388. What is charity? (part 2 continuation)
(Comp 388 repetition) Charity is the theological virtue by which we love God above all things
and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God. Jesus makes charity the new
commandment, the fullness of the law. “It is the bond of perfection”
(Colossians 3:14) and the foundation of the other virtues to which it gives
life, inspiration, and order. Without charity “I am nothing” and “I gain
nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
“In brief”
(CCC 1844) By charity, we love God
above all things and our neighbor as ourselves for love of God. Charity, the
form of all the virtues, "binds everything together in perfect
harmony" (Col 3:14).
To deepen and
explain
(CCC 1826)
"If I… have not charity," says
the Apostle, "I am nothing." Whatever my privilege, service, or even
virtue, "if I… have not charity, I
gain nothing" (1 Cor 13:1-4). Charity is superior to all the virtues. It
is the first of the theological virtues: "So faith, hope, charity abide,
these three. But the greatest of these is
charity" (1 Cor 13:13). (CCC 1827)
The practice of all the virtues is animated and inspired by charity, which
"binds everything together in perfect harmony" (Col 3:14); it is the form of the virtues; it articulates and
orders them among themselves; it is the source and the goal of their Christian
practice. Charity upholds and purifies our human ability to love, and raises it
to the supernatural perfection of divine love.
Reflection
(CCC 1828) The practice of the
moral life animated by charity gives to the Christian the spiritual freedom of
the children of God. He no longer stands before God as a slave, in servile fear,
or as a mercenary looking for wages, but as a son responding to the love of him
who "first loved us" (Cf. 1 Jn 4:19): If we turn away from evil out
of fear of punishment, we are in the position of slaves. If we pursue the
enticement of wages,… we resemble mercenaries. Finally if we obey for the sake
of the good itself and out of love for him who commands… we are in the position
of children (St. Basil, Reg. fus. tract.,
prol. 3 PG 31, 896 B). (CCC 1829) The fruits of charity are joy, peace, and
mercy; charity demands beneficence and fraternal correction; it is benevolence;
it fosters reciprocity and remains disinterested and generous; it is friendship
and communion: Love is itself the fulfillment of all our works. There is the
goal; that is why we run: we run toward it, and once we reach it, in it we
shall find rest (St. Augustine, In ep. Jo.
10, 4: PL 35, 2057). [END]
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