does not befit the scrupulous who torture themselves in this matter, for whom nothing remains except to despise the temptation; 2. when charity has been lost, namely by an act contrary to it; 3. when we externally manifest it, otherwise the manifestation would be simulation.

C. Other virtues and precepts sometimes oblige one to elicit an act of charity, at least implicitly: 1. when temptations arise against other virtues, which are hoped to be overcome only by that act; 2. when someone, in the state of mortal sin, must celebrate and lacks the availability of a confessor; likewise if he must or intends either to administer a sacrament, or to receive a sacrament of the living, without being able or willing first to confess; 3. when he must or intends to posit an act of another virtue which cannot be exercised without an act of charity, for example, the Lord's Prayer (attentively recited in its full sense), perfect contrition for sins, a resolution of avoiding sin because it displeases God, a desire that all may serve God, etc. But in these cases the obligation does not arise from the precept of charity itself; whence, if its act is omitted, we do not sin against this virtue, but against another precept by force of which it was required.

Since charity is most excellent, most especially commanded, and the cause of supernatural merit, the faithful are to be urged very greatly to exercise it more often, and especially in the article of death, yet without speaking to the dying about the strict precept, lest they be cast into scruples.

1. "A man at no time whatever of his life is bound to elicit an act of faith, hope, and charity by force of the divine precepts pertaining to those virtues."

2. "Whether he sins mortally who would elicit an act of love of God only once in life, we do not dare to condemn." - "It is probable that the precept of charity toward God does not oblige per se, strictly speaking, even every five years." - "It obliges only then, when we are bound to be justified and we do not have another way by which we can be justified."

973. In positive divine law, in the first place concerning charity, a special, distinct, and explicit precept had to be given. For every due thing is commanded: namely, something is commanded insofar as it is due. Now something is due per se, namely the end, because it has the character of good per se (for example, health); and something is due on account of another, namely that which is ordered to the end (for example, medicine to health). But the end of the spiritual life is that man be united to God, which is done through charity, and to this, as to the end, all other things which pertain to the spiritual life are ordered¹ (a. 1). Therefore the greatest precept concerning charity had to be given, and it is so much greater insofar as that which is per se is preferable to that which is on account of another (ibid.). Hence it is called the greatest and first commandment in the law (Mt. XXII, 38; cf. prop. 1 condemned by Alexander VIII).²

¹ St. Thomas proves the minor thus (a. 1): "For all the virtues, concerning whose acts precepts are given, are ordered either to purifying the heart from the disturbances of the passions, as are the virtues which are concerned with the passions; or at least to having a good conscience, as are the virtues which are concerned with operations; or to having right faith, as are those which pertain to divine worship; and these three are required for loving God. For an impure heart is drawn away from the love of God on account of passion inclining to earthly things; but an evil conscience makes one dread divine justice on account of fear of punishment; and fictitious faith draws affection to that which is fashioned concerning God, separating it from the truth of God."

² "It suffices that a moral act tend to the ultimate end interpretatively: hence man is not bound to love either at the beginning or in the course of moral life." See the other condemned propositions, above p. 742.

Moreover concerning charity a twofold precept had to be given in positive law, explicit and distinct: the love of God and of neighbor.

For although in the first the other is included, as the conclusion is contained in the principle, and therefore he who would perfectly know the principle (the love of God) according to its whole force would also perceive the conclusion (the love of neighbor), nevertheless this does not clearly appear to all, and "therefore it is necessary that precepts be given not only concerning the love of God but also concerning the love of neighbor, on account of the less capable, who do not easily consider that one of these precepts is contained under the other" (a. 2). But these two suffice; for charity is friendship, and therefore love toward another whose good we will. Now the good is either the end, or that which is for the end, and therefore concerning charity two precepts suffice: one by which we are induced to love God as the end; the other by which we are induced to love the neighbor on account of God, as on account of the end (a. 3). Concerning love of self no explicit precept had to be given, because man naturally loves himself and his own body; but the mode of loving himself, namely that he love himself in an ordered (and supernatural) way, is sufficiently indicated in the love of God and neighbor, insofar as he ought to love God above all things and his neighbor as himself (ad 1).

Nevertheless the two aforesaid precepts were not to be enumerated in the decalogue, because they are concerning the end, while all the precepts of the decalogue are ordered to the love of God and of neighbor, which therefore are presupposed in all and included in all (a. 1, ad 3). Whence Christ says, Mt. XXII, 40: "On these two commandments depend the whole law and the prophets."

974. The intrinsic mode and mode of precept by which God is to be loved is that He be loved from the whole heart, as is said in Deut. VI, 5 and Mt. XXII, 37. For it is required for an act of virtue not only that it fall upon due matter: God to be loved; but also that it be clothed with the due circumstances by which it is made proportionate to such matter: the mode of love. But God is to be loved as the ultimate end, to whom all things are to be referred. And therefore He is to be loved totally, so that man receive nothing contrary to the love of God (a. 4). Whence it is said (Deut. VI, 5): You shall love the Lord your God from your whole heart.

Accordingly God is not only to be loved effectively by observance of the commandments, but also affectively by explicit affection; and not only affectively, or by the will, but also effectively by all the other powers moved by the will, which thus become principles of spiritual movements, namely, by the intellect, the lower appetite, and the external executive powers. And thus it can be understood that God is said to be loved from the whole heart, and from the whole mind, and from the whole soul, and from the whole strength or with all one's powers (Deut. VI, 5; Mt. XXII, 37; Mk. XII, 30; Lk. X, 27), although perhaps by all these one and the same thing is signified under different words.

"Therefore it is commanded to us that our whole intention (of the will) be borne toward God, which is from the whole heart; and that our intellect be subjected to God, which is from the whole mind; and that our appetite be regulated according to God, which is from the whole soul; and that our exterior act obey God, which is to love God from the whole strength, or virtue, or with all powers" (a. 5).

That precept will be fulfilled fully and perfectly in the fatherland, where charity is always in act according to the whole power; on the way it can be fulfilled imperfectly, insofar as man does nothing against the love of God; and thus one fulfills it more perfectly than another, insofar as he abstracts more from temporal things and thinks about God, and thus approaches more, by a certain likeness, to the perfection of the fatherland (a. 6).

975. The precept concerning love of neighbor is thus fittingly proposed: You shall love your neighbor as yourself (Lev. XIX, 17-18; Mt. XXII, 39). "For in it both the reason for loving and the mode of love are touched upon. The reason for loving is touched upon from the fact that he is named neighbor; for because of this we ought from charity to love others, because they are neighbors to us, both according to the natural image of God and according to capacity for glory... But the mode of love is touched upon when it is said: as yourself; which is not to be understood as to this, that someone should love his neighbor equally with himself, but similarly to himself, and this in three ways: 1. indeed on the part of the end, namely, that someone love his neighbor on account of God, just as he ought to love himself on account of God, so that thus the love of neighbor may be holy (and not merely natural); 2. on the part of the rule of love, namely, that someone not condescend to his neighbor in anything evil, but only in good things, just as a man ought to satisfy his own will only in good things, so that thus the love may be just (that is, honorable); 3. on the part of the reason of love, namely, that someone not love his neighbor on account of his own utility or delight, but for this reason, that he wills good to his neighbor, just as he wills good to himself, so that thus love of neighbor may be true; for when someone loves his neighbor on account of his own utility or delight, he does not truly love the neighbor, but himself" (a. 7). "But from the very fact that it is said: You shall love your neighbor, it is consequently given to be understood that those who are nearer are to be loved more" (a. 8, ad 3): "for the order of charity pertains to the very account (or essence) of the virtue" and falls under the precept (a. 8).

That precept was proposed more perfectly and declared more evidently by Christ in the New Testament, to be exercised in a more perfect manner than in the Old, and by this reason it is called new: "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another" (John XIII, 34-35; cf. XV, 12-13; I John III, 16). Namely, it is new 1. by reason of a new exemplar (John XIII, 34 and XV, 12); 2. by reason of the motive, because Christ is in our neighbors: for supernatural love is founded in the communication of the divine life of Christ, who joins all in one mystical body of which He is the head, and in one participation of the Eucharist (John XV-XVII); whence Christ says: "Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these my brethren, you did it to me" (Mt. XXV, 40); 3. by reason of the measure and mode, because it is necessary to love even to the giving of one's life (John XV, 12-13; I John III, 16; Eph. V, 2); 4. by reason of extension, because it is toward all, even strangers and enemies, which was not explicitly handed down in the Old Testament (Mt. V, 43-45; Lk. VI, 27-28; Rom. X, 12). The Apostle excellently describes the distinguished qualities of this eminent charity in I Cor. XIII, 4-7.

The precept obliges not only to doing good to the neighbor effectively and externally, but before all things to truly loving him with internal affection (cf. I Pet. I, 22; props. 10 and 11 condemned by Innocent XI);³ which generally is sufficiently fulfilled by the very love of God in which it is implicitly contained; nevertheless it is to be exercised explicitly when it is necessary for an external work and benefit to be furnished to the neighbor, or for avoiding hatred and offense of the neighbor. But since occasions of this kind frequently occur, hence the faithful living as Christians by that very fact abundantly satisfy this precept.

³ "We are not bound to love our neighbor by an internal and formal act." - "We can satisfy the precept of loving the neighbor by external acts alone."

Fulfilling the great commandment of love according to the exemplar of Christ toward all, toward enemies also and evildoers, looking in all things to the image of the Savior and the dignity of the children of God, ready to lay down our life for our brethren, loving not in word and tongue but in deed and truth, we have the pledge of divine love and of the charity which joins us to God. As, by the inspiration of the Spirit of eternal Love, the apostle of charity himself testified (I John IV, 12 and 16): "If we love one another, God abides in us, and His charity is perfected in us... God is charity, and he who abides in charity abides in God, and God in him."

I. Hither Pastors and Confessors ought to direct their endeavors: that they imprint more deeply upon the souls of the Faithful the images of the theological virtues, and exercise them in their practice. And that they may perform this the more easily, I have resolved, at the end of the treatise on these three virtues, to touch briefly on a few things to this end — desiring to approach, if not wholly, at least in part, the method of the holy Fathers of the Church. For all the Fathers nowhere teach that the doctrine of morals is merely to be disputed about, but apply themselves above all to persuading its observance.

II. Awake, then, O men of God, Pastors of souls, and Confessors, and, according to the zeal with which you burn, instruct your flock in the perpetual exercise of faith. The true and perfect faith of Christ is light in the mind, love in the heart. That the light of faith may shine in the mind, the oil by which that light is fostered and nourished must burn in the lamp of the heart. The sun is darkened by the vapors of the earth; and the light of faith grows dim when impure exhalations burst forth from a corrupted heart. The vices do not assail faith directly, but they prepare the way to impiety. Teach the Faithful, therefore, to purge their hearts and souls from vices, if they desire their minds to be illumined with the splendor of a living faith. If by the apparatus of words, by the force of eloquence, by the efficacy of disputations, they cannot subdue the minds of Heretics into the obedience of the faith, let them study to soften their obstinacy by innocence of life and by sanctity of virtues and of works, and to conquer their haughtiness by their own humility.

III. But this must be inculcated in them more deeply: that they keep before their eyes the Son of God made man, and subjected to the reproaches, the mockeries, and the maledictions of men; that, standing, walking, laboring, they frequently meditate the Cross, and the Son of God hanging upon it — who willed to die for this end, that he might redeem our souls from the servitude of the demon, and lead them through to eternal felicity. This Cross is the torch, this the lantern, which they must hold in the hand of the mind, that in this valley of darkness they may be able to direct their journey to the heavenly Jerusalem.

IV. Let them study to represent vividly the incredible excellence of faith, and the infinite mercy of God, which has imparted so great a benefit to us; and let them address them in this or a similar fashion. Shake off your slumber for a little while, O Christians, and consider that your faith is a most precious ring, with which the espousals of your souls with God are to be sealed. Your faith reserves for you the more secret mysteries of God, communicated now under a cloud, but in their own time — the cloud driven away and the darkness dispersed — to be seen in themselves; which is the last argument of intimate friendship. This faith, purchased by the death of Christ, grown up by the blood of the Martyrs, confirmed by the testimonies of miracles, defended by the wisdom of the Doctors, God imparts to you, moved by his clemency alone. Run through in your mind so many regions of the world, so many kingdoms, provinces, empires, and nations covered over with the gloom of the darkness of Infidelity and of Heresy. Consider that out of so many thousands of thousands you have been chosen into a holy nation, into a royal priesthood, into the sons and spouses of the deifying Trinity. But remember at the same time that those kingdoms, empires, and nations which now pay the tremendous penalties of Infidelity and Heresy were once, no otherwise than you now, bathed in the light of faith. Look about you on every side at the formidable wreckage of faith and religion taken away. They who once were your brethren, sons of God, and heirs of Paradise — their successors have now become your enemies, slaves of the divine vengeance, heralds of the demons, betrayers of Religion. Temples have been leveled to the ground, altars torn down, sacrifices abolished; and crimes, schisms, heresies, impiety unfurl their banner where once the faith of Christ shone the holier and held dominion. What is it, that before thousands of thousands God has sealed your souls with the ring of his faith? that, saved from the universal shipwreck, he has placed them in the ark of his religion? that he has embraced them with so great a predilection? This vicissitude and revolution of Religion — by which God exercises the fury of his wrath upon the very vessels of mercy, and his goodness upon the victims of vengeance — while the Apostle Paul was considering it, terrified and trembling he exclaimed: O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are his judgments, and how unsearchable his ways! Fix your mind, then, upon so great a mystery, that thence you may gather the immense riches of the divine mercy poured out upon you.

V. After explaining the loftiness and majesty of so great a gift, instruct them to repeat acts of faith frequently, every day — above all in the morning, at midday, and in the evening. Let the image of the Crucified never depart from their mind, considering that after his example their morals and life must be conformed: Whom he foreknew, he also predestinated to be made conformable to the image of his Son. Here let the sacred Pastors drive the nail home; let them expound the meanings of the profession made in baptism; let them teach them that for this reason their foreheads are sealed with the sign of the Cross, and anointed with the sacred chrism: that before the whole World, even with the loss of life, if need were, they may intrepidly confess the Religion of Christ. Let Pastors be solicitous and diligent, and let them aim their desires chiefly at this: to urge upon their Faithful this imitation of Christ and of the Saints. Let them press and commend this doctrine of morals the more deeply.

VI. For thou, O Lord, singularly hast settled me in hope, said the holy Prophet David, Psalm 4. Hope tends toward arduous, difficult, and sublime things. Consider seriously what obstacles the confidence of enlarging empires and of triumphing over enemies assails. It counts as nothing to drain treasuries and squander patrimonies; it makes nothing of the tears of wives, of the lot of children; with glad mind it endures dire tempests, the changes of the seasons, and the blows of adverse fortune, that it may attain the glory won by war. What inconveniences and troubles does the confidence of acquiring fleeting merchandise not undertake? What seas, what distant regions does it not traverse; what floods and what tempests does it not endure? If this earthly hope digests things so hard, so rough, so grim, that it may procure things vain and empty, with what fortitude of soul ought theological hope to assail the obstacles which delay the entrance into the heavenly Fatherland? With what fortitude of breast is it constrained to repel the struggle of the flesh, the enticements of the senses, the illusions and witcheries of the siren women, the frauds of the world, the wiles of enemies, the ambushes of the demon? All these things men would strenuously overcome, if they were certain that after the victory they would attain some principality, kingdom, or empire. Now the faith which they profess reveals to them an eternal kingdom, an infinite empire, to be possessed after the very brief course of this life. Christian hope pledges itself a certain possession, provided those things be fulfilled which Religion prescribes to be believed and to be done.

VII. Raise up your soul, O Christian men; put forth your strength and your endeavors, that you may attain God. Christian hope rests upon fortitude, by which it routs enemies, repels impediments, and overcomes all difficulties. Perverse is the hope which pledges impunity in sins, without removing from sins. The root of perverse hope is the want of fear. Christian hope walks between fortitude and fear. Fear removes from dangers, represses audacity, and represents the severity of the divine justice. In the fear of the Lord is confidence of strength, says Solomon. Fear turns the soul aside, lest it freely run into dangers. Fortitude raises up the soul, that it may fearlessly repel the dangers which it cannot avoid.

VIII. But to whom can it come to mind that reasons are needed to persuade Christians of fear, the companion of hope? Dangers surround us on every side. Dangers on land, says the Apostle, dangers on the sea, dangers in masters and directors, dangers among false brethren, dangers in ourselves — in our hearts, in our senses, in our thoughts; and shall we, senseless, pass our days in delights and pleasures? Whence, I ask, so great a madness? Weigh well, O Christians, that you are placed in the prison of this world. Consider the offenses of youth and of manhood. All of us, placed in this exile, await the sentence either of eternal death or of eternal life. On the one side the crown of glory, on the other the sword of eternal punishment, hangs over our head. Let us lift up the eyes of faith, that we may meditate the crown hung up for good works, and the punishment destined for depraved works. The seasons run their course; the days flow by; the hours and moments slip away: the moment is at hand and imminent, either of attaining the eternal crown, or of laying our neck beneath the eternal and tremendous punishment. And are we not shaken, do we not tremble, are we not aghast?

IX. Let the evangelical Pastor, that he may exercise the souls entrusted to him in hope, make plainly known the immensity of the reward and prize to be attained, and the omnipotence and infinite mercy prepared to confer the aids and the grace by which the prize may be obtained. Let him teach them to repeat frequently, daily, the acts of this confidence — just as exiles and pilgrims continually pant after their fatherland — so that they may easily be able to frequent those same acts when the floods of adverse fortune and of calamities rush in.

X. Theological faith represents the goodness of God, his clemency, his mercy, and the infinite benefits of creation and redemption already conferred upon us, and the eternal rewards to be conferred, which hope desires to attain. Unless the human heart be of iron and of stone, it can scarcely contain itself from pursuing with love a God so good, so clement, so beneficent, and so most liberal a giver. There are two loves, says Augustine, book 11 On Genesis according to the letter, chapter 15, of which the one is holy, the other unclean. The love of charity makes citizens of Jerusalem; the love of iniquity constitutes slaves of Babylon. These loves fight with one another, and the one drives out the other.

XI. That God must be loved I acknowledge, you say; but how he is to be loved, I know not. You would have said more truly that you know not how to express in words the manner in which you love God. Love is a movement by which the will is borne toward a known good — either by desiring it, or by rejoicing over it, or by taking complacency in it, and by desiring good things for it. If you love God because he created you, redeemed you, preserves, protects, nourishes you — in one word, because he is beneficent toward you — the love is called a love of chaste concupiscence. If you burn with love of him because he is good, because he is worthy that all should burn with his love, that they should will good to him, that they should sing his praises and worship him, the love is one of charity and of friendship. The love of chaste concupiscence is the more imperfect, and the more intimate to our nature; therefore the beginning is taken from it, and thereafter the ascent is made higher. What is it that kindles you to the love of a man? The benefits, you reply, which he has conferred upon me, and his love toward me poured out first; and finally his endowments of justice, equity, goodness, sincerity, and many other prerogatives. Stir up in your mind the light of the Christian faith, which vividly sets before your eyes both the infinite benefits conferred upon you by God, and his goodness, equity, majesty, clemency, mercy, wisdom, benignity, and innumerable other endowments. Faith precedes charity. The more splendid the light of faith, the more ardent the flame of love. When the mind has been bathed in the light of faith, and the will raised up by the strength of hope, straightway it is kindled with the flame of love, which the soul, adorned and stirred by the two aforesaid virtues, can scarcely repress.

XII. There have been those who, in order to kindle the purest flame of this love, taught that God is to be loved with the exclusion of every hope of possessing him. They contended that the confidence of possessing God makes the love mercenary. Wherefore, to render this love pure, they wished it empty of all desire of attaining the reward. But this doctrine Innocent XII condemned. Our God is our reward, our beatitude. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God. Men without God are nothing. Men would be desiring their own destruction, as often as they would wish to separate themselves from God. That love is impure and mercenary which loves other things besides God without relation to God. But that love is pure and perfect which loves God because he is good. We will God for ourselves, because he himself has constituted himself our crown and our reward. He has chosen us as his sons, his heirs. If sons, heirs also; if heirs, possessors also. We love God as our supreme good. The two respects are distinct; but the one does not exclude the other — rather the one is subjected to the other. The soul kindled with the fire of charity loves God now under the one, now under the other relation; and at last refers itself and all its things unto God, and there rests, as in the center of its eternal felicity.

XIII. Let Pastors of souls, and all the ministers of God, if they wish to purge the evangelical flock from vices and to keep it in the safe path, exercise it in these theological virtues. After hearing sacramental confession, among the satisfactory works which they must impose upon penitents, let them prescribe the task of these three virtues to be offered to God. They do not know, you will say, how to exercise the offices of these virtues. They do not know? Then they are not Christians. Then they are not capable of absolution, since the exercise of these virtues must precede and accompany the sacrament. Who, then, is so rude that he cannot meditate, on bended knees, the Son of God made man and crucified? Instruct them to fix their mind upon this cross, upon this passion of Christ, considering that Christ the Lord underwent this death for the love of men, for their redemption, and that he might lead them through to eternal felicity. Instruct them to recite the creed, considering and meditating each article for a little while. Admonish them to recite the Lord's prayer, imploring from God this living faith, this invincible hope, and this ardent love. The exercise of these virtues is the foundation and soul of the Christian Religion. The other devotions are ornaments, and, as it were, added flowers; but if the bases and foundations of the Christian edifice be wanting, all things end in smoke. But above all let them inculcate that those believe in God, hope in him, and love him, who conform their morals and life to the exemplar of Jesus Christ.