Charity
One
“A new commandment I give you: love one another as I have loved you” (Jn 13:34). That is, selflessly and sacrificially. Consequently, whether we have genuine charity for our neighbors depends on whether we are willing to give selflessly and sacrificially for their sakes.
Notice that Our Lord does not offer this principle as advice, but rather as a commandment; we are obliged to love selflessly and sacrificially. As Christians, we are obliged to spend time with people we don’t enjoy, to be kind to our enemies, to strive for reconciliation with estranged family members, and to show our affection for people we don’t get along with. The seven-spiritual works of mercy are those which promote spiritual welfare of those near to us.
They are instructing, counseling, admonishing, comforting, praying for the living and the dead, forgiving willingly, bearing wrongs patiently.
So it is actually a work of kindness and charity to explain the faith to someone who is ignorant about it, to correct someone who has sinned, to pray for the poor souls in purgatory, and so forth. These works are just as crucial for our lives as Christians, for we cannot simply focus on serving the body of our neighbors and ignore the needs of the soul.
All of this can be summed up simply—Do I serve others with my time and presence, even when I don’t want to?
Two
Charity can only be possessed by acts, acts aimed at God or others. We must certainly love ourselves as well, but this will be displayed by the efforts we offer by placing their good above my comfort our convenience. The Church has organized the behaviors of bodily care for others by calling them The seven corporeal works of mercy. These bodily care charitable activities include feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, sheltering the homeless, clothing the naked, ransoming the captive, caring for the sick and imprisoned, burying the dead.
The chief opportunity for us to lend material aid to those in need is in giving alms; our financial donations to help the poor is a critical aspect of fraternal charity, and is a work pleasing to God. Our Lord Himself declares how closely He associates Himself with the poor to whom we are generous, “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.” All of this can be summarized in a question, “am I continually striving to give more and more of my superfluous income to those in need, making sure that my gift continues to be both balanced and painful?
Three
The Church calls us to a preferential option for loving the poor. St. John Chrysostom vigorously called for this kind of love. He said, "Not to enable the poor to share in our goods is to steal from them and deprive them of life. The goods we possess are not ours, but theirs." Ouch! This is a challenging call. This is because the demands of justice must be satisfied first of all; that which is already due in justice is not to be offered as a gift of charity. When we attend to the needs of those in want, we give them what is theirs, not ours. More than performing works of mercy, we are paying a debt of justice. The Catechism states, "In its various forms - material deprivation, unjust oppression, physical and psychological illness and death - human misery is the obvious sign of the inherited condition of frailty and need for salvation in which man finds himself as a consequence of original sin. This misery elicited the compassion of Christ the Savior, who willingly took it upon himself and identified himself with the least of his brethren. Hence, those who are oppressed by poverty are the object of a preferential love on the part of the Church which, since her origin and in spite of the failings of many of her members, has not ceased to work for their relief, defense, and liberation through numerous works of charity which remain indispensable always and everywhere” (#2448).
Four
Saint John Paul II commented that the opposite of love is not hate. Rather, the opposite of love is use. Dignity and Personhood go together and demand respect. We are persons endowed with this dignity at our creation by our Heavenly Father, whose image and likeness we bare. Any action that uses another human person, therefore, opposes love. Obvious examples of actions of use: abortion, slavery, abuse, all forms of violence, murder, lust, prejudicial actions based on superficial characteristics, etc. Not as obvious examples of use: gossip (because we deprive another of a good name or reputation), failing to pay a family wage, always expecting others to do as I say or want, treating our friend as a means of personal entertainment (I am bored so I will invite Hank over to entertain me), stealing, lying to or about our neighbor, focusing on another’s faults, harboring resentment, apathy towards those suffering, etc. The corporal and spiritual works of mercy are very practical ways given us by the Lord to follow in His footsteps of compassion and love. One thing is certain, however, that without an interior life—a life of daily meditation and frequenting the sacraments—a life of charity is impossible.
Five
A word of advice on these works of mercy: practice makes perfect. We should not be surprised to find that our ability to practice these is impaired, at least at first. To acquire any virtue, repeated effort soaked in prayer is the way to cultivate it. We should be steadfast as well. It is not easy, but will get easier as we practice it. As we gain these merciful habits, we will find out that doing these good things will come more easily, promptly, and with greater joy!