CHARITY PRACTICED IN WORKS
My little children, says St, John, let us not love in word, nor in tongue, but indeed and in truth (1 John 3:18). Some say they sincerely love their neighbors, but they will not submit to Inconvenience for the sake of any of them. To fulfill the precept of charity it is not enough to love our neighbor in words; we must love him indeed and in truth.
I.
Some say they sincerely love all their neighbors, but they will not put themselves to inconvenience for the sake of any of them. My little children, says St, John, let us not love in word, nor in tongue, but indeed and in truth. The scripture tells us that alms deliver men from death, cleanse them from sin, and obtained for them the divine mercy and eternal life. Alms delivers from death, and the same is that which purges away sins, and maketh to find mercy and life everlasting (Tobias 7:9). God will relieve you in the same manner in which you give relief to your neighbor. With what measure you mete it shall be measured to you again (Matthew 7:2). Hence St. John Chrysostom says that the exercise of charity to others is the means of acquiring great gain with God. "Alms is, of all acts, the most lucrative." And St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi used to say that she felt more happy in relieving her neighbor than when she was wrapt in contemplation. "Because," she would add, "when I am in contemplation God assists me; but in giving relief to a neighbor I assist God"; for, every act of charity we exercise toward our neighbor, God accepts as done to Himself. But, on the other hand, as St. John says, can he who does not assist a brother in want be said to love God? He that hath the substance of this world, and shall see his brother in need, and shall shut up his bowels from him, how doth the charity of God abide in him? (1 John 3:17). By alms is understood not only the distribution of money and other goods, but every succor given to a neighbor in order to relieve his wants. It is related of St. Teresa that she was accustomed to perform every day some act of charity towards her sisters in Religion, and whenever she was unable to do so during the day she would be careful at night to show light to the sisters who might be passing in the dark before her cell. The Saints were full of charity and compassion to all who required their assistance. The just are merciful and show mercy (Proverbs 13:13).
II.
The exercise of special charity toward the sick is also very pleasing to God. Serving them has far greater merit than serving those who are in health. The sick stand in greater need of assistance than those who are well. They are afflicted by pain, melancholy, and the fear of death, and are sometimes even abandoned by all. Oh, how pleasing it is to God to labor to console them in their afflictions! St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi assisted and served the sick, and desired to live in some hospital in order to be always employed in an office so pleasing to God. As Father Anthony Torres used to say: "If you wish to know whether the Spirit of God reigns in the community, ask how the sick are treated." All who tend to perfection practice charity toward the sick. Be careful, then, to relieve the sick by alms, or by little presents, and to serve them as well as you can, at least by endeavoring to console them by your words, by exhortations to practice resignation to God's will, and to offer Him all their sufferings. Do not look for thanks; but bear with their complaints, impatience, and rudeness. The Lord Himself will reward your charity. It is related in the Chronicles of the Teresians that Sr. Isabella of the Angels was seen ascending to Heaven immediately after death and carried by Angels amid great splendor. She said to a Religious to whom she appeared afterward that God had bestowed that glory on her for her charity toward the sick.
SALVE, REGINA, MATER MISERICORDIAE! HAIL, HOLY QUEEN, MOTHER OF MERCY!
XVI. - MARY IS THE MOTHER OF PENITENT SINNERS.
In the Second Book of Kings (2 Kings 9:5), we read that a wise woman of Thecua addressed King David thus: "My lord, I had two sons, and for my misfortune one killed the other; so that I have now lost one and justice demands the other, the only one I have that is left; take compassion on a poor mother, and let me not thus be deprived of both. David, moved with compassion toward the mother, declared that the delinquent should be set at liberty and be restored to her. "My God," she says, "I had two sons, Jesus and man; man took the life of my Jesus on the Cross, and now Thy justice would condemn the guilty one. O Lord, my Jesus is already dead, have pity on me, and if I have lost the one, do not make me lose the other also."
Most certainly God will not condemn those sinners who have recourse to Mary, and for whom she prays, since He Himself commended them to her as her children. The devout Lanspergius supposes our Lord speaking in the following terms: "I recommended all, but especially the sinners to Mary, as her children, and, therefore, is she so diligent and so careful in the exercise of her office that she allows none of those committed to her charge, and especially those who invoke her, to perish, but, as far as she can, brings all to Me." "And who can ever tell," says the devout Blosius, "the goodness, the mercy, the compassion, the love, the benignity, the clemency, the fidelity, the benevolence, the charity of this Virgin Mother towards men? It is such that no words can express it."
Says St. Bernard: "Let us, then, cast ourselves at the feet of this good Mother, and, embracing them, let us not depart until she blesses us, and thus, accepts us for her children." And who can ever doubt the compassion of this Mother? St. Bonaventure used to say: "Even should she take my life, I would still hope in her; and, full of confidence, would desire to die before her image and be certain of salvation." And thus should each sinner address her when he has recourse to this compassionate Mother; he should say:
"My Lady and Mother, on account of my sins I deserve that thou shouldst reject me, and even that thou shouldst thyself chastise me according to my deserts; but shouldst thou reject me, or even take my life, I will still trust in thee, and hope with a firm hope that thou wilt save me. In thee is all my confidence; only grant me the consolation of dying before thy picture, recommending myself to thy mercy, then I am convinced that I shall not be lost, but that I shall go and praise thee in Heaven in company with so many of thy servants who left this world calling on thee for help, and have all been saved by they powerful intercession."
THE PRACTICE OF THE LOVE OF JESUS CHRIST.
XXII. - "CHARITY IS PATIENT." - THE SOUL THAT LOVES JESUS CHRIST LOVES TO SUFFER.
I.
Now in the same manner as God has treated his beloved son, so does he treat every one whom he loves, and whom he receives for his son: For when the Lord Loves he chastises; and he scourges every son whom he receives (Hebrews 12:6). For this reason He one day said to St Theresa: "Know that the soul's dearest to my Father are those who are afflicted with the greatest sufferings." Hence the Saint said of all her troubles that she would not exchange them for all the treasures in the world. She appeared after her death to a soul, and revealed to her that she enjoyed an immense reward in heaven, not so much for her good works as for the sufferings she cheerfully bore in this life for the love of God; and that if she could possibly entertain a wish to return upon Earth, the only reason would be in order that she might suffer more for God.
II.
He that loves God in suffering earns a double reward in Paradise. Vincent de Paul said that it was a great misfortune to be free from suffering in this life. And he added that a congregation or an individual that does not suffer, and is applauded by all the world, is not far from a fall. It was on this account that St Francis of Assisi, on the day that he had suffered nothing for God, became afraid lest God had forgotten him. St John Chrysostom says that when God endows a man with the grace of suffering, He gives him a greater grace than that of raising the dead to life; because in performing miracles man remains God's detour; whereas in suffering, God makes Himself the debtor of man. And he adds that whoever endures something for God, even had he no other gift than the strength to suffer for the God Whom he loves, would obtain for himself an immense reward. Wherefore he affirmed that he considered Saint Paul to have received a greater grace in being bound in chains for Jesus Christ than in being rapt to the Third Heaven in ecstasy.
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