The Great Virtue of Charity (Love)

LISTEN

INSTRUCTIONS REGARDING THE VIRTUE OF CHARITY FROM BLESSED MARY GIVEN TO SR MARY OF AGREDA 

“ My daughter, if I desire in maternal affection, that thou follow me and imitate me in all the other virtues, then more especially do I make known and declare to thee my desire to see thee follow me in the virtue of charity, for this is the end and the crowning glory of all other virtues.

I desire that thou exert thy utmost powers to copy in thy soul, with the greatest perfection, all that thou has learned of my charity. 

Light up the lamp of thy faith and reason in order to find this drachm of infinite value, and after thou has (Luke 15, 8) found it, forget and despise all that is earthly and corruptible.

In thy own mind consider again and again, ponder and take heed of the infinite reasons and causes that make God lovable above all other things.

In order that thou may be sure that thou loves Him perfectly and truly, search within thyself for the following signs and effects of that love:

whether thy thought and meditation dwell continually on God;

whether His commands and counsel find in thee no repugnance or remissness;

whether thou fear to offend Him;

whether thou seek immediately to appease Him after having offended Him;

whether thou grieve to see Him offended and rejoice to see Him served by all creatures;

whether thou desires and art delighted to speak continually of His love; 

see whether thou delights in the memory of His presence;

whether thou grieves at thy forgetfulness of Him and at His absence from thee;

whether thou loves what He loves, and abhor what He abhors;

whether thou seeks to draw all men towards His friendship and grace;

whether thou prays with confidence;

see whether thou receives with gratitude His benefits;

whether thou does not waste them but rather turns them to good account for His honor and glory;

whether thou strives to extinguish in thyself all the movements of the passions, which retard thee or hinder thee in thy loving aspirations and in thy works of virtue. 

All these and many more are the signs of greater or less charity in the soul. 

When charity is ardent and strong, it will be especially careful not to suffer the forces of the soul to remain idle, nor to consent to any blemish, because it will immediately consume and wipe it out.

It will not rest until it can taste the highest Good of its love. 

For without it, this love droops, is wounded and dies. It thirsts after that wine which inebriates the heart, causing a forgetfulness of all that is corruptible and passing (Cant. 5, 1). 

And as charity is the mother and the root of all virtue, its fecundity will immediately show itself as soon as it has found a place in the soul; it will fill it and adorn it with the habits of the other virtues, and engender them one after another by establishing the practice of them, as the Apostle says (I Cor. 13, 4). 

The soul that is in charity not only feels the effects of charity in itself, but through charity it is secure of being loved by God; through this divine love, it enjoys the reciprocal effect of God's indwelling, so that the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost will come and live in it as their temple, and this is a blessing which no words and no example can properly express in this mortal life. 

The right order of this virtue is to love God above all the creatures, then to love oneself, and him who is nearest to oneself, namely, our neighbor. 

God must be loved with the whole understanding, without deceit, with the whole will, without reserve or division, with the whole mind, without forgetfulness, without diminution, without negligence or remissness. 

The motive of charity in loving God is none else than God Himself; for He must be loved for His own sake, being the highest Good and most perfect goodness and holiness. Loving God for such motives causes the creature to love itself and the neighbor and itself; for both belong to one and the same God, from whom they derive their origin, their life and activity. 

He that loves God truly for Himself will also love all that is of God and all that in some way participates in His goodness. Therefore charity looks upon the neighbor as a work and a participation of God and makes no distinction between friend or enemy. 

Charity looks only upon that which is of God and which pertains to Him in others, no matter whether the neighbor is friendly or hostile, a benefactor or a persecutor. It attends only to the difference in the participation of the divine and infinite goodness and according to this standard it loves all in God and for God.

All other kinds of love, such as loving creatures for less exalted motives, hoping for some kind of reward, advantage or return, or loving them under cover of disorderly concupiscence, or with a mere human and natural love, even if it should spring from naturally virtuous and well ordered motives, are not infused charity. 

As it is usual in men to be moved by these partial excellences and for selfish and earthly ends, there are few who embrace and appreciate the nobility of this generous virtue and who exercise it with proper perfection. For they seek even God and pursue Him, for the sake of temporal blessings, or for spiritual benefits and pleasures. 

I desire that thou, my daughter, drive out of thy heart all these disorderly loves, and that thou live only in well ordered charity, to which the Most High has inclined thy desires. 

If thou so many times reaffirm that this virtue is so beautiful, so pleasing and so worthy of being sought and esteemed by all creatures, apply thyself to know it in its full excellence; and having come to understand its value, set thyself to purchase this incomparable gem by forgetting and extinguishing in thy heart all love that is not the perfect love. 

Love no creatures except for God, and for what thou see in them as coming from God and belonging to Him, in the same manner as a bride loves all the servants and connections of the house of her bridegroom because they are His. 

Forget to love anything not referable to God or not lovable on His account, nor love in any other way except as I have asked thee or the Most High has commanded thee to love. Thou will also know whether thou loves with pure charity, by thy behavior towards friends and enemies, the naturally agreeable and disagreeable, the polite and the impolite, those that possess or do not possess natural advantages. 

All this sort of distinction does not come from pure charity, but from the natural inclinations and passions of the appetites, which thou must govern, extinguish and eradicate by means of this sublime virtue.”

Read/Listen: Volume I Book II Chapter VIII