5 October 2012 Charity is brotherly love The parable of the good Samaritan inspires us of this great duty which should be the charm of our life. What motives dispose us for cultivating this virtue? The first motive is our Lord’s precept, “This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you.” (Jn 13:34) He wishes charity to distinguish his true disciples. “By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another.” (Jn 13:35) We have one common Father who is in heaven. We are brothers, seated at the same table, walking the same road by the observance of the same norms. In consequence of our frequent communions, the same blood flows in our veins -- the Blood of Christ. Close attention to these motives will increase our love for charity. So, too will our desire to faithfully observe the conditions wherein alone it can exist -- a) not only to patiently bear the faults of others, but even excuse or overlook them; and b) readily forgive and forget injuries done to us, attributing them to thoughtlessness instead of a personal matter. No one should ever hear us say, ‘I keep out of the way of such, or else I should lose my temper -- I can’t get on with him; or, I try to be on good terms with all, but if any of them offend me, I take care to let him know it, for his own sake.’ This is not the language of charity but of the world. ‘Our Lord’s example’ is the second motive. His whole life was one act of love. He lived doing good to all, without complaining of the ingratitude he received in return. He took unto himself all our sorrows to console them, all our sins to expiate them. He died the martyr of love after a life of sacrifice, finding excuses even for his executioners: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (Lk 23:34) Let us be ready, as Jesus did, to sacrifice our comfort, and, if need be, our health, even our life, for others. Let us at least watch ourselves, abstain from anything which could hurt or vex another, and become all things to all men. We know that some things give offence, alter them. Our jokes often hurt, stop making them. Be particularly watchful on days when bodily pains make us cross. ‘Our Lord’s promises and threats’ make up the third motive. The sentence he will pronounce at the last day will depend mainly upon our charity. “Come, you blessed of my Father; I was hungry, and you gave me food.” (Mt 25:35) On the other hand, “Depart from me, you condemned; I was hungry, and you gave me no food ...” (Mt 25:41-42). To excel in charity is for our immense interest, and a good defense against our self-love. Ref: Cf “Practical Meditations” by a Father of the Society of Jesus, 1964, pp623-5 To do everything for love Charity alone makes the Christian. In the supernatural order, an act is good, ie, in accordance with what the life of God demands, when in and by that action we look for God and love him. The motive of this action is the love of God for his own sake; the inner energy which impels it is charity. Every act carried out for love of God is supernaturally good and directs us towards eternal life. On the contrary, an act which has the purely human motive of satisfying nature (whether spiritual or sensible) has no supernatural value and does not direct us towards eternal life. The only thing which matters is this fundamental directing of our will, by which we open and give ourselves, or else shut ourselves up, refusing the gift of God. The value of our actions, from the Christian point of view, derives from the strength of the love which inspires them. This is independent of their greater or lesser human or natural value, of our greater or lesser talents and natural gifts. The simplest everyday action, the commonest act of the most ordinary life, to eat, drink, sleep, cook, wash, if its motive is the love or God for himself, has a supernatural value which makes us merit eternal life and directs us towards it. On the contrary, the most heroic action, the most ingenious, extraordinary or wonderful in the natural human order, whose motive is, however, not the love of God, is worthless supernaturally speaking, despite its human value. It has no merit for eternal life, and has no relation to the aim of our life. On the other hand, the most miserable of men, devoid of all natural talent and even of human virtues, a ‘good for nothing’, a human pariah, a being tainted by heredity, fettered by his education and environment, rejected and despised by men, can live the very life of God within himself -- and can advance towards eternal life if, at the bottom of his heart, hidden from the eyes of all and visible to God only, there is an answer of love to the inner promptings of God’s grace at work in every human being. In such a man there is an emptiness hollowed out for God and for his grace, a deep inner yearning of love. This is why Christ tells us that the publicans and the harlots will enter God’s kingdom before the self-satisfied ‘just’ (cf Mt 21:31). So we can never judge others, because we see only their outward action, and only God reads their heart and the deep motives of its decisions. Ref: Jean Daujat, “Faith Applied”, 1984, pp30-31 The 15 Promises of Mary: 5. The rosary will cause virtue and good works to flourish; it will obtain for souls the abundant mercy of God; it will withdraw the hearts of men from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire of eternal things. Oh, that souls would sanctify themselves by this means. Ref: In Rev Joseph A Viano, SSP, “Two Months with Mary”, 1984, p73 Meditations on the Litany of Loreto ‘Mother of Divine Grace’ -- St Anselm calls Mary ‘the Mother of all graces’; and Blessed Raymond Jordano, ‘The treasurer of divine grace’. Hence St Bernardine of Sienna writes, ‘all the gifts and graces that we receive from God are dispensed by the hands of Mary, to whom, when, and as she pleases’. Then, my Queen, if I love you, I no longer shall be poor. After God, I love you above all things; do obtain for me greater tenderness and love for thy goodness. St Bonaventure tells me that all who will are saved. Ref: “The Glories of Mary”. In “Documentation Service”, V:319 • Our Lady of Buch, in the Pine Mountains, in Guienne. The sea cast this image upon the sands, while St Thomas, of the order of St Francis, was praying in behalf of two vessels which he saw in danger of perishing. He respectfully received this image and deposited it in this place, in a small chapel which he built there. — Florimond Raymon, Histoiro des Heresies, liv. i. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; www.bethlehemobserver.com) • Our Lady of Buch (in the Pine Mountains in Guienne, France). (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html); (www.miraclehunter.com/marian_apparitions/calendar/index.html); www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.html • Saint Mary’s of Jersey, consecrated in the year 1320, in the English Channel. — Chartrier de Coutances, called Le Livre Noir. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; www.bethlehemobserver.com) • Our Lady of Zapopan. (Mexico). (www/mariedenazareth.com)