Like the other two theological virtues;
Faith and Hope,
Charity comes from God.
Charity is not something that we can
manufacture on our
own, it is God that gives it,
and concretely that takes
place at Baptism.
It is pure supernatural grace.
Baptism makes us children of God.
In Baptism God communicates,
even to infants,
the entire supernatural organism:
Faith, Hope and Charity.
For infants it is at an embryonic
stage,
obviously the infant
can not perform acts of charity,
but the grace is implanted and
with the help of all the
other Sacrements, especially
Holy Communion
and the Sacrement of Confession,
it will increase as the child matures.
The grace of charity comes always
from The Principle;
God The Father.
It is a habitual disposition which is
in the essence of the soul and which
changes a being, the very identity
of the soul, by mysteriously participating
with God's nature.
It is the divine operative habitus, rooted
in the willpower, within us.
We are told to love God, but it can be difficult
to love God, since we cannot see Him, it would
be humanly impossible if it wasn't for God Himself
giving us the capacity to love Him.
"And hope does not put us to shame, because God's
love has been poured out into our hearts through the
Holy Spirit , who has been given to us"
Romans 5:5
Charity has the characteristics of a friendship,
a real honest, genuine friendship; pure kindness
and goodwill towards the other, without even as
much as a hint of personal profit for
oneself.
There is nothing to be "gained" by it. Just wanting
the good for the other.
The word Charity comes from the Greek word
agape, or the Latin caritas.
This is a sublime friendship with God, in the
goodness of God Himself, there is nothing at
stake in it for us, so it is the opposite of
concupiscence, which is a desire for something
which we deem good, something we can benefit
from, which pulls us towards it.
But Charity is totally free, there is no hidden
agenda, it's only object is the love of God.
It is a mystery; the infinite love of God
Himself, in the disposition of the heart,
it is life in God.
Charity is God, and God is 3:
The Father, The Son and the Holy Spirit.
Man has 3 types of loves, which he is torn
between.
1.
The emotive love: that which our senses pulls
us towards. People, activities, food, etc,
they are man's passions.
2.
The spiritual love: what we consider to be for
the universal good: justice, truth, beauty, peace
etc, or it might be lying and dishonesty, which
are nevertheless spiritual in caracter, as they
are rooted in the willpower.
The common denominator of these two types
of love is that there is something to get out of
it, advantages, a personal interst.
It is the object that is good, or that we see as
good, (it might not necessarily be the case),
but the perceived goodness of the object is
what pulls us towards it.
We see something we like and we say:
I love it, I want it.
When we see the thing diminishing in
perceived goodness, the human natural
love of it diminishes also.
But Charity is not like that, man being
pulled towards something due to the real
or perceived goodness or beneficial qualities
of the thing,
charity is the goodness in man himself,
free of charge.
This is obviously the only type of love that
God has.
God is goodness itself, He created the goodness
in us, it was He that put it there, but unfortunately
we are not only good like the infinite goodness of
God.
God is love itself, God loves Himself,
but not in a selfish and egocentric way,
because God is not alone,
God is not one, but three.
There are three Persons in God.
We can participate in God's charity,
in the goodwill that we bear towards Him,
and that He bears towards us.
"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy,
it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not
dishonour others,
it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered,
it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not
delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects, always trusts,
always hopes, always perseveres."
Corinthians 13;4-8
God is Charity. Charity is God.
God is not alone.
There are three divine Persons in God:
The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit.
The infinite love between the three divine
Persons which is constitutive of God,
is Charity.
Charity is a friendship with God, it wants
the good of the other, nothing for itself, it
is the goodness of God Himself.
God is the principle of charity, which
is God's life in us.
"We love because He first loved us.
Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother
or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their
brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot
love God, whom they have not seen."
1 John 4 19-20
"God demonstrated His immense love for us by
sending His only Son to die for us while we were
still sinners."
Romans 5:8
Without charity it would be humanly impossible
to "love our ennemies". But with it, it is possible.
The love God pours out on us makes it possible
for us to be less bad, and even to be good.
Because God is still good to us when we are not
good to Him, He blesses us even when we do wrong,
He forgives us, and if God can treat us in this merciful
way, then we are capable of treating others the same
way.
Charity is the highest form of love, but it
does not eliminate or abolish the sensible
or the spirituel love, rather it builds on top
of it.
Charity is not at the exclusion of the
primary physical sensible love in the conjugal
love of marriage, which God Himself instituted.
Rather charity is added on to it, it raises it up
to another level, it makes it bigger, it takes on
another magnitude.
Like steering a wagon with three wheels instead
of two.
In fact Saint Thomas Aquinas said that charity
is greater when it has it's roots in natural, physical
love, it can be more successful.
Divine charity does not eliminate love of a human
nature, it builds on it.
And there is an order in charity.
We ought to love those closest to us more than
those who are far away, in an order of proximity.
It is literally those are closest to us who should
come first; in a married couple it is the spouse,
then the children, then parents, siblings, and the
larger family,
neighbours and friends, and of course those that
happen to be in our physical proximity that might
need help, e.g.
like the good samaritan in Luke 10: 25-37
It is fine to pray for people far away, e.g. people
who suffer war or famine, but charity always
"starts at home", meaning those closest to us.
Actually amongst the Apostles there was 3 pairs
of brothers, Simon and Andrew, John and James,
Simon and Jude, they loved each other more than
they loved the other apostles, in the sense that
they supported each other more.
With God's grace we have the capacity within us
to love our neighbour the way that God loves us,
freely, not seeking anything in return.
It is the grace that renders us capable to do this,
without it we could not.
Those who love God has received the love of
God from God Himself.
Freely given, so we can in turn give it freely
to others. It is the same love.
That is why we can never say:
I love God but I don't love my neighbour,
or I love my neighbour but I don't love God.
Charity comes from inside of us,
from the heart.
It is not the ones who says
"my God, my God, I love you" with their
mouth, it is the ones who has the love
of God in their heart.
We can not see God, but we can see charity,
it can be measured and verified, in how we
treats others, in kindness of words and actions.
Charity is a close friendship, well it is a lot more
than that, but that is the closest word that describes
it.
A real friendship is always reciprocal, otherwise it
is not a friendship. It is not a one way street, where
one is always running after the other, calling him a
friend, whereas the friend has no interest in him.
A friendship is always mutual.
And it is the same with God; it is reciprocal.
Charity does not make distinctions between people;
it distributes itself indiscriminately, because it springs
up from within the heart.
If we only help people we like and withhold it
from those we do not "like" due to ideology
or prejudices, then it is not charity at all.
Because God loves all of us equally, that is why
we must do the same. In that way the love
becomes reciprocal; Christian love made perfect,
in Communion with God.
To love God freely, not because there is something
to be gained from it.
Not " I love God because I want to go to Heaven",
(Heaven is God), rather I love God because
God is good, and I love this goodness.
Neither for motives of personal protection e.g.
" I love God because if I follow His Word He will
keep me safe and preserve me from danger and
bad things."
We should rather love the God of consolation,
and not the consolation of God.
If we love God for other reasons and motives than
the pure goodness of God, then it is not charity.
In this state no fear remains, the freedom is creative,
it never despaires and it provokes goodness.
If we have never lost the three Theological virtues:
Faith, Hope and Charity, they will continually grow
and increase, which means that they are stronger
today than they have ever been before.
Having said that; they can be lost, and out of the
three,
charity is the easiest one to loose.
If we make a choice that implicates that we prefer
something else over God, the charity in us diminishes,
and it can even disappear altogether.
In Heaven there is no Faith, we no longer
believe, because we see.
In Heaven there is no Hope, because we
have already arrived.
But Charity, the love of God, remains in
Heaven.
It is the link between Heaven and earth.
Charity is at the beginning, the principle
of the spiritual life, it is not on top of the
other virtues, like an extra, but it is the very
foundation of the others.
The other virtues are informed by charity.
" Though I command languages both human and angelic,
if I speak without love, I am no more than a booming gong
or a cymbal clashing.
And though I have the power of prophecy, to penetrate all
mysteries and knowledge, and though I have all the faith
necessary to move mountaints - if I am without love-
I am nothing.
Though I should give away to the poor all that I possess,
and even give up my body to be burned - if I am without love,
it will do me no good whatsoever.
Love is always patient and kind, love is never jealous, love is
not boastful or conceited, it is never rude and never seeks it's
own advantage, it does not take offence or store up grievances.
Love does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but finds it's joy in the
truth.
It is always ready to make allowences, to trust, to hope and to
endure whatever comes."
1 Corinthians 13, 1-7
God on earth is called Charity.
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