Fraternal Charity

THE name of Father Valuy, S.J., is already favourably known to English readers by several translations of his works, which have a large circulation.

The following little treatise is taken from one of his works on the Religious Life, and is translated with the kind permission of the publisher, M. Emmanuel Vitte, of Lyons. The subject is so important a factor in community life that I feel confident it will supply a want hitherto felt by many.

Though specially written for religious, it cannot fail to prove beneficial to seculars in every sphere of life, as love, the sunshine of existence, is wanted everywhere.

CONTENTS

I. CHARITY THE PECULIAR VIRTUE OF CHRIST II. FIRST FUNDAMENTAL TRUTH III. SECOND FUNDAMENTAL TRUTH IV. THE FAMILY SPIRIT V. EGOTISM, OR SELF-SEEKING VI. FIRST CHARACTERISTIC OF FRATERNAL CHARITY VII. SECOND CHARACTERISTIC VIII. THIRD CHARACTERISTIC IX. FOURTH CHARACTERISTIC X. FIFTH CHARACTERISTIC XI. SIXTH CHARACTERISTIC XII. SEVENTH CHARACTERISTIC XIII. EIGHTH CHARACTERISTIC XIV. NINTH CHARACTERISTIC XV. TENTH CHARACTERISTIC XVI. ELEVENTH CHARACTERISTIC XVII. TWELFTH CHARACTERISTIC XVIII. EXTENT AND DELICACY OF GOD'S CHARITY FOR MEN XIX. EXTENT AND DELICACY OF THE CHARITY OF JESUS CHRIST DURING HIS MORTAL LIFE XX. FIRST PRESERVATIVE XXI. SECOND PRESERVATIVE XXII. THIRD PRESERVATIVE XXIII. FOURTH PRESERVATIVE XXIV. FIFTH PRESERVATIVE XXV. SIXTH PRESERVATIVE XXVI. SEVENTH PRESERVATIVE XXVII. EIGHTH PRESERVATIVE XXVIII. NINTH PRESERVATIVE XXIX. TENTH PRESERVATIVE XXX. ELEVENTH PRESERVATIVE XXXI. MEANS TO SUPPORT THE EVIL THOUGHTS AND TONGUES OF OTHERS XXXII. SECOND MEANS TO BEAR WITH OTHERS XXXIII. CONCLUSION APPENDIX: THE PRACTICE OF FRATERNAL CHARITY

FRATERNAL CHARITY

I

CHARITY THE PECULIAR VIRTUE OF CHRIST

OUR Divine Saviour shows both by precept and example that His favourite virtue, His own and, in a certain sense, characteristic virtue, was charity. Whether He treated with His ignorant and rude Apostles, with the sick and poor, or with His enemies and sinners, He is always benign, condescending, merciful, affable, patient; in a word, His charity appeared in all its most amiable forms. Oh, how well these titles suit Him!--a King full of clemency, a Lamb full of mildness. How justly could He say, "Learn of Me, that I am meek and humble of heart"! His yoke was sweet, His burden light, His conversation without sadness or bitterness. He lightened the burdens of those heavily laden; He consoled those in sorrow; He quenched not the dying spark nor broke the bruised reed.

He calls us His friends, His brothers, His little flock; and as the greatest sign of friendship is to die for those we love, He gave to each of us the right to say with St. Paul: "He loved me, and delivered Himself up for me." Let us, then, say: "My good Master, I love Thee, and deliver myself up for Thee."

Religious, called to reproduce the three great virtues of Jesus Christ--poverty, chastity, and obedience--have still another to practise not less noble or distinctive--viz., fraternal charity. By this virtue they are not called to rise above earthly or sensual pleasures, nor above their judgment and self-will, but above egotism and self-love, which shoot their roots deepest in the soul. They must consider attentively the fundamental truths on which charity is based and its effects, as also the principal obstacles to its attainment, and the means to overcome them.

II

FIRST FUNDAMENTAL TRUTH

We are all members of the great Christian family

CHARITY towards our neighbour is charity towards God in our neighbour, because, faith assuring us that God is our Father, Jesus Christ our Head, the Holy Ghost our sanctifier, it follows that to love our neighbour--inasmuch as he is the well-beloved child of God, the member of Jesus Christ, and the sanctuary of the Holy Ghost--is to love in a special manner our heavenly Father, His only-begotten Son, together with the Holy Spirit. And because it is scarcely possible for religious to behold their brethren in this light without wishing them what the Most Holy Trinity so lovingly desires to bestow on them, acts of fraternal charity include--almost necessarily at least--implicit acts of faith and hope; and the exercise of the noblest of the theological virtues thus often becomes an exercise of the other two.