The true spouse of Jesus Christ/Chapter 12

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The true spouse of Jesus Christ (1888)
by Alphonsus Liguori

Chapter XII: Fraternal Charity

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4223086The true spouse of Jesus Christ — Chapter XII: Fraternal Charity1888Alphonsus Liguori

CHAPTER XII.

FRATERNAL CHARITY.

I.

The Necessity of this Virtue, and its Practice in our Thoughts and Sentiments.

To love God without at the same time loving our neighbor is impossible. The same precept that prescribes love towards God imposes a strict obligation of fraternal charity. And this commandment we have from God that he who loveth God love also his brother. Hence St. Thomas teaches that the love of God and the love of our neighbor proceed alike from charity. For charity makes us love God and our neighbor, because such is the will of God. Such too was the doctrine of St. John the Evangelist. St. Jerome relates that being asked by his disciples why he frequently recommended fraternal love, that holy apostle replied: "Because it is the precept of the Lord, and the fulfilment of it alone is sufficient."

St. Catharine of Genoa once said to the Lord: "My God, Thou dost command me to love my neighbor; and I can love nothing but Thee." " My child," answered Jesus, "he that loves me, loves whatsoever I love." Indeed, when we love any person we also love his relatives, his servants, his likeness, and even his clothes, because we know that he loves them. And why do we love our neighbors? It is because God loves them. Hence St. John says that if any man say I love God and hateth his brother, he is a liar. But as hatred towards our brethren is incompatible with the love of God, so an act of charity performed in their regard will be accepted by Jesus Christ as if done for himself. I say to you, says the Redeemer, as long as you did it to one of these my brethren you did it to me. St. Catharine of Genoa used to say that our love of God is to be measured by our love for our neighbor.

But holy charity — the beautiful daughter of God, being banished from the world by the greater part of mankind, seeks an asylum in the monasteries of religious. Oh, what then will become of the convent from which charity is exiled! As hell is a land of hatred, so paradise is the kingdom of love, where all the blessed love one another, and each one rejoices at the happiness of the rest as at his own. Oh, what a paradise is the convent in which charity reigns! it is the delight of God himself. Behold, says the Psalmist, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. The Lord looks with complacency on the charity of brethren and sisters who dwell together in unity, who are united by one will of serving God, and who seek only to sanctify one another that they may be all united one day in the land of bliss. The highest praise bestowed by St. Luke on the first Christians was that they had but one heart and soul. And the multitude of the believers had but one heart and one soul. This unity was the fruit of the prayer of Jesus Christ, who before his Passion besought his eternal Father to make his disciples one by holy charity as he and the Father are one. Holy Father, keep them in thy name — that they may be one as we also are. This unity is one of the principal fruits of redemption, as may be inferred from the prediction of Isaias: The wolf shall dwell with the lamb; and the leopard shall lie down with the kid— they shall not hurt, nor shall they kill in all my holy mountain. Yes, the followers of Jesus, though of different countries and of different dispositions, shall live in peace with one another, each seeking by holy charity to accommodate himself to the wishes and inclinations of the other. And as a certain author has well remarked, what does a Community of religious mean, but a union of many by will and desire so as to form but one person. It is charity that maintains union; for it is not possible that all the members of a convent should have congenial dispositions. It is charity that unites their hearts and makes them bear one another's burdens, and it is charity that makes each conform to the will of the other.

St. John Climacus relates that in the vicinity of Alexandria there was a celebrated monastery, where, because they loved one another so cordially in holy charity, all the religious enjoyed the peace of paradise. In general the first that perceived a disagreement between two of the religious was able to restore peace by a mere sign. But if they could not be reconciled, both were sent as exiles to a neighboring house, and were told at their departure that the abode of two demons in the monastery could be no longer profitable to the Community. Oh! how delightful is it to see in a convent of nuns each praise, assist, and serve the others, and all love the others with a true sisterly affection. Nuns are called sisters, because they are such not by blood, but by charity, which should unite them in love more closely than all the ties of flesh and blood. " The nun who has not charity," says St. Jane Frances de Chantal, "is a religious in name, but not in reality. She is a sister in dress, not in affection." Hence because they knew that where there is no union there is no God, almost all the founders and foundresses of religious Orders have with their last breath recommended the practice of holy charity to their spiritual children.

"When," says St. Augustine, "you see the stones of any fabric well bound to the timber, you enter with security, and apprehend no danger." But were the stones detached from the wood, you should shudder at the very thought of approaching the building. Happy the religious house in which all are united by holy charity; but miserable is the monastery in which disunion and party-spirit prevail. " Yes," says St. Jerome, " such a monastery is not the tabernacle of the Lord, but the abode of Lucifer; it is a house not of salvation, but of perdition." Of what use are riches and magnificence, a splendid church and a beautiful garden, to a monastery from which union and charity are banished? Such a monastery is a hell, where, to prevent the advancement of the rivals, each party decries the other. Suspicions and aversions are always on the increase: they fill the minds, are poured out in conversation, and occupy the thoughts of the religious at mental prayer, at Mass, and at Communion. Hence we may exclaim, O miserable prayers, miserable Masses, miserable Communions! In a word, where there is not charity there is no recollection, no peace, no God.

If, dear sister, factions exist in your convent, prostrate yourself before the Lord, and in his presence pour forth tears of blood and fervent supplications that by his Almighty hand he may remedy the evil. For when the spirit of faction has crept into the cloister, it can be extinguished only by the arm of omnipotence. If it be in your power to restore peace, endeavor with all your might and at all hazards to accomplish so great a good; but if the extinction of discord be beyond your reach, it is your duty at least to remain neutral, and to shun, as you would death itself, every act that may encourage the fell spirit of faction.

Remember, however, that I do not mean to censure those zealous nuns who defend the observance of Rule, and who strenuously oppose all abuses. Whoever seeks the good of the Community belongs to the party of Jesus Christ. Would to God that all were of this party! If, dear sister, you ever see an abuse introduced into the convent, I exhort you to unite with the fervent, and never to abstain from vindicating the cause of God even though you should be left alone. The Lord will reward your efforts for the maintenance of regular observance. To feel careless and to manifest indifference about the relaxation and neglect of discipline is neither virtue nor humility, but is the fruit of pusillanimity, tepidity, and of a want of divine love.

The religious, then, whom I condemn are those who maintain parties for promoting their own interests or particular friendships, or for depressing a rival or resenting an insult. From such parties I exhort you to keep aloof, though, in punishment of your neutrality, you should be reproached with ingratitude, wrong-headedness, or baseness of spirit, and even though you should be deprived of office and doomed to perpetual disgrace. To preserve charity and the common peace you must sacrifice all self-interest. When some of the bishops wished to have St. Gregory Nazianzen for patriarch while others refused to submit to his authority, the saint, to heal their dissensions, exclaimed: " My brothers, I wish to see you in peace, and if the renunciation of my patriarchal dignity be necessary to preserve harmony among you, I am ready to renounce my see." He then gave up the bishopric of Constantinople, and retired into solitude.

But. let us speak in particular of the means that a nun should adopt for the maintenance of charity among her sisters in religion. She must follow the advice of the Apostle to his disciples: Put ye on, therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, the bowels of mercy. As a religious always wears her habit, and as her whole body is covered by it, so in all her actions she must be clothed and encompassed around with charity. Put on the bowels of mercy. A religious should be clothed not only with charity, but with the bowels of charity; that is, she should love each of her sisters as if for each she had the tenderest affections. When a person entertains for others a strong attachment he rejoices at their prosperity and grieves at their misfortunes as at his own. He continually seeks to promote their happiness, to vindicate their character from any imputation that may be cast upon it, to excuse any fault that they may commit, and to extol every good act that they may perform. Now what is the effect of passion in worldlings should be the fruit of holy charity in religious.

Practice of Charity in our Thoughts and Sentiments.

I. To practise charity in thought you must, in the first place, endeavor to banish all rash judgments, suspicions, and doubts. To entertain a rash doubt regarding another is a defect; to indulge a positive suspicion is a greater fault, and to judge with certainty without certain grounds that another has sinned, is still more criminal before God. Whoever judges rashly of his neighbor shall be judged with severity. Judge not, that you may not be judged. For with what judgment you judge you shall be judged. But although it is sinful to judge evil of others without certain grounds, still it is not a violation of the divine law to suspect or even to judge evil of them when we have certain motives for such suspicions or judgments. However, the safest and most charitable rule is to think well of all, and to banish all such judgments and suspicions. Charity, says the Apostle, thinketh no evil. But this rule is not to be observed by the religious who hold the office of Superior, or of Mistress of novices. Because, to prevent evil, it is their duty to suspect whenever there are grounds of suspicion. But if by your office you are not charged with the correction of others, endeavor always to judge favorably of all your sisters. St. Jane Frances de Chantal used to say that " in our neighbor we should observe only what is good." Should you sometimes through mistake praise in others what is censurable, you will never have reason to repent of your error. " Charity," says St. Augustine, "grieves not when she erroneously thinks well of what is evil." St. Catharine of Bologna once said: " I have lived for many years in religion, and have never thought ill of any of my sisters; because I know that a person who appears to be imperfect may be more dear to God than another whose conduct is much more exemplary." Be careful, then, not to indulge in observing the defects and concerns of others, nor to imitate the example of those who go about asking what others say of them, and thus fill their minds with suspicions and their hearts with bitterness and aversions. Listen not to them who tell you that others have spoken of your defects, and ask not from them the names of those who dispraised you. In such tales there is, in general, a great deal of exaggeration. Let your conduct be such as deserves praise from all, but regard not what is said of you. When told that any one has charged you with a certain fault, let your answer be that others know you but little; and that, were they aware of all your defects, they would say a great deal more of you; or you may say that only God is to be your judge.

II. When our neighbor is visited with any infirmity, loss, or other calamity, charity obliges us to regret his misfortune at least with the superior will. I say with the superior will; for concupiscence always appears to take a certain delight in hearing that a calamity has befallen an enemy. But that delight is not culpable as long as it is resisted by the will. Whenever the inferior appetite solicits the will to rejoice at the misfortune of others, pay no more attention to its criminal solicitations than you would to a dog that barks without reason; but endeavor to excite in the superior will sentiments of regret at their distress. It is indeed sometimes lawful to rejoice at the good effects that are likely to result from the temporal afflictions of others. For example, it is not forbidden to be glad from a motive of his conversion, or of the cessation of scandal, that a notorious and obstinate sinner has been visited with sickness. However, should he have offended us, the joy occasioned by his infirmity may be the fruit of passion as well as of zeal.

III. Charity obliges us to rejoice at a neighbor's good, and to banish envy, which consists in a feeling of regret at the good of others, inasmuch as it is an obstacle to our own.

According to St. Thomas, a person may grieve at the good of others in four ways:

First, when he apprehends that their advancement will be detrimental to himself or to others; and if the loss sustained be unjust, his regret is not envy, and may be blameless." " It may often happen," says St. Gregory, " that without losing charity, we rejoice at the ruin of an enemy; and that without incurring the guilt of envy, we feel sorrow at his exaltation, when by his downfall we think that others will be justly exalted, and when we fear that by his prosperity many will be unjustly oppressed."

Secondly, when a person grieves not because others have been prosperous, but because he himself has not been equally successful. This grief is not envy, but is, on the contrary, an act of virtue when it regards spiritual goods.

Thirdly, when he regrets the success of others, because he deems them unworthy of it; and this sorrow is not sinful, when he believes that the advantages, dignity, or riches that they have acquired will be injurious to their salvation.

Fourthly, when a person regrets the prosperity of others, because it is an obstacle to his own advancement: this is envy, and should not be entertained. The Wise Man says that the envious imitate the devil, who instigated our first parents to sin, because he was grieved to see them destined for that celestial kingdom from which he himself had been expelled. But, says the Wise Man, by the envy of the devil death came into the world, and they follow him that are of his side. But charity makes us regard the happiness or misery of others as we would our own.

Prayer.

Ah! my Redeemer, how unlike am I to Thee! Thou wast all charity towards Thy persecutors; I am all rancor and hatred towards my neighbor. Thou didst pray with so much love for those who crucified Thee; and I immediately seek revenge against those that offend me. Pardon me, my Jesus: I wish no more to be what I have hitherto been; give me strength to love and to do good to all who injure me. Abandon me not, O Lord to my passions. Oh! what a hell would it be to me, after having received so many of Thy graces, to be again separated from Thee, and deprived of Thy friendship. For the sake of the blood that Thou hast shed for me, permit not such a separation. Eternal Father, through the merits of Thy Son, suffer me not to become Thy enemy. Shouldst Thou see that I will one day offend Thee, take me out of life, now that I hope to be in the state of grace. O God of love, give me Thy love! O infinite power, assist me! O infinite mercy, have pity on me! O infinite goodness, draw me entirely to Thee! I love Thee, O Sovereign Good!

O Mother of God, pray to Jesus for me! Thy protection is my hope.

II.

The Charity to be Practised in Words.

I. To practise fraternal charity in words, you must? above all, abstain from every species of detraction. The tale-bearer, says the Holy Ghost, shall defile his own soul, and shall be hated by all. Yes; he shall be an object of hatred to God and to men, and even to those who for their own amusement applaud and encourage his slanderous language. Even they shall shun him; because they justly fear that as in their presence he has detracted others, so before others he will slander them. St. Jerome says that some who have renounced other vices cannot abstain from detraction. "They who have abandoned other sins continue to fall into the sin of detraction." Would to God that even in the cloister there were not to be found religious whose tongues are so sharp that they cannot speak without wounding the character of a neighbor! Such persons should be banished from all monasteries, or should at least be separated from the society of their sisters. For they disturb the recollection, silence, devotion, and peace of the whole Community. In a word, they are the ruin of religious houses. God grant that such uncharitable nuns may not meet the fate of a certain slanderer, who, according to Thomas Cantipratensis, died in a fit of rage, and in the act of lacerating his tongue with his teeth. St. Bernard speaks of another slanderer who attempted to defame the character of St. Malachy; his tongue instantly swelled and became filled with worms. In this miserable state the unhappy man died after seven days. But how dear to God and to men is the nun who speaks well of all! St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi used to say, that if she knew any one who had never in his whole life spoken ill of a neighbor, she would have him canonized. Be careful never to utter a word that savors of detraction; be particularly careful to avoid all uncharitableness towards your sisters in religion. But, above all, be on your guard against every expression that is in the slightest degree apt to depress the character of your prelate, abbess, confessor, or any other Superior. By speaking ill of them, you would destroy in your companions the spirit of obedience, by diminishing their respect for the judgment and authority of their Superiors. Should your language excite a suspicion in the mind of the sisters that the Superior is unreasonable in her commands, it will be very difficult to induce them to practise the obedience that is due to her. The sin of detraction is committed, not only by imputing to others what is not true, by exaggerating their defects, or by making known their hidden faults, but also by representing their virtuous actions as defective, or by ascribing them to a bad motive. It is also detraction to deny the good works of others, or to question their claims to the just praise bestowed upon them. To render their calumnies more credible, worldlings sometimes begin by praise and end with slander. Such a person, they say, has a great deal of talent, but he is proud; he is very generous, but at the same time very vindictive.

Let it be your care always to speak well of all. Speak of others as you would wish to be spoken of by others. With regard to the absent, observe the excellent rule of St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi: " Never to utter in their absence what you would not say in their presence." And should you ever hear a sister speak ill of others, be careful neither to encourage her uncharitableness nor to appear pleased with her language; otherwise you will partake of her guilt. You should either reprove her, or change the subject of conversation, or withdraw from her, or at least pay no attention to her. Hedge in thy ears with thorns, says the Holy Ghost; hear not a wicked tongue.^[1] Against detraction, hedge in your ears with thorns, that it may not enter. Whenever, then, you hear a person speak ill of others, it is necessary to show, at least by silence, by a gloomy countenance, or by downcast eyes, that you are not pleased with the conversation. Conduct yourself always in such a way that no one will in future dare attack the character of another in your presence. And when it is in your power, charity requires of you to take the part of the person who is detracted. Thy lips are as a scarlet lace. My spouse, says the Lord, I will have thy lips as a scarlet lace; that is, according to the explanation of St. Gregory of Nyssa, your words must be full of charity, so as to cover as much as possible the defects of others, or at least to excuse their intention, if their actions be inexcusable. "Excuse the intention," says St. Bernard, "if you cannot excuse the act." The Abbot Constabile, as Surius relates, was called " The covering of his brethren." For this holy monk, as often as he heard any one speak of the defects of others, sought to cover and excuse them. Such, too, was the practice of St. Teresa. Of her the nuns used to say, that in her presence their character was secure, because she would defend them.

↑ Ecclus. xxviii. 28.

[1] Ecclus. xxviii. 28.

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