Anything under the sun
Faith, hope and charity (3)
Charity is a virtue by which we love God above all things and love our neighbors as we love ourselves for the love of God.
1. Basis of Charity
The pronouncement of Jesus: “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
2. Examples of Charity
- This is a story from the Mountain Province: A traveler was walking in the mountain and saw on the way a guava tree teeming with fruits. He took only one fruit. His companions asked him why only one fruit... he answered: “There are still many people following us who also like the fruit. Let us leave some for them.”
- I forgive Alessandro (her rapist). I forgive with all my heart and I want him to be with me in heaven – St. Maria Goretti.
- Pope John Paul II visited the prison cell of Agca – his would be assassin in Manila, and forgave him.
- We have loved them (our beloved dead) during life: let us not abandon them until we have conducted them by our prayers into the house of the Lord. -- St. Ambrose
- If everyone would only take according to his needs and would leave the surplus to the needy, no one would be rich, no one would be poor, no one in misery. -- St. Basil
- Miss no single opportunity of making some small sacrifices here by a smiling look; there by a kindly word, always doing the smallest thing right and doing it all for love. -- St. Therese of Lisicux
3. Opposite of Charity is Greed which is a Sin. This story was told by Fr. Borong of Lambunao. During the Last Judgment before the Supreme Judge Jesus Christ, a person was being judged. The Devil accused him of so many sins. The Guardian Angel of the man said: “This is matter of weighing the good and the evil done by this man.”
The Devil presented witnesses to show the sins of the man. The Guardian Angel also presented many, many more witnesses that those of the Devil. Among the witnesses of the Guardian Angel were the people who received charitable acts from the man.
The morale: the more charitable we are, the more witnesses we will have during the last judgment to defend us.