“‘Charity’ – Caritas”

By

Robert John Colon

1.  “Charity” – caritas in Latin, agape in Greek – does not primarily mean a deed or positive emotion; rather, it means the spiritual donation, the love of God that the Holy Spirit effuses or pours out in the human heart, moving it to donate [this love] to God and to neighbor (cf. Romans 5: 5) (1). The term agape, which was just used, denotes the self-giving love of one who looks simply for the other’s good (2). A Homily of Pope Benedict XVI says God is not continuous aloneness but rather a loop of love and shared self-giving (3). Another writing of Pope Benedict XVI says God is an absolute fellowship of love between Father, Son and Holy Spirit (4). There is just one "way", one "entrance" to the riddle of God's Love:  Jesus (5), Who is present in the Eucharist in an unequalled and unique way (6). It’s exactly through the Heart of Jesus that God's Love for humanity is superbly revealed (7). In the period of the solemnities of the Most Holy Trinity (June 3, 2007), the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (June 10, 2007) and the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus (June 15, 2007), let us carry out reflection on charity.

2. The main mystery of Christian life and faith is the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity (8). In the Trinity we can see the earliest model of the human family, containing a man and woman called to give themselves to one another in a fellowship of love that is open to life (9).

3. If a person glimpses Catholic teaching on the family, he or she might think that the Church does not have compassion on those in difficult conditions. An Encyclical of Pope Paul VI says the Church has compassion on the group (10). The Church is our mother (11). The Catechism of the Catholic Church says: with a mother's preparedness, she also pours upon us day in, day out in her liturgy the feeding of the Word and Eucharist of the Lord (12). From the Eucharist the saints drew the strength of living a love that was hard and frequently gritty (13).

4. Let's pray so that each Christian, fed by the Body and Blood of the Lord, may always more mature in their love towards God and in charitable service towards one's neighbors (14). A Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation says: the sacrament of charity, the Holy Eucharist is the donation that Jesus Christ makes of Himself, therefore showing to us God's limitless love for each man and woman (15). The day that reveals God’s love for His beings is the “Lord’s Day” (16). Let us pray for the Sunday obligation to be lived by Christians, who, particularly on Sundays, are called to encounter and listen to the Lord (17). This occurs most fully through participation in the Eucharist, during which Christ prepares the feast of the Word plus of the Bread of Life for the faithful (18).

5. Let us turn to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. To honor the Heart of Christ means to pass to the inner middle of the Person of the Savior, the middle which the Bible labels as His Heart, the seat of the charity that has redeemed the world (19). The clement Heart of Jesus, deeply scorned, never nourished emotions of revenge or hatred, but asked pardon for His executioners (20). Truly, let us turn to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, “fountain of life and holiness”, “our tranquility and reconciliation” (cf. Litany of the Sacred Heart) (21). The month of June is put aside in a particular way for devotion to His Sacred Heart (22). One devotion I might recommend to you is the Litany of the Sacred Heart.

6. Next to the merciful Heart of Christ, we honor the Immaculate Heart of Mary Most Holy (23). Ahead of and further than all the saints, divine charity filled the Virgin Mary’s Heart (24). May her intercession allow us to stay always faithful to our Christian calling (25), even during summer, which begins a few days after the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Summer can be a time of escape. Escape can be useful, so long as one does not escape from sound moral standards and simply from the required respect for one’s own wellness (26). With this having been said, I remind my brothers and sisters about the requirement of modesty, which speaks the sensitivity of chastity (27) and which, alas, can be difficult. Let us trust everyone’s vacations to Mary Most Holy, but also the summer of those who can't go on vacation (28). Finally, let us pray to her for us to be aware of God’s love. Pope John Paul II said: with their lives, the saints declare that we can have deep joy even in conditions of bodily and spiritual pain, if we know we are circled by God’s love (29).

May 31, 2007

NOTES

(1) Cf. Benedict XVI, Angelus, 25 September 2005.

(2) Cf. Benedict XVI, Message for Lent 2007.

(3) Cf. Benedict XVI, Homily, 24 December 2005.

(4) Cf. Benedict XVI, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis, number 8.

(5) Cf. John Paul II, Angelus, 18 June 2000, number 1.

(6) Cf. Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, number 282.

(7) Cf. Benedict XVI, Angelus, 25 June 2006.

(8) Cf. Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, number 44.

(9) Cf. John Paul II, Angelus, 7 June 1998, number 1.

(10) Cf. Paul VI, Encyclical, Humanae Vitae, number 19.

(11) Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, number 167.

(12) Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, number 2040.

(13) Cf. Benedict XVI, Angelus, 25 September 2005.

(14) Cf. Benedict XVI, Angelus, 25 September 2005.

(15) Cf. Benedict XVI, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis, number 1. Sacramentum Caritatis, number 1 points to: Cf. St Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae III, q. 73, a. 3.

(16) Cf. John Paul II, Angelus, 12 July 1998, number 2.

(17) Cf. John Paul II, Angelus, 18 July 2004, number 2.

(18) Cf. John Paul II, Angelus, 18 July 2004, number 2.

(19) Cf. John Paul II, Angelus, 23 June 2002, number 1.

(20) Cf. John Paul II, Angelus, 23 June 2002, number 2.

(21) Cf. John Paul II, Angelus, 20 June 2004, number 1.

(22) Cf. John Paul II, Angelus, 23 June 2002, number 1.

(23) Cf. John Paul II, Angelus, 23 June 2002, number 3.

(24) Cf. Benedict XVI, Angelus, 25 September 2005.

(25) Cf. Benedict XVI, Angelus, 25 June 2006.

(26) Cf. John Paul II, Angelus, 6 July 1997, number 2.

(27) Cf. Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, number 530.

(28) Cf. John Paul II, Angelus, 6 July 1997, number 3.

(29) Cf. John Paul II, Angelus, 16 August 1998, number 1.