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CHARITY

I said in an earlier Chapter that there were four `Cardinal&039; virtues and three &039;Theological&039; virtues The three Theological ones are Faith, Hope, and Charity Faith is going to be dealt with in the last two chapters Charity was partly dealt with in Chapter 7, but there I concentrated on that part of Charity which is called Forgiveness I noant to add a littleof the word `Charity&039; now means si to the poor Originally it had a ot theto the poor is one of the s he does, and so people came to talk as if that were the whole of charity In the sa about poetry, and so people co more) Charity means &039;Love, in the Christian sense&039; But love, in the Christian sense, does not s but of the will; that state of the hich we have naturally about ourselves, and must learn to have about other people

I pointed out in the Chapter on Forgiveness that our love for ourselves does not ood In the sahbours is quite a different thing fro or affection We &039;like&039; or are &039;fond of some people, and not of others It is i&039; is neither a sin nor a virtue, any more than your likes and dislikes in food are a sin or a virtue It is just a fact But, of course, e do about it is either sinful or virtuous

Natural liking or affection for people makes it easier to be &039;charitable&039; towards thee our affections - to &039;like&039; people as e our liking for exercise or wholeso is itself the virtue of charity, but because it is a help to it On the other hand, it is also necessary to keep a very sharp lookout for fear our liking for some one person makes us uncharitable, or even unfair, to so conflicts with our charity towards the person we like For exa mother may -be tempted by natural affection to &039;spoil&039; her child; that is, to gratify her own affectionate impulses at the expense of the child&039;s real happiness later on

But though natural likings should nor to think that the way to beco to s Some people are &039;cold&039; by temperament; that may be aa bad digestion is a sin; and it does not cut them out fro charity The rule for all of us is perfectly si whether you &039;love&039; your neighbour; act as if you did As soon as we do this we find one of the great secrets When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him If you injure so hiood turn, you will find yourself disliking hiood turn, not to please God and obey the law of charity, but to show hi chap you are, and to put hiratitude,&039; you will probably, be disappointed (People are not fools: they have a very quick eye for anything like showing off, or patronage) But whenever we do good to another self, just because it is a self,its own happiness as we desire ours, we shall have learned to love it a little h Christian charity sounds a very cold thing to people whose heads are full of sentih it is quite distinct from affection, yet it leads to affection The difference between a Christian and a worldly man is not that the worldly s&039; and the Christian has only `charity&039; The worldly man treats certain people kindly because he &039;likes&039; the to treat every one kindly, finds hioes on - including people he could not even have i

This same spiritual laorks terribly in the opposite direction The Germans, perhaps, at first ill-treated the Jews because they hated them: afterwards they hated them much more because they had ill-treated them The more cruel you are, the more you will hate; and the more you hate, the more cruel you will become-and so on in a vicious circle for ever

Good and evil both increase at compound interest That is why the little decisions you and I ood act to-day is the capture of a strategic point froo on to victories you never dreaer to-day is the loss of a ridge or railway line or bridgehead from which the enemy may launch an attack otherwise impossible

Some writers use the word charity to describe not only Christian love between hus, but also God&039;s love for man and man&039;s love for God About the second of these two, people are often worried They are told they ought to love God They cannot find any such feeling in themselves What are they to do? The answer is the sa to s Ask yourself, &039;If I were sure that I loved God, ould I do?&039; When you have found the answer, go and do it

On the whole, God&039;s love for us is a much safer subject to think about than our love for His: and even if we could, feelings are not what God principally cares about Christian Love, either towards God or towardsto do His e are obeying the commandive us feelings of love if He pleases We cannot create theht But the great thing to reo, His love for us does not It is not wearied by our sins, or our indifference; and, therefore, it is quite relentless in its determination that we shall be cured of those sins, at whatever cost to us, at whatever cost to Him