The Virtue of Charity
Excerpt from The Groundwork of Christian Perfection
Charity is the root of Christian perfection and is at the heart of the two great Commandments that our Lord gave to us: love God with your whole heart and love thy neighbor. In this work we will learn that charity may be perfect or imperfect, the three degrees of charity, and how charity is necessary for salvation.
Yours in Jesus and Mary.
From the book The Groundwork of Christian Perfection by Reverend Patrick Ryan (Benzinger Brothers, 1910, pages 46-47).
The Virtue of Charity
Charity is a Divine virtue infused into our souls, by which we love God above all things, and our neighbor as ourselves, for God's sake.
It is a virtue divinely infused by which we give ourselves up to God as the Sovereign Good, that by doing His will we may please Him and be united with Him.
This description sets forth the object and the substance of the act of Charity. The object is our union with God; the substance of the act is a loving gift of ourselves to God.
Divine Charity is a Theological virtue because it comes from God and relates immediately to Him.
It is an infused virtue, “the Charity of God is poured forth in our hearts, by the Holy Ghost who is given us.” (Romans 5:5)
Considered as a habit, Charity is an infused virtue which elevates the soul and thus enables and disposes it to bring forth the acts proper to Charity.
Charity may be perfect or imperfect. Perfect Charity justifies man by its own efficacy. Imperfect Charity justifies man only in the Sacrament of Penance.
Perfect Charity admits of three degrees: (1) Love of God above all things which grievously displease Him. (2) Love of God above all things which only slightly displease Him. (3) Love of God even above such things as do not displease Him, but still are less pleasing than others.
The first degree excludes all mortal sin and is necessary and sufficient for salvation.
The second degree excludes venial sin and belongs to Christian perfection.
The third is the summit of perfection to which no command obliges us, but Divine grace invites us.
Charity is the most excellent of all virtues; it is also their form or soul; because no other virtue can be meritorious of Eternal life, unless it be animated by, and proceed from the motive of Charity. Hence St. Paul assures us, that without this virtue nothing can be of any avail to us. “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not Charity, I am become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy, and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Charity, I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not Charity, it profiteth me nothing.” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
There are many motives why we ought to love God. (1) God is infinitely perfect, and most excellent in His nature. (2) God is infinitely good to us. God has created us. He has redeemed and sanctified us. (3) He is the very end of our being. We were made for God to be united with Him for ever. (4) God has supreme dominion over us. We are His creatures. He has therefore a perfect right to lay upon us whatever command He pleases, and He commands us to love Him. “And this commandment we have from God, that he, who loveth God, love also his brother.” (1 John 4:21)