ON CHARITY (part 3 of 3)

ON CHARITY (part 3 of 3)

God gave us the gift of faith and hope, but most of all God infuses into our souls at Baptism the supernatural virtue of charity, by which we love God above all things for His own sake, and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God. We love God because He is infinitely true, good, beautiful, and worthy of all our love.This is the virtue that unites (fastens) us to God most intimately. Moreover, charity has all the virtues in her train (“Charity is patient, is kind…” cf 1Cor 13:4-7). St. Paul calls it the bond of perfection (Col 3:14), the form of all the virtues, and the fulfillment of the law (cf Rom 13:10).

However, though perfect love of God means loving Him for His own sake, it does not exclude the hope of Heaven, which God wants us to desire and expect. In fact, “to long for Heaven in order to possess God and love Him more perfectly is a true and perfect love of God, for eternal glory is the perfection of this love”. (St. Alphonsus).

Nevertheless the greatest motive to love God, among all His perfections, is His infinite love for us. “St. John Chrysostom says that God loves us more than we can love ourselves. ‘I have loved thee with an everlasting love’ (Jer 31:3).” Even nature cries out and bids us to love God for He created everything for us. Moreover, we have no more reason to doubt God's love for us when Jesus assumed for himself our nature and died for us. We have only to consider the unimaginable passion and crucifixion our Blessed Lord endured for our sake.

Now it remains for us to do our part to advance in love of God. First we must excite in ourselves a greater desire to love God. Secondly we must renounce “all love that does not refer to God” (*St. Alphonsus) “We must banish from our heart every attachment that has not God for its object” (*). Thirdly we must practice self denial to counter our inordinate self-love. Fourthly we must frequently meditate on the passion of our Lord in order to inflame our hearts with love for Jesus and to learn from him what he desires us to do. We must also be “ready to bear everything patiently for love of him who suffered so much for love of us”(*). Fifthly, we must constantly pray to Jesus and our Blessed Mother to obtain for us genuine love of God. Let us also make frequent acts of charity and perfect contrition, be faithful to our every duty, and refer our every thought, word, and action to God. Let us keep in mind that “charity is not a mere matter of feeling, not a tender emotion we commonly call love, but a love of preference. It resides in the will, which deliberately prefers God before all things, and is ready to sacrifice all rather than offend Him mortally”. (Fr. Laux, Catholic Morality).

In fine, though the virtue of charity consists in loving God for his own sake, simply because He is supremely lovable, the practice of this virtue, as it is, redounds to our ultimate good, for God loves those who love Him. As we give ourselves wholly to Him, He gives Himself wholly to us.
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So then we possess the three theological virtues of Faith, Hope, and Charity in their supernatural form whenever we are in the state of grace. But since these are infused and not acquired by repeated acts we must do our part to develop these God-given ‘spiritual muscles’. For if we don't use them we lose them. It remains for us therefore to exercise these spiritual muscles by making frequent acts of these virtues, that is, by a conscious expression of our inner conviction of faith, hope, and love for God.

Let us remember that these supernatural virtues are far superior to the natural virtues. “They here and now bridge the gap, the chasm between creature and Creator, between God and soul. When the soul believes in God in living faith, God is as truly present in and to the soul as He will be in Heaven. Nothing whatever separates the soul from the being of God except the veil of the present life. In the act of hope the soul already possesses for its own use the omnipotence of God. In the act of charity it is already united to God in an immediate spiritual embrace. These sublime acts establish true and direct contact between the soul and the Infinite Spirit of God.” (Benedict Ashley, OP). And it is this union with God that inflames Charity in us and impels us to obey the Commandments and truly love God and neighbor actively.

Furthermore, the very practice of these virtues through frequent acts, when in the state of grace, merits for us an increase in Sanctifying Grace and an abundance of actual graces to enable us to live our faith with the zeal of martyrs, hope against all hope, and love God in the concrete instances of our daily life. By these acts we merit the grace to cooperate with God's grace. Indeed “the Theological Virtues are the foundation of Christian moral activity; they animate and give it its special character. They inform and give life to all the moral virtues. They are infused by God into the souls of the Faithful to make them capable of acting as His children and of meriting eternal life. They are the pledge of the presence and action of the Holy Spirit in the faculties of the human being.” (CCC 1813).

Act of Charity: O My God, I love you above all things, with my whole heart and soul, because you are all good and worthy of all my love. I love my neighbor as myself for love of You. I forgive all who have injured me, and ask pardon of all whom I have injured. Amen.

[Gleaned from “The 12 Steps to Holiness and Salvation, by St. Alphonsus Liguori” (with direct quotes), CCC, “The Beginner at Mental Prayer”, by Benedict Ashley OP; etc.].