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Morning Prayers.
(Page 188)
I. The first two companions of Charity, most closely associated with it, are Faith and Hope. These precede it and prepare the way before its face; being temporary themselves, they lead onto that which is final and enduring. As the supernatural life of Charity in God is beyond the range of our faculties on earth, we need to be informed of it by Faith before we can voluntarily merge ourselves in it. The world indeed manifests God's life to us, but only in so far as He is the fount of natural life. He has a more recondite perfection as the fount of supernatural life. All this, besides being made known to our intelligence, must be set before us as an object for our attainment, promised by God and placed within our reach. The soul then, before entering into the full enjoyment of that life, aspires to it, wishes for it, expects it with confidence. These two impulsions are completed in Charity, or the love of God, or vital union with Him in a preliminary form on earth and in its perfect form hereafter. After this life Faith and Hope cease. The knowledge on hearsay passes into the knowledge of vision, and expectation into possession; Charity alone remains as an accomplished and eternal adhesion to life without any further need for preliminaries and gradual approaches. Your Charity and your participation in God depend on your Faith and Hope. Take care that natural science and earthly expectations do not obscure that which is super natural, and alienate your love from it.
II. There are other companions of Charity, viz., the various affections of the mind in which the propension towards life expresses itself. These expressions of love or accompaniments of Charity are principally as follows. Satisfaction and delight in God at the sight of His supreme (Page 189) excellence; conformity of ideas and will and feeling with Him in all the manifestations of His Providence; benevolence, by which we desire all good to the object of our love, and rejoice in His perfections, happiness, and glory; beneficence, by which we bestow of our own upon Him, our possessions, our services and ourselves; hatred of that which opposes Him or deprives us of the possession of Him. These sentiments extend to all that is related to God, that resembles Him, or recalls Him to our mind. Thus it is that divine Charity or love for God embraces creatures also, and especially men who are made in His image. While philanthropy and humanity draw us towards our fellow-men on account of their community of life with us, Charity draws us to them on account of their community of life with God, the Supreme Life. These acts are not spontaneous as is the case with natural love, and as will be the case with beatific love hereafter; but they are the result of voluntary correspondence with grace and voluntary acceptance of the knowledge of Faith.
III. There are yet other companions of Charity which follow in its train. The love and possession of God in this life casts out all servile fear and bestows an unspeakable peace and joy, which raise men superior to all the trials of this world. It subdues the impulse to selfishness, and helps us to promote the advantage of all those whom God loves. It is a chief source of the generosity and self-sacrifice which are the leaven of this world; and it takes form chiefly in the seven corporal and seven spiritual works of mercy. These consequences of Charity command the admiration of all, so that men try to reproduce them sporadically and apart from the supernatural system. But those efforts must fail. The real flower can live only when it proceeds from the tree in its completeness with root, trunk, branches and leaves; i.e., from God in His Charity. "Other foundation no man can lay but that which is laid, which is Christ Jesus" (1 Cor. iii. 11).
