Men's Rosary

Charity, a word we hear often. It usually suggests giving money or some other good to another or an organization. This is all good and well intended but there is much more to the word. Charity is love in the highest and most pure form, imitating the love of Christ, coming from the Ancient Greek work ‘agape.’ It is the selfless, active, and sacrificial love; a deep love and not emotion. It is a love of God first and then others; an enduring love, not a passing feeling. “‘Charity’ now means simply what we used to call ‘alms’ – that is, giving to the poor. Originally it had a much wider meaning. It is a state not of the feelings but of the will; that state of the will which we have naturally about ourselves, and we must learn to have it about other people.” (C.S. Lewis)

Being charitable is willing the good of others through the exercise of our own free will. The more unified our will is to God’s will the more perfect our charity will be. Our goal should be the kingdom of God, to be with him in heaven. We should want to bring as many with us as possible! Our actions speak loudly and though we are in the world we must know we are not of the world and we must act in a way that reflects our will to be united with Christ and bring others to him. “By reason of their special vocation it belongs to the laity to seek the kingdom of God by engaging in temporal affairs and directing them according to God’s will…” (CCC 898) Our charity must go beyond a donation in the collection basket, a couple dollars in the “poor box”, old clothes we are tired of wearing given away, etc. It must cost! We must give our time. Time to volunteer work, mentoring, even simply giving someone an ear to listen. Life is not about us and our goals and deadlines. There are people in our path, we just tend to look past them. We should not be giving only out of surplus and convenience. We must recognize need and give even amid our own trials and need. If we are not feeling the pinch, we must ask ourselves if we a truly giving and being charitable.

How can we arrive at perfect charity? I submit that the most effective way is to live out the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity, and obedience. Christ was poor in spirit, chaste in heart, and obedient in love to the Father’s will. Living within these parameters will help us to be more authentically united to God’s will and live in imitation of Christ. It will provide us a path to spiritual perfection and true charity.

Living poverty is not to seek abject poverty. Rather, it is to live simply and enjoy simple things. It is a call to be content with basic needs and not finding our identity, happiness, and security in status, money, and luxury. It is to recognize that we own nothing and all belongs to God. All our possessions are gifts to be shared. In living poverty, we should actively give of our excess income and goods to help others in a joyful manner and not begrudgingly. Living this way also requires us to surrender financial worries to Divine Providence and to stop worrying and letting them consume and rule the mind. While it is fine to own things and have wealth it is important not to be controlled by them – not to let them own us. Detachment from temporal wealth is imperative to the salvation of the soul. “So therefore, any of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:33)

Living chastity does not mean celibacy, though that can be part of it. For the laity it finds diverse ways of expression depending on our state in life. In marriage it is fidelity. In single life it is abstinence outside of marriage. In mental and perceptual chastity, it means guarding thoughts and senses. It is about a genuine effort of purity in thought, word, and deed. “Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to obstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.” (1 Peter 2:11)

In living obedience, we really go against public opinion! However, rather than giving up our freedom by being obedient, we find freedom itself, so long it is God and his will we are being obedient to. This was practiced by Jesus himself as he says “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgement is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.” (John 5:30) Through obedience we submit our human ego, with all its wounds, desires, lusts, and private ambitions to someone higher, namely, God the Father. “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” (James 1:22)

We may all live the counsels to some degree, but we can and should take time to reflect on how well we are doing. Can we do more? The answer is obviously YES. We are called to perfection. Christ himself has said it. “You therefore must be perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48) The evangelical counsels offer a pathway to perfection. In the face of all the distraction, resistance, persecution, and deceit of the world, we must be obedient to Christ’s directive to be perfect and resist the devil. This is the means to perfect charity in our lives and the world.

“The devil sees there is no path that leads more quickly to the highest perfection than obedience.” (St. Teresa of Avila)