ART. III. THE VIRTUE OF CHARITY* 1207. The virtue of charity supernaturalizes and sanctifies the sentiment of love towards God and towards the neighbor. After a few preliminary remarks on the nature of love we shall speak: i of charity towards God; 2 of charity towards the neighbor; 3 of the Sacred Heart of Jesus as a model of both. , Preliminary Remarks 1208. i Love in general^ an impulse, a tendency of the soul towards good. If the good towards which we are drawn is the kind which appeals to our sense-nature and which our imagination apprehends as agreeable, our love is sensible love. If the good is moral good acknowledged by our reason as worthy of esteem, our love is rational love. If the good is a supernatural good perceived by faith, our love is Christian love. . As we can see, love always presupposes knowledge; but, as we shall explain later on, love does not always correspond to that knowledge. Whatever be the kind of love, four elements can be discerned in it: i) a sort of sympathy felt for another person because of a certain harmony existing between him and ourselves. Now, this harmony does not imply that both are exactly alike, but rather that the one completes the other. 2) An impulse of the soul towards the beloved person, to draw close to him and enjoy his presence. 3) A certain union or communion of mind and heart to share in. common the goods each possesses. 4) A sense of joy, of pleasure or of happiness experienced in possessing the object of our love. 1209. 2 Christian love is love that is supernaturalized as to its principle^ its motive and its object, a) It is supernaturalized in its principle through the infused virtue of charity that resides in the will. This virtue, set into action by actual grace, transforms naturally good love and raises it to a higher level. b) Then faith furnishes us with a supernatural motive to sanctify our affections : it directs these, first, towards God, by showing to us the Supreme, Infinite Good, which alone can correspond to our rightful aspirations; then, towards Gods creatures, which it presents to us as reflections of the divine perfections, so much so, that in loving them we love God Himself. c) The object of our love becomes supernaturalized in this wise : the God we love is not God known merely by reason, but the Living God known through faith, the Father Who begets a Son from all eternity and adopts us as His children; the Son, equal tq the Father, Who by taking flesh becomes our .brother; the Holy Ghost, the mutual kove of Father and Son, Who comes to diffuse into our souls divine charity. Men do not appear to us as mere creatures of God, but they are seen in the light of revelation as they truly are, the children, of God, Our Common Father, brethren in Christ Jesus, living temples of the Holy Ghost. All, then, is supernatural in Christian love. According to St. Thomas , charity adds to love a certain perfection that proceeds from a high, esteem for the thing loved. Hence, all charity is love, but not all love is charity. 1210. Charity may be thus defined: a theological virtue that causes us to love God above all things, for His own sake, in the way in. which He loves Himself, and lo love the neighborfor Gods sake. This virtue, then, has a twofold object : God and the neighbor. These two objects, however, constitute but one, since we love creatures only inasmuch as they are reflections of the divine perfections, and therefore it is God Whom we love in them. We love the neighbor, adds St. Thomas 2 ,because God is in him or, at least, in order that God may be in him. This is why there is but one and the same virtue of charity. I. The Love of God We shall explain : i its nature; 2 its sanctifying power; 3 how to advance in the practice of this virtue. \. Its Nature 1211. The first object of charity is God. Since He possesses the plenitude of being, the perfection of beauty and of goodness, He is infinitely lovable. It is God, considered in all the infinite reality of His perfections, and notsome particular Divine . attribute. The consideration of any given attribute, His mercy, for instance, readily leads us to the consideration of all His perfections; but it is not necessary to know them in detail. Simple souls , love Almighty God as faith makes Him known to them, without analyzing His attributes. To elucidate the notion of, the love of God we shall explain the precept that imposes . it upon us, the motive upon which it rests, and the different degrees through which we arrive at pure love. , 1212. i The Precept. A) Already formulated in the Old Testament, it is reenacted by Our Lord in the New and proclaimed by Him as the sum-total of the Law and of the Prophets : Thou shalt love the Lord Thy God with thy ivhole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind, J This is . equivalent to saying that we must love God above all things and with all the faculties of our soul. . . St. Francis de Sales explains this well : Our love for Him should exceed all other affections, and reign over all the passions. He wishes that it should be the most- sincere, that it should proceed from the heart and rule over its affections; He desires that we should consider it the most precious, the most valuable ; He requires that it should fill the capacity of our souls; that it should be universal, extending to all our powers ; that it should be elevated, and occupy the whole attention of the mind; and, in fine, that it should be generous and unalterable. 2 The Saint ends with a magnificent effusion of love : Yes, Lord, I belong to Thee alone : I live more in Thee than in myself, therefore, my love should be wholly centered in Thee : I should love Thee as the origin of my being, and as the term of my repose : I should love Thee more than myself, since I only exist in Thee. 3 1213. B) The precept of charity, then, is very extensive. In itself it has no limits, for the measure of love of God is to love Him without measure. Therefore, it obliges us to tend unceasingly towards perfection, (n. 353-361) and our charity must continue to grow until death. According to the doctrine of St. Thomas, 1 the perfection of charity is commanded as an end to be attained ; hence we must want to attain it Cajetan explains this by saying that precisely because it. is an end, it is enough in order not to fail., in the precept, to be in a fit condition to attain this perfection some day, even though this be in eternity. Whoever possesses charity, even iri the least degree, and thus advances towards Heaven, is in the way of perfect charity and thereby keeps the precept, which is necessary for salvation. However, souls aiming at perfection are not content with this first degree; they climb ever higher, striving to love God not only with their whole soul, but with all their strength as well. 1214. 2 The motive of charity is not the good one has received from God or that which one expects to receive from Him; it -is Gods infinite perfection, at least as the predominant motive. Other motives may be joined with this, motives of wholesome fear, of hope, of gratitude, provided that the said motive be truly predominant. Consequently, love, of self, in so far as it is subordinated to the love of God, is compatible with charity. Hence,, when the Saints so harshly condemn self-love, it is the inordinate love of self they have in mind. ; 1215. A) The opinion of Bolgeni, however, cannot be admitted. He pretends that the only love of charity possible and obligatory is that which has for motive Gods goodness towards us, since, ^as he asserts, we cannot love except what we perceive as meeting our needs and aspirations. The author in question mistakes what merely constitutes a necessarily preexisting condition for the real motive of Charity. It is, indeed, true that love of itself presupposes that the object loved corresponds with our nature and pur aspirations ; yet, the motive for which we love God, is not precisely this harmony, but Gods infinite perfection loved for itself. Once more, St. Francis de Sales explains well this doctrine in the following lines : If there could be an infinite good, with which we had no relation, no communication, and, consequently, no prospect of union (which is also impossible) we should still esteem it more than ourselves... This, properly speaking,, is not to love, because love tends to union, -which in this supposition is impossible. Still less could we be animated with love of charity for such an object, as this love is a real reciprocal friendship, terminating in union. -1216. B) We may ask ourselves whether the motive of gratitude suffices for perfect charity. Here there is roorrT for distinction .: if gratitude does not rise above the benefaction received to the Benefactor Himself, it does not suffice as a motive of charity, since it remains self-centered; but, if from the love of such benefaction we pass on to the love of the Benefactor, and if this love for Him is based on His infinite goodness, then this motive becomes one with -that of charity. As a matter of fact, gratitude easily leads to pure love, for it is a most worthy sentiment ; and so, Holy Writ and the Saints often propose to us Gods benefits as an incentive to the love of God. Thus, St. John, after saying that perfect love banishes fear, exhorts us to love God, because God first- hath loved us. Many are the souls that have learned to love God with the purest love whilst pondering the love He has shown us from all eternity, and the love of Jesus for us in His Passion and in the Holy Eucharist. If we desire a rule whereby to distinguish pure from interested love, we may put it thus : the former consists in loving God because He is good and in wishing Him well ; the latter consists in loving God inasmuch as He is good to us and in desiring our own good. 1217. 3 As to the degrees of love, St. Bernard distinguishes four 2 : i) First, man loves himself for his own sake, since he is flesh, and he cannot have any taste except for things in relation to himself. 2) Then, .seeing that he is not able- to subsist by himself, he begins to seek God by faith and to love Him as an indispensable, aid; in. this second degree man loves God, not as yet for Gods sake, but for his own. 3) But soon, by approaching God, living close to Him, and realizing the need of His help, man gradually sees how sweet the Lord is, and begins to love Him for His own sake. 4-) Finally, the last degree, attained by few in this life, consists in loving solely for, God, and consequently, in loving God exclusively ,for His own sake. II. The Sanctifying Power of the Love of God ; 1218. i Charity is of itself the most excellent and the most sanctifying of all virtues. This -we have already proved by showing that it is the very essence of perfection, that is embodies all virtues,. and that it imparts to them all a singular perfection, by causing all their acts to converge towards God loved above all (n. 310-319). This is proclaimed by St. Paul in lyric language : If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. Charity is patient, is kind : charity envieth not dealeth not perversely ; is not puffed up, is not ambitious, seeketh not her own, is not provoked to anger, thinketh no evil : rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth with truth ; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never falleth away . . . And now there remain faith, hope and charity, these three, but the greatest of these is charity. x 1219. In its power to unite the soul to God and to transform it, charity far excels all other virtues. a) It unites to God the whole soul with all its faculties and powers. It unites the mind to God through the esteem conceived for Him and the frequent thought of Him. It unites the -will by perfect submission to the Divine Will. It unites the heart by the subordination of all our affections to the Divine Love. It unites our energies by. dedicating them all to the service of God and of souls. b) In thus uniting the whole soul to God, chanty transforms it. Love takes us away from self, raises us up to God, and inclines us to imitate Him, to reproduce in ourselves the divine perfections. We desire, in truth, to become like the one we love, because we consider him a model wormy of imitation, and we wish, by becoming more like him, to advance further in pur intimacy with him. 1220. 2 In its effects> charity contributes most effectively to our sanctification. a) It establishes between the soul and God a certain fellowship, sympathy, or affinity which causes us to understandand to relish better God and divine things; ...It is this mutual sympathy that makes friends understand one another, and become more and more intimately united. Many a simple, untutored soul, seized by love for God, relishes and lives the great Christian truths far better than the learned. This is an effect of charity. 1221. b) It increases our energies for good # hundredfold by communicating to us an indomitable strength to overcome obstacles and to perform the highest acts of virtue, for love is strong as death. x How great is the strength a mother derives from love for her child ! \ Perhaps no one has described better the effects of divine love than the author of the Imitation. 8 It lightens our sufferings and our burdens : For it carrieth a burden without being burdened, and maketh all else that is bitter, sweet andsavoury. It lifts us unto God, because it is born of God : For love is born of God, and cannot rest but in God. It gives us wings to fly with joy unto the doing of the most perfect actions, unto the entire gift of self: The lover flieth, runneth, and rejoiceth... he giveth all for all; thus, it urges us to do great things and to aim at the highest perfection : The noble love of Jesus impelleth us to do great things, and exciteth us always to desire that which is the more perfect. It is ever watchful, uncomplaining of fatigue, untroubled by fear; rather, like a living flame it soars ever higher and passes securely through the midst of dangers: Love watcheth... When weary, it is not tired; when straitened, is not constrained; whenfrightened, is not disturbed; but, like a vividflame... it mounteth upwards, and securely passeth through all. 1222. e) Charity, likewise, is productive of greatjoy and expansion of soul; for it is the initial possession of the Sove- . reign Good, the beginning of eternal life imis, and such possession fills our soul with joy : Giving true joy of heart. The Imitation goes on to say :, Nothing sweeter than love... nothing more pleasant, nothing fuller or better in heaven or on earth. The cause of such joy is that we begin to be more keenly aware of the presence of Jesus and of the presence of God within us : /0 be with Jesus is a sweet paradise. s When Thou art present, all things yield delight; but when Thou art absent, all things grow loathsome. 6 1223. . d) This joy is followed by a profoundpeace. Once we are convinced that God dwells within us and that He exercises a paternal action, a paternal solicitude over us, we abandon ourselves with sweet trust into His hands, we confide all our interests to His care, and thus we enjoy perfect peace and serenity: Thou makest a tranquil heart, great peace, andfestivejoy.? Now, there is no disposition more favorable for spiritual growth than inward peace: In silence and in solitude the devout soul maketh progress. Hence, from whatever point of view we consider charity, in itself or in its effects, it is of all the virtues the most potent to unite us with God and to sanctify us; it is, indeed, the bond of perfection. III. Progress in the Practice of Charity 1224. General principle. Love being the gift of self, our love for God will be more perfect the more completely we give ourselves to Him, without reserve and forever, with our whole soul, with our whole heart, with our whole strength. Since on earth we cannot make the gift of self without selfsacrifice, our love will be more perfect the more unselfishly we practice this spirit of self-sacrifice for the love of God (n. 321). 1225. i Beginners practice the love of God by striving to avoid sin, especially mortal sin, and its causes. a) They practice repentant love, by bitterly regretting having offended God and having deprived Him of His due glory (n. 743-745). : This love has two effects : i) it removes us further from sin and from creatures to which pleasure had made us cling; 2) it reconciles us with God and unites us with Hitrij not only by removing sin, the great obstacle to divine union, but also by infusing into our heart those sentiments of contrition and humiliation which constitute the beginning of love, and which under the action of grace are often transformed into perfect love. -For, as St.. Francis de Sales says, perfect love wants God and needs Him ; penance seeks and finds Him ; perfect love possesses and holds Him, fast. At all events, our sins are more perfectly remitted, the purer and the deeper is our love. 1226. b) They also practice, in its first degree, the love of conformity with the divine will, by obeying Gods commandments and those of the Church, and manfully withstanding the trials that Providence sends them for the purification of their souls (n. 747). e) Soon their love becomes a grateful love. Realizing that despite their sins, God continually showers upon them His blessings, and grants them such generous pardon, they evince a sincere sense of gratitude towards Him, praise His goodness, and strive to profit better by His graces. This is in itself a noble sentiment which constitutes an excellent preparation for pure love ; we easily rise from the benefaction received to the love of the Benefactor, and we desire His goodness to be recognized and praised the world over. This is perfect love, or charity. , 1227. 2 Those advancing in the,way of perfection practice the love of complacency, of benevolence, of conformity to the will of God, and thereby arrive at the love of friendship. A) The love of complacency * is born of faith and reflection, a) Through faith we know and through meditation we realize that God possesses the fulness of. being, of perfection, of wisdom, of power, of goodness. Now, with but a little good-will, we cannot help taking complacency in such infinite perfection;.,we rejoice at seeing that our God is rich in goodness, we delight more. in Gods .pleasure than in our own, and we show our joy by acts of admiration, approbation and praise. , - _ b) Thereby we draw unto ourselves the perfections of the . Godhead. God becomes our God; we live on the thought of His perfection, His goodness, His sweetness, His Divine life; for the heart feeds upon such. things as it delights in. Thus we are enriched by the divine perfections, which we make our own by a loving complacency. 1228. e) But in thus attracting to ourselves the divine perfections, we attract God Himself, and we give ourselves entirely to Him, as St. Francis de Sales t well explains : It follows that through this love of complacency we not only enjoy the perfections of God as if they were our own; but also, .that since the divine perfections are infinitely above the powers and capacity of our mind and heart, we could not attract them into us to enjoy and possess them without being also possessed by them in turn. The love of complacency is then a reciprocal donation, in virtue of which we may truly assert that we belong to God, Who is also our possession. Thus, the soul inflamed with the love of complacency exclaims from the midst of its repose and sacred silence : It suffices to my happiness to know that God is God ; that His perfections are boundless, that His goodness is infinite. I am indifferent to life and death, since the object of all my love lives, and will live eternally, surrounded by the unfading splendor of endless, glory. Death cannot terrify a heart which breathes but to love, and which is aware that its sovereign good lives forever. It suffices to her to know, that He Whom she loves more than herself is overwhelmed with, bliss: she lives more in the^ object of her predilection than in herself. 1229. d) This love, when it contemplates the Suffering Christ turns into compassion and sympathy. A devout soul, beholding the depths of dejection and grief wherein the Divine Lover is plunged, cannot but share in the holy love that makes Him endure such afflictions. It was this love that caused the stigmata to be imprinted upon the flesh of St. Francis of Assisi, and the Sacred Wounds upon that of St. Catherine of Sienna. Complacency produced compassion, and compassion produced a wound like that of the Beloved. 1230. B) From the love of complacency springs the love of benevolence, that is to say, an ardent desire of glorifying the object of our love and of causing it to be glorified. This may be done in two ways in regard to God. a) In what concerns His interior perfections, to which we can add nothing, we can give glory only in a hypothetical way, saying, for example : If (assuming the impossible) I could procure Thee any good, I would unceasingly desire it, even at the cost of my life. If, being what Thou art, Thou couldst receive an increase of perfection, T would desire it with all my heart. 1231. b) In what touches His outward glory, we desire unconditionally to increase it both in ourselves and in others, and with this end in view we desire to know and love Him better, in order that we may in turn make Him better known and better loved. That this love be not a merely speculative love, we strive to study in detail the beauties and the perfections of God, to praise them and cause them to be blest, sacrificing to this end studies and occupations which would naturally be more agreeable to us. Filled, then, with esteem and admiration for God we long to have His Holy Name blessed, exalted, praised, honored, adored all over the earth. And as we are of ourselves incapable of doing this in a perfect manner, we call upon all creatures to praise and bless their Maker : Let all the works of the Lord praise the Lord. I We rise in spirit to Heaven there to join the Angelic choirs and the host of the Saints and sing in unison with them : Holy, Holy, Holy Lord. . . 2 We join the Blessed Virgin, who raised above the Angels, renders to God more glory than all other creatures, and we repeat with Her : My soul doth magnify the Lord. 3 We join ourselves especially to the Incarnate Word, the Great Worshiper of the Father, Who, being God and Man, offers the Most Blessed Trinity a praise that is infinite. Lastly, we unite with God Himself, that is to say, with the Three Divine Persons, in their mutual .praise and congratulation. Then we exclaim : Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost! And in order to prove that the object of this aspiration is not the accidental glory of created praise, but the essential, eternal glory which God has in Himself, by Himself, from Himself, and which is, in a word, nothing else than Himself, we add immediately : As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end, wishing that God be ever glorified with that infinite eternal glory, which he possessed in Himself before the formation ofcreatur.es. 4 Religious and Priests realize that they are by virtue of their vows or of their priesthood specially bound to promote Gods glory. Burning, with the desire of glorifying Him, they never cease, even in the midst of their occupations, to bless and praise the Almighty, and they have but one end in view, one ambition, that of extending,-the Kingdom of God and of procuring the eternal praise ot Him Whom they love as the only portion of their inheritance. 1232. C) The love of benevolence is manifested by the love of conformity. Nothing strengthens the reign of God in the soul more effectively than the accomplishment of His Holy Will : Thy Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Love is above all else a union, a fusion of two wills into one; and, since the Will of God is alone good and wise, it is evidently we who must conform our will to His : Not my will, but Thine be done. As we have explained in nos. 480-492, this conformity comprises obedience to the Commandments, the Counsels, the inspirations of grace, and the humble and loving submission to providential events whether fortunate or unfortunate : failure, humiliations, all sorts of trials sent to us for our sanctification and Gods glory. Conformity in turn produces a holy indifference to whatever does not concern itself with Gods service. Persuaded that God is everything and the creature nothing, we want but God, His love and His glory, and our will remains indifferent to all else. This indifference is not a stoical insensibility, for we continue to feel the attraction of those things that please us, but it is an indifference of mind and will. Neither does this indifference consist in letting things take their course, as the Quietists pretended. We are not indifferent to our salvation ; on the contrary, we ardently desire it, but we desire it only in agreement with the Divine Will. - This holy abandon produces a profound peace of soul. We know that nothing can happen to us that will not be profitable unto our sanctification : To them that love God all things work together unto good. 2 Hence we joyfully embrace trials and the Cross, out of love for the Divine Crucified and in order to become more like unto Him. Thus, perfect conformity to the Will of God, as Bossuet says, 3 makes us find our rest whether in pain or in joy, according to the pleasure of Him Who is our good. It makes us rest, not in our satisfaction, but in that of God, ever praying Him to be well pleased and to do ever with us as He pleases. 1233. D) This-conformity leads us tofriendship with God. Friendship implies, besides benevolence, reciprocity or the mutual giving of self. Now this is Well realized in charity. This love is a true friendship, says St. Francis de Sales 4 , for it is known and acknowledged to exist on both sides ; for God cannot be ignorant of our love for Him, since He Himself enkindles it in our hearts ; nor can we have a doubt of His eternal predilection for us, since He has so frequently assured us of it... and He incessantly speaks to our hearts by the inspirations of His grace. The Saint adds : The mutual love subsisting between God and His creature is not what is termed simple friendship ; it is a friendship of benevolent preference, that is, a special love of God founded on our choice and our preference. 1234. This friendship consists in the gift of Himself, which God makes to us, and the gift of self which we make to Him. We must, therefore, see what is Gods love for us in order to understand what must be our love for Him. a) His love for us is i) eternal: I have loved thee with an everlasting love; x 2) it is desiiiterested, for being absolutely self-sufficient, He simply loves us for our good ; 3) it is generous, for He gives Himself entirely, coming Himself to live lovingly in our soul (n. 92-97) ; 4) it is prevenient, for not only has He loved us first, but He solicits our love and begs for it as if He were in need of it: My delight is to be with the children of men. . . Son, give me thy heart. * No one could ever dream of such delicate thoughtfulness. 1235. b) We must, therefore, correspond to .this love with a love that is as perfect as possible: Who. would not love Him Who loves us so much! 3 i) Our love must be forever growing. Not having been capable of loving God from all eternity, and never being able to love Him as He deserves, we must at least love Him more each day, placing no limits to our affection for Him, refusing Him no sacrifice that He may demand, and ever seeking to please Him : I do always^ the things thatplease him. 4 2) Our love must be generous, expressing itself in loving affections, frequent ejaculations and such simple acts of love as : I love Thee with all my heart ; but it must also express itself by actions, chiefly by the entire gift of self. God must be the center of our entire being: of our intelligence, by the frequent thought of Him; of our will, by a humble submission to His least desire ; of pursensitive nature, by not allowing our heart to become entangled in affections that would only be an obstacle to Gods love ; of all our actions, by ever striving to please Him. 3) Our love must be disinterested. We must love God far more than we love His gifts. Hence we must love Him whether in desolation or consolation, protesting to Him again and again that we want to love Him and for His own sake. It is in this way that in spite of our weakness we respond to His friendship.
Posted on: Tue, 02 Dec 2014 03:14:42 +0000
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