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Dear Friend, We mentioned at the very beginning of this series that people of faith, good will and peaceable disposition will be the ones to provide the most effective solution to our nation’s problems. As we embark on the New Year, we do so with a determination to demonstrate our visible commitment to the mission of Christ as it comes to us through the Church. To underpin this desire, let’s continue to embrace this time as an opportunity to sharpen our priorities and to unite more fully in Jesus and Mary with the final installment of our series, “Return to Virtue.” The Theological Virtue of CharityAs we have explained, during this mini-refresher course on the virtues, restoring virtue in the hearts of men is the only reasonable way to take our country back from the forces of dissolution in our country today. Our venerable Founding Fathers believed that we could not sustain a world-changing project like our republic without a virtuous population. A return to virtue is our “radical solution to our nation’s problems”, and it starts with us.
Our commitment to developing the theological virtues – Faith, Hope and Charity – in our hearts and souls has a powerful impact on others and on society as a whole. And the reason for this is simple: virtue is the way God lives within us. The greatest of these Our journey together has brought us, finally, to the virtue that St. Paul calls “the greatest” of the theological virtues: Charity. If you have ever been to a Christian wedding, most likely you will have heard Paul’s supremely beautiful hymn to love (Charity): Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, [love] is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth… So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:4-6.13) Even though Faith and Hope remain permanently imprinted on our characters, even in heaven, Charity is the very basis of all our relationships (both human and divine). It is the bond that holds all human communities together and the medium of exchange in all our interactions. Here is what the Catechism of the Catholic Church says about the importance of Charity in the scale of the virtues: 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 purified our human ability to love, and raises it to the supernatural perfection of divine love. (CCC, 1827) Yes, Charity is the greatest of all the virtues! If we nurture Charity in our hearts, we also gain the other virtues as well. As we’ve noted in the past, American society really needs this supernatural gift. As evidenced by so much turmoil and political manipulation in our nation’s public life today, the love people have for their own fellow citizens is rapidly “growing cold” (Matthew 24:12). The definition of Charity Love and “charity” are often confused in culture. We often speak of “charity” as a type of philanthropy or as indistinguishable from emotional love. In generic terms, both love and charity denote a goodness of heart, a sense of benevolence toward others, kindness. But when we speak of the theological virtue of Charity, we are describing something very specific. We are talking about an act of the will. The simplest definition of Charity is this: willing the good of another. As the virtue of Charity grows within us by God’s grace, we actually do become more benevolent and loving toward others, but that is because we become more accustomed to desiring and choosing the best things for others. God must give the gift of Charity to us – and we must pray for it – but we must also practice the virtue of “willing the good of others” every single day so that we may develop it in our relationships. Charity requires us to go out of ourselves, to nurture a selfless attitude toward others, to constantly call into question our own selfishness and self-seeking motives. It even requires fraternal correction when we see others endangering their souls (Matthew 18). In other words, it requires us to become more like Christ. The Sacred Heart of Jesus When Our Lord appeared to St. Margaret Mary Alocoque in the first apparition of the Sacred Heart (1673-75), he offered to her “a burning flame in the form of a heart”, as the saint described it. Then He told her: My Divine Heart is so inflamed with love for men, and for you in particular that, being unable any longer to contain within Itself the flames of Its burning Charity, It must needs spread them abroad by your means, and manifest Itself to them (mankind) in order to enrich them with the precious graces of sanctification and salvation necessary to withdraw them from the abyss of perdition. In this private revelation we have all we need to know about the love of Christ for sinful humanity. He desires the good of the whole human race; He offers all graces necessary for our sanctification; and He wishes to save our souls from hell. Christ’s desire and sacrifice for the salvation of the human race is the greatest possible expression of Charity. A radical virtue We have called the theological virtues “radical” in two senses: they are the root causes of all the other virtues, and they are a radical witness to the values of the Gospel. To will the good of others in a world where love is going cold is a perfectly countercultural act in today’s society. Charity is the attitude of a St. Maximilian Kolbe who offered himself in place of a family man who was being led off to death in a concentration camp. It is the incessant work of a Mother Teresa who chose to go to the poorest of the poor in the slums of Calcutta and treat them like human beings. It is the sacrifice of the generous prolife warriors of our own day and age who selflessly intercede for the lives of unborn babies being killed by abortion. A light in the darkness And let’s not forget that Charity has the power to transform the hardened hearts of others when they encounter it as a living witness to Christ in the virtuous actions of Christians. We conclude with the story of an Armenian nurse who was captured, along with her brother, by the Muslim Turks during the terrible genocide of Christians in 1915. A Turkish soldier shot her brother before her very eyes. Later, that same soldier was brought as a wounded captive to the very hospital where this woman worked. She saw him and her first thought was pure vengeance! But her second thought was the teaching of Christ: love your enemies. When the Turk realized who she was, he asked: “Why did you not let me die?” The nurse responded: “I follow Him who told us to love our enemies.” The soldier said: “I never heard that before. Tell me more.” Your friend in Jesus and Mary, Thomas J. McKenna
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