A while back I wrote a bulletin article on the theological virtue of hope. I would like to continue that with an article on the theological virtue of Charity. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says,
“Charity is the theological virtue by which we love God above all things for his own sake, and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God.” CCC, 1822
Charity is what could be called Christian love. We must first love God above all else including our own lives and then love our neighbor as we love ourselves. These two cannot be separated even though it may seem like they are two different things. As we love God so we also love those whom He created and redeemed. God not only created each person but also died on the Cross for love of them.
The idea of love that we must have for those around us has been influenced by the world. So, our understanding of what it means to love our neighbors may be skewed a little. So often love is thought of as having good feelings towards another person. It is often conflated with being nice; not saying or doing things that would in any way offend others, which in itself may be contrary to true charity.
Charity is also often thought of as giving money or doing some service for the poor. Giving to the poor is good especially when it is done out of love for God and for the well-being of those who have less than us. However, this is not the only way to live out the virtue of charity.
Love cannot end here. We must also show love for those around us. We must live out the virtue of charity with those in our immediate circle of family, friends, coworkers, etc. Mother Teresa said, “It is easy to love the people far away. It is not always easy to love those close to us. Bring love into your home, for this is where our love for each other must start.” How right she is! It is easy to love those whom we are not in contact with day in and day out. It is easy to love at a distance. But it is difficult and sometimes very difficult to love those who we are in direct contact with on a regular basis, who we may know many of their faults and failings, or who maybe have hurt us deeply. It is often the most difficult to show them charity but this is exactly what we are called to.
We are called to love those around us and all the more called to love those who are in our family. In order to love those around us we must always do what’s best for them by helping them to be closer to Our Lord, to be healed of sins, and in helping them with these two things we help them to get to heaven. This past week we celebrated the feast day of St. Elizabeth of Portugal (1271-1336). She was the wife of the king of Portugal. She is a very good example of what it looks like to live a life of Charity. She was well known for the aid that she gave to pilgrims, strangers, the sick, and the poor. She exemplified the care and concern that we must have for those who are less fortunate than we are. She also showed us how to love those within our own families. She did this especially in her marriage to King Denis. Denis was unfaithful to her in their marriage. Yet she remained devoted to Him throughout his unfaithfulness. Not thinking of the great hurt and pain that he caused her, she desired only that he be reconciled with God and give up his sinful way of life. How difficult it must have been for her to show charity to her husband throughout this time. She undoubtedly spent many sleepless nights in prayer and sacrifice and had many discussions with him, urging him to give up the sin that so grievously separated him from God. She exemplifies charity and how difficult it may be to love those around us, especially those within our families.
We must love like St. Elizabeth and ultimately we must love like God. We hear from scripture that God the Father loves us so much that He gave us His only begotten Son. We know that God the Son, who is Love Himself, came to this earth as a man to preach repentance, to heal the sick, and to suffer and die on the Cross out of love for us. Even though we, His beloved sons and daughters, hurt Him deeply by our sins He still pours out His saving graces, which flow from the Cross to us. He came so that we could go to heaven and be with Him forever because of His charity, his love for us. We are called to live a life of charity. We are called to charity even if it is very difficult. We are called to love like Christ Himself loves.
Fr. Jacquemin
