Walk in Love

"God is charity: and he that abideth in charity, abideth in God, and God in him." 1 John 4:16

“Deus caritas est”. God is love. 1 John 4:11

God is charity: and he that abideth in charity, abideth in God, and God in him. - 1 John 4:16

Charity is the sweet and holy bond which links the soul with its Creator: it binds God with man and man with God.--Saint Catherine of Siena

Everything comes from love, all is ordained for the salvation of man, God does nothing without this goal in mind.--Saint Catherine of Siena

What is Charity?

Charity as a supernatural virtue is the friendship of man and God. On God's part, it is love, benevolence, and communication of benefits and graces; on man's part charity involves devotion and service to God. It was in charity that our Lord said to his apostles (John 15:15): "I will not now call you servants . . . but friends."

"Charity is the most excellent of all virtues. Faith knows truth about God; hope aspires to good in God; charity attains God himself simply, and not as having something to gain from him.

All true virtue directs a man to God, his ultimate good, his last end. Hence, charity, which embraces the ultimate good simply, must be in the soul that has any true and living virtue. No true supernatural virtue is possible without charity.

Charity therefore directs the acts of all the other virtues, making these serve to get man onward to his last end. And thus charity gives to these virtues their determinate being as effective instruments. Thus charity is said to be the "form" of the other virtues. – St. Thomas Aquinas, Treatise on Charity

LOVE OF NEIGHBOR

"We must love our neighbor as being made in the image of God and as an object of His love." --Saint Vincent de Paul

If any man say, I love God, and hateth his brother; he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother, whom he seeth, how can he love God, whom he seeth not? And this commandment we have from God, that he, who loveth God, love also his brother. 1 John 4:20-21

“Dearly beloved, let us love one another, for charity is of God. And every one that loveth, is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God: for God is charity. By this hath the charity of God appeared towards us, because God hath sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we may live by him. In this is charity: not as though we had loved God, but because he hath first loved us, and sent his Son to be a propitiation for our sins. 1 John 4:7-9

My dearest, if God hath so loved us; we also ought to love one another. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abideth in us, and his charity is perfected in us. In this we know that we abide in him, and he in us: because he hath given us of his spirit. - 1 John 4:11-13

What is the mark of love for your neighbor? Not to seek what is for your own benefit, but what is for the benefit of the one loved, both in body and in soul.
--St. Basil the Great

"We must love our neighbor as being made in the image of God and as an object of His love." --Saint Vincent de Paul
What is the mark of love for your neighbor? Not to seek what is for your own benefit, but what is for the benefit of the one loved, both in body and in soul.
--St. Basil the Great
Die for his soul.

SOCIETY-
Love and Justice in employment
But as wise: redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Eph. 5:16

CONVERSION HIGHEST WORK – Requires THEOLOGY
Study of Theology is of paramount importance.
Forbidden books.

Magnanimity vs. pusillanimity.
"The proof of love is in the works. Where love exists, it works great things. But when it ceases to act, it ceases to exist."
--Pope St. Gregory the Great

The greatest kindness one can render to any man consists in leading him from error to truth. - St. Thomas Aquinas
Importance vs Rash avoidance = pride and/or selfishness

True and false charity.

By true Charity, we love God first and above all. We love our neighbor as ourself, as he has the same value to God as we do. True loves seeks the real good of the neighbor, not necessarily what strikes us emotionally. It seeks the good of his soul first, then his material needs. It will always set his real good, above perceived good. One who truly loves his neighbor will say what needs said, even if it hurts.

False charity, on the other hand, goes by emotion. It seeks to relieve suffering that is present here and now, and can be seen. Those who are empathic by nature are drawn to it. Far from being in any way charity, it leads to all sorts of disorder and destruction. Sometimes animals are put before human beings, one’s likes and dislikes are put before the health of soul and body. Future havoc is paid no attention. Only what is here, now before my eyes. False charity is the driver of the Leftist political agenda. Of course, they (rightly) find God incompatible with their “love”.

So, let’s take a deeper look at true charity.

“Charity is patient, is kind: charity envieth not, dealeth not perversely; is not puffed up; Is not ambitious, seeketh not her own, is not provoked to anger, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth with the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.”- 1 Cor. 13:4-8

"Merit consists in the virtue of love alone, flavored with the light of true discretion without which the soul is worth nothing."--St. Catherine of Siena

But before all things have a constant mutual charity among yourselves: for charity covereth a multitude of sins. – 1 Pet. 4:8

God's will or mine.

We make decisions all day long, big decision and tiny ones. The decision to slouch over the bed while praying night prayers is a decision. What we base those decisions on sets us up for either rapid growth in holiness or an equally rapid disintegration into self-seeking. Awareness is necessary for to make decisions to do God's will, on the contrary, decisions based on pleasure and comfort come naturally. So, doing God's will requires we be aware enough to make decisions on their value, and not simly follow animal instincts, or worse Satan's directives.

Page – The Order of Charity.

The Order of Charity

There is an order in charity, and God is the principle of that order. God is to be loved out of charity, before all others. The other beings that are to be loved out of charity are, so to speak, lined up in their proper places, subordinate to God.
God is to be loved for himself and as the cause of happiness. Hence, God is to be loved more than our neighbor, who is loved, not for himself, but for God.
And we are to love God more than we love ourselves. What we love in ourselves is from God, and is lovable only on account of God.
A person rightly loves himself by charity when he seeks to be united with God and to partake of God's eternal happiness. And a person loves his neighbor as one to whom he wishes this union and happiness. Now, since seeking to obtain something for oneself is a more intense act than wishing well to one's neighbor, a person manifestly loves himself more than he loves his neighbor. As evidence of this fact, consider this: a man would rightly refuse to sin if, by sinning, he could free his neighbor from sin.
While we love ourselves more than we love our neighbor, we are required to love our neighbor more than we love our body.
And we rightly love one neighbor more than another - our parents, for instance, or our children. In this we violate no law so long as we do not withhold requisite love from any neighbor.
Our dearest objects of charity among neighbors are those who are closest to us by some tie - relationship, common country, and so on.
The tie that is strongest of all is the tie of blood. Hence it is natural that we should love our kindred more than others.
And in those related to us by blood there is an order. St. Ambrose says that we ought to love God first, then our parents, then our children, then the others of our household.
We are to love father and mother. Strictly speaking, the love of father precedes the love of mother.
A man loves his wife more intensely than he loves his parents. Yet he loves his parents with greater reverence.
It seems that we love those on whom we confer benefits more than those who confer benefits on us.
The order of charity, since it is right and reasonable, will endure in heaven.

CHARITY IN ALL OUR ACTIONS

Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever else you do, do all to the glory of God. 1 Cor. 10:31

Love is all that matters to God. Everything was created to this purpose.

All of our daily actions should have charity for their end. Otherwise, we misuse God’s creation for something it was not made for. Recreation is good, only insofar as it helps us in our labors in the vineyard of the Lord. Otherwise, it is turning what was meant for service of God to service of Self, which ultimately brings destruction to Self.

He that is not with me, is against me: and he that gathereth not with me, scattereth. – Matt 12:30

It is sometimes reduced to “Do good”.

The Buddhists say “Do no harm.” That, clearly, is not enough.

“The law of divine love is the standard for all human actions”.

"It is evident that not all are able to labor at learning and for that reason Christ has given a short law. Everyone can know this law and no one may be excused from observing it because of ignorance. This is the law of divine love. As scripture says, The Lord will quickly execute sentence upon the earth.

This law should be the standard for all human actions. In the case of products of human manufacture, each product is considered right and good when it conforms to a standard. So also each human act is considered right and virtuous when it conforms to the standard of divine love. But when a human act does not conform to the standard of love, then it is not right, nor good, nor perfect.

This law of divine love accomplishes in a person four things that are much to be desired. First, it is the cause of one’s spiritual life. For it is evident that by the very nature of the action what is loved is in the one who loves. Therefore whoever loves God possesses God in himself; for scripture says, Whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him. It is the nature of love to transform the lover into the object loved. And so if we love God, we ourselves become divinized; for again, Whoever is joined to God becomes one spirit with him. Augustine adds, “As the soul is the life of the body, so God is the life of the soul.” Thus the soul acts virtuously and perfectly when she acts through charity, and through charity God lives in her; indeed, without charity she cannot act; for scripture says, Whoever does not love, remains in death. If a person possesses all the gifts of the Holy Spirit, but lacks charity, that person has no life. For it matters not whether one has the grace of tongues, or the gift of faith, or any other gift such as prophecy; these do not bring life without charity. Even if a dead body should be adorned with gold and precious jewels, it nevertheless remains dead.

The second point about charity is that it leads to the observance of the divine commandments. Gregory the Great says that charity is not idle. For charity is present if one is occupied about great things; but if one is not so occupied, charity is not present. We see a lover do great and difficult things because of the one loved, and that is why the Lord says, Whoever loves me will keep my word. Whoever keeps this command and the law of divine love fulfills the whole law. A third point about charity is that it provides protection against adversity. For misfortune cannot harm one who has charity; rather it becomes useful to that person; as scripture says, All things work for good for those who love God. Furthermore, misfortune and difficulties seem pleasant to the lover, and our own experience verifies this.

A fourth point about charity is that it truly leads to happiness, since eternal blessedness is promised only to those who have charity. For all other things are insufficient without charity. You must note that it is only the different degrees of charity, and not those of any other virtues, which constitute the different degrees of blessedness. Many of the saints were more abstemious than the apostles, but the apostles excel all the other saints in blessedness because of their higher degree of charity."

From a conference by St. Thomas Aquinas (Opuscula, In duo praecenta... Ed. J.P. Torrel, in Revue des Sc. Phil. Et Théol., 69, 1985, pp. 26-29.

That Christ may dwell by faith in your hearts; that being rooted and founded in charity, You may be able to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth, and length, and height, and depth: To know also the charity of Christ, which surpasseth all knowledge, that you may be filled unto all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do all things more abundantly than we desire or understand, according to the power that worketh in us; To him be glory in the church, and in Christ Jesus unto all generations, world without end. Amen. Eph. 3:17-21