The Three Theological Virtues: Faith, Hope, & Love

CHRIST BEFORE ME  CHRIST RENEW ME

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The Three Theological Virtues:

Before any renewal can take place, there are these three theological virtues which we must begin with.  Before any renewal can take place in our souls, we must have faith in our triune God, we must have the hope of eternal salvation, hope of eternal union with God, and that faith with hope lead us to love of God.  Any renewal must begin with the three theological virtues.  Let us pray that they grow and deepen within us.

“The just live by faith.  You are the living temple of 

The three steps supporting this cross represent the three theological virtues.God.  Visit this interior sanctuary often, and see that the lamps--that is, faith, hope, and charity--are burning.” --Saint Paul of the Cross

Faith:

We need a reminder to have faith, to pray for the gift of faith.  We need to be aware of anything that holds our faith back.  We must begin with a belief that the triune God--Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, wants to draw us near.

“We can’t have full knowledge all at once.  We must start by believing; then afterwards we may be led.”

--Saint Thomas Aquinas: 

 "Hope means hoping when things are hopeless, or it is no virtue at all. And faith means believing the incredible, or it is no virtue at all."   --G.K. Chesterton

Faith comes to us before hope and hope leads to love.  Saint Ignatius of Antioch taught us that “faith and love are the beginning and end of life.  The beginning is faith; the end is love.  Both, joined in unity, lead to God, and all the rest that attains perfection and holiness, follows from them.”  For more on this, read 2 Peter, 1:5-8.

Sometimes teachings are difficult to believe.  We don’t understand them; so we choose to ignore them or set them aside.  That is a great disservice to yourself.  You need to pray for understanding to come but have faith first.  In other words, have faith in your faith, that the teachings of the faith are true.  You may not understand them, but does a child understand a parent’s reasoning all the time?  We are even dumber compared to God than children are to their parents.  Saint Augustine advised, “Seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand.”  Believe first, and understanding will come.  This is hard to do but it does happen this way.  Just think of your early childhood--how little you understood anything and you just took your parents’ words for it and now you understand.  Understanding your faith happens after you believe.

Hope:

Faith is not enough.  Even the devil has faith that Jesus is God.  Believing is not enough, or we may fall into the snares of the devil.  We must have hope for an eternity with God in heaven.

“Most men need patience to die, but a man who understands what death admits him to should rather need patience to live.” --Peter Kreeft

“The Lord grants in a moment what we may have been unable to obtain in dozens of years.”

--Saint Philip Neri

Isn’t that what we really hope for?  For God to grant us what we are after?  That is the bottom line.  It doesn’t sound hard to understand or too complicated, does it?  

It seems easy to say we have hope and have not lost it.  But it happens to so many of us all the time.  When we force things to go the way we want them to, we have lost hope, hope that God would grant us what we are seeking.  We give up on His timing, or worry that he won’t actually do what we “know” to be best.  Hope is very closely tied with trust.  If we have true hope, then we have trust.  We must order our lives and our desires, fortifying our souls with proper hope, the hope of spending eternity in God’s presence.

Saint Padre Pio

“Pray, hope, and don’t worry.”

We have to be patient and cooperate with God’s plan and His timing.  When we do, we fi

Saint Padre Pio

“Pray, hope, and don’t worry.”nd that in the end, things just happen and fall right into place.  Prayers are answered in ways far superior to what we envisioned.  Things we try to do in our own ways, plans made with our own minds, understanding we seek by studying and reading--these don’t give us any success, wisdom, or peace because we attempt them without real cooperation with the Lord.  When we do let go and let God, the Lord fills our minds with His wisdom and we soon have deep love and union with God that we could never have obtained on our own efforts.

Hope is all about our future, and it orients our thinking now.  Hope leads us to really trust our lives to Christ.  We hope for heaven where we can permanently contemplate God.   Hope gives us proper focus on the mission of our life.  We know what we are hoping for and so we order everything about ourselves and our lives to get there.  That is why hope leads us to the third theological virtue of love.

Love (Charity):

Words of encouragement to develop the virtue of love:

St. Ephrem of Syria:  “Blessed the one who, exalted by Love, has become a city founded upon a mountain, from which the enemy, when he saw it, withdrew in fear, trembling at its security in the Lord.”  The city is you and the mountain is the cross.  Wouldn’t we all love to be so exalted by Love that the forces of Hell flee from us in fear?  We don’t need to fear evil.  Evil trembles at the sight of those full of love.

The One who is Love showed us the way, and the way is through the cross.

Please support your parish who provides you spiritual food and brings you to Jesus.  Support life by being there for desperate pregnant mothers & their children at Our Lady’s Inn www.ourladysinn.org & Good Council Homes www.goodcouncilhomes.org

O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to you.

Pope Benedict XVI on Eucharistic Adoration & Public Benediction

In his homily the Pope recalled how today "the Blessed Sacrament is carried in procession along the streets of towns and villages to show that the risen Christ walks among us and guides us to the kingdom of heaven. What Jesus gave us in the Upper Room we openly display today, because the love of Christ is not reserved for the few but is intended for everyone".

   --Pope Benedict XVI, June 24, 2011

New Life in Christ

CHRIST BEFORE ME  CHRIST RENEW ME

HisNameIsMercy.com

New Life in Christ:  

The petition “CHRIST RENEW ME” is an act of humility and a plea to be renewed by the One Who made us to begin with, our Creator.  Only in Jesus can we become renewed.  Renewal is continual and doesn’t stop in this lifetime.  We should meditate upon His most Sacred Heart and unite our hearts to His, so that our heart becomes more and more like His.

Psalm 51:10:  “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew in me a steadfast spirit.”

Reflection from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 1691, which is a quote from St. Leo the Great, Sermon 21:  “Christian, recognize your dignity and, now that you share in God’s own nature, do not return to your former base condition by sinning.  Remember who is your head and whose body you are a member.  Never forget that you have been rescued from the power of darkness and brought into the light of the Kingdom of God.”

Do you know who you are?  If you were baptized, you are part of Christ’s body.  That is some serious stuff!  You can’t just overlook that and blow it off.  It is huge!  You have dignity beyond comprehension.  Treat yourself that way.  He said that you share in God’s own nature, and the Church teaches that fact.  Your whole existence is totally awesome!  Do you realize that?  Do you even know who you are?  

We need Christ to help us know this in a real way.  That is why we ask Him to renew us, because we share in His nature and He is God.  He knows our struggles and He wants to renew us.  Christ renews us continually.  We try to stay on the right path, allowing Christ to transform us so that we may become more like Christ, from one degree of glory to another.  Yet we sin and screw things up and make dumb choices.  

“To reach something good it is very useful to have gone astray and thus acquire experience.” --St. Teresa of Avila

Thank God that even after we sin, we are renewed in confession through Christ.  God can even use our sins to teach us.  We will continue to be renewed and have joy as we grow in our new life in Christ.  No matter how we used to be, we can always be forgiven by God.  There is no limit to his mercy!  We are renewed by Christ.

Charles Cardinal Journet:  “God is constantly knocking at the gate of my heart to invite me to go beyond the state I have reached, because my whole life should be a journey on the way to Love.”

2 Corinthians, 3:14-18

But their minds were hardened; for to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away.  Yes, to this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their minds; but when a man turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.  Now the Lord is Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.  And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”

Please support your parish who provides you spiritual food and brings you to Jesus.  
Support life by being there for desperate pregnant mothers & their children at Our Lady’s Inn www.ourladysinn.org & Good Council Homes www.goodcouncilhomes.org

O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to you.

Living a Christian Life--A Call to Renewal & Evangelization

CHRIST BEFORE ME  CHRIST RENEW ME

HisNameIsMercy.com 

Living a Christian Life--A Call to Renewal & Evangelization

Christ sends you forth.  He sends you out to His lost sheep.  Every one of us is commanded by Jesus to go teach the ignorant, to bring His light to them.  Imagine the idea of leaving children to their own devices, never instructing them in school.  You wouldn’t have it!  It is an act of mercy to educate our children and bring them to a better life.  We all easily understand that but when it comes to teaching about real Truth, about He who is all-knowing, all-loving, and sharing that wisdom, we clam up.  

Why can’t we make the connection when one is so much more important than the other?  Our fear comes into play, fear from the evil one.  The devil wants to shut you up.  Don’t let him get in your way.  Tell him to “get behind you” as Jesus did.  We must evangelize others for their own benefit.  You wouldn’t want to be left in darkness if you didn’t know something that could bring you real joy.  So don’t do that to others.  Spread the good news.  And let others evangelize to you too.  We all need instruction and better understanding of God, our role in life, etc., and others are often sent by God to us at a specific moment of God’s choosing.

A way to evangelize is to simply wear a Christian message.  That is not to say you are a walking billboard, but in a sense you are.  Saint Francis of Assisi evangelized by walking and only using words when he had to.  Keep in mind, though, that he only wore a gray robe, and everyone knew him to be a bearer of Christ, living a life of poverty in his robe and helping those who couldn’t help themselves.  In a sense, his walking around was acting as a moving billboard.  Everyone knew he was Christian by his charitable work for others.

We can wear a Christian wristband, a medal, a ring, a logo’d shirt, something, anything that directs other people’s minds toward Christ when they see you.  Wear something.  Get people to think about Jesus.  Spread the good news.  Others will take notice and may not say anything, but their minds will be directed toward Christ.


We can't just be lazy about our Christianity.  Laziness is a sin.  Christ said to go and spread the good news to everyone.  We can't just be silent.  We must speak up for Christ.


"Not to oppose error is to approve it; and not to defend truth is to suppress it; and indeed to neglect to confound evil men, when we can do it, is no less a sin than to encourage them."  --Pope St. Felix III

James 5, 20:  “He should know that whoever brings back a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.”

When something great happens at work, we share it with others.  When our team makes a great play and does something amazing, we jump and shout and celebrate with friends.  These are so small compared to everything Christ is doing every minute.  He is making truly amazing plays all the time.  We should be celebrating that and high-fiving Jesus with everyone!  That may seem weird, and we’ll probably never do that, but I sometimes wonder, “What if I really felt that kind of excitement?  Would I share it with others?”

We should at least be joyful.  St. Faustina’s Confessor instructed her to, “Act in such a way that all those who come into contact with you go away joyful.”  If we all do that, we’ll be peacemakers and light fires in people’s hearts.

“To get up each morning with the resolve to be happy is to set our own conditions to the events of each day.  To do this is to condition circumstances instead of being conditioned by them.” “Wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of living.”  --Saint John Chrysostom

O Blood and Water which gushed forth from the heart of Jesus as a fount of mercy for us, I trust in You.

Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in You.

Our Lady's apparitions to Ivan will be streamed live from Medjugorje on June 23rd and June 26, 2011, at 12:00 Noon (EST) at www.marytv.tv.

Our Lady's apparitions to Ivan will be streamed live from Medjugorje on June 23rd and June 26, 2011, at 12:00 Noon (EST) at www.marytv.tv.  They will begin streaming the rosary before the apparition, and afterwards Ivan will graciously answer questions. We have been told that those connected through the internet are prayed over by Our Lady the same as those kneeling right next to the visionary...and the religious items they have with them that they would like Our Lady to bless are blessed the same as the religious items placed in front of her during the apparition!

Live Event English URL
http://marytv.tv/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12&Itemid=35

Live Event Spanish URL
http://marytv.tv/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=290&Itemid=36

A schedule of daily events being streamed June 23 through June 26, 2011 will be announced at www.marytv.tv

www.marytv.tv

St. John of the Cross: 10.6: … to be subject to the least discomfort and mortification, it follows that not finding them strong …

10.6: … to be subject to the least discomfort and mortification, it follows that not finding them strong …

27. And here it ought to be pointed out why so few reach this high state of perfect union with God. It should be known that the reason is not that God wishes only a few of these spirits to be so elevated; he would rather want all to be perfect, but he finds few vessels that will endure so lofty and sublime a work. Since he tries them in little things and finds them so weak that they immediately flee from work, unwilling to be subject to the least discomfort and mortification, it follows that not finding them strong and faithful in that little [Mt. 25:21, 23], in which he favored them by beginning to hew and polish them, he realizes that they will be much less strong in these greater trials. As a result he proceeds no further in purifying them and raising them from the dust of the earth through the toil of mortification. They are in need of greater constancy and fortitude than they showed. There are many who desire to advance and persistently beseech God to bring them to this state of perfection. Yet when God wills to conduct them through the initial trials and mortifications, as is necessary, they are unwilling to suffer them and they shun them, flee from the narrow road of life [Mt. 7:14] and seek the broad road of their own consolation, which is that of their own perdition [Mt. 7:13]; thus they do not allow God to begin to grant their petition. They are like useless containers, for although they desire to reach the state of the perfect they do not want to be guided by the path of trials that leads to it. They hardly even begin to walk along this road by submitting to what is least, that is, to ordinary sufferings.10 We can answer them with Jeremiah's words: If you have grown weary running with footmen, how will you contend with horses? And if you have had quiet in the land of peace, what will you do in the swelling of the Jordan? [Jer. 12:5]. This is like saying: If by the common trials (on foot) that form part of human life, it seemed to you that you were running because there were so many, and you took such short steps, how will you keep up with the horse's stride, which signifies more than ordinary trials for which human strength and speed is not enough? And if you have not wanted to forego the peace and pleasure of your earth, which is your sensuality, or contradict it in anything or stir up a war, I do not know how you will desire to enter the impetuous waters of spiritual tribulations and trials that are deeper.

St. John of the Cross on Detachment, taking spirituality to its fullness; Prayer and Fasting are not enough; spiritual poverty

This passage from St. John of the Cross criticizes our conditional love for God, our desire to get good feelings from God, warm and fuzzies that make us feel like God is with us.  But true spiritual poverty, which we must have in order to be fully obedient to God, is to love God even without having those feelings, even if we don't feel His presence at all.  After reading this, I thought that all relationships are really this way.  Sometimes parents have to be absent from their children for the sake of the children's growth and benefit.  Many marriages end up in divorce when the good feelings are gone because the love for each other was only conditional love, due to their attachment to a false idea of what a marriage should be.  If marriage reflects God's relationship with us, then we should expect times when we don't sense comforting feelings from our spouses, periods of dryness, and we should know that these periods will pass but we have to wait patiently and trust in God's plan for us.  In the end, the joy is amazing!

St. John of the Cross, 3.8: … and continuing in prayer and pursuing mortification; but they attain not to detachment and …

5. Oh, that one could show us how to understand, practise and experience what this counsel is which our Saviour here gives us concerning self-denial,[246] so that spiritual persons might see in how different a way they should conduct themselves upon this road from that which many of them think proper! For they believe that any kind of retirement and reformation of life suffices; and others are content with practising the virtues and continuing in prayer and pursuing mortification; but they attain not to detachment and poverty or selflessness[247] or spiritual purity (which are all one), which the Lord here commends to us; for they prefer feeding and clothing their natural selves with spiritual feelings and consolations, to stripping themselves of all things, and denying themselves all things, for God's sake. For they think that it suffices to deny themselves worldly things without annihilating and purifying themselves of spiritual attachment. Wherefore it comes to pass that, when there presents itself to them any of this solid and perfect spirituality, consisting in the annihilation of all sweetness in God, in aridity, distaste and trial, which is the true spiritual cross, and the detachment of the spiritual poverty of Christ, they flee from it as from death, and seek only sweetness and delectable communion with God. This is not self-denial and detachment of spirit, but spiritual gluttony. Herein, spiritually, they become enemies of the Cross of Christ; for true spirituality seeks for God's sake that which is distasteful rather than that which is delectable; and inclines itself rather to suffering than to consolation; and desires to go without all blessings for God's sake rather than to possess them; and to endure aridities and afflictions rather than to enjoy sweet communications, knowing that this is to follow Christ and to deny oneself, and that the other is perchance to seek oneself in God, which is clean contrary to love. For to seek oneself in God is to seek the favours and refreshments of God; but to seek God in oneself is not only to desire to be without both of these for God's sake, but to be disposed to choose, for Christ's sake, all that is most distasteful, whether in relation to God or to the world; and this is love of God.

St. Jean-Marie Baptiste of Vianney on Temptation, fasting, and prayer: 3.6: … let us put our confidence in God; let us fast and pray; and the devil will not be able …

3.6: … let us put our confidence in God; let us fast and pray; and the devil will not be able …

CHAPTER 5: On Temptations

WE ARE all inclined to sin, my children; we are idle, greedy, sensual, given to the pleasures of the flesh. We want to know everything, to learn everything, to see everything; we must watch over our mind, over our heart, and over our senses, for these are the gates by which the devil penetrates. See, he prowls round us incessantly; his only occupation in this world is to seek companions for himself. All our life he will lay snares for us, he will try to make us yield to temptations; we must, on our side, do all we can to defeat and resist him. We can do nothing by ourselves, my children; but we can do everything with the help of the good God; let us pray Him to deliver us from this enemy of our salvation, or to give strength to fight against him. With the Name of Jesus we shall overthrow the demons; we shall put them to flight. With this Name, if they sometimes dare to attack us, our battles will be victories, and our victories will be crowns for Heaven, all brilliant with precious stones.

See, my children, the good God refuses nothing to those who pray to Him from the bottom of their heart. St. Teresa, being one day in prayer, and desiring to see the good God, Jesus Christ showed to the eyes of her soul His Divine hands; then, another day, when she was again in prayer, He showed her His face. Lastly, some days after, He showed her the whole of His Sacred Humanity. The good God who granted the desire of St. Teresa will also grant our prayers. If we ask of Him the grace to resist temptations, He will grant it to us; for He wishes to save us all, He shed His Blood for us all, He died for us all, He is waiting for us all in Heaven. We are two or three hundred here: shall we all be saved, shall we all go to Heaven? Alas! my children, we know nothing about it; but I tremble when I see so many souls lost in these days.

See, they fall into Hell as the leaves fall from the trees at the approach of winter. We shall fall like the rest, my children, if we do not avoid temptations, if, when we cannot avoid them, we do not fight generously, with the help of the good God--if we do not invoke His Name during the strife, like St. Antony in the desert.

This saint having retired into an old sepulchre, the devil came to attack him; he tried at first to terrify him with a horrible noise; he even beat him so cruelly that he left him half dead and covered with wounds. "Well," said St. Antony, "here I am, ready to fight again; no, thou shalt not be able to separate me from Jesus Christ, my Lord and my God. " The spirits of darkness redoubled their efforts, and uttered frightful cries. St. Antony remained unmoved, because he put all his confidence in God. After the example of this saint, my children, let us be always ready for the combat; let us put our confidence in God; let us fast and pray; and the devil will not be able to separate us from Jesus Christ, either in this world or the next.

St. Jean-Marie Baptiste Vianney on Fasting: 10.8: Everyone can Fast in some way.

10.8: But, you will say, there are plenty who cannot fast, others who are not able to give alms, …

68. PRAYING, FASTING, AND PLEASING OURSELVES

My dear brethren, we read in holy Scripture that the Lord, while speaking to His people of the necessity to do good works in order to please Him and to become included in the number of saints, said to them: "The things that I ask are not above your powers; to do them it is not necessary for you to lift yourselves to the clouds nor to cross the seas. All that I command is, so to speak, in your hands, in your hearts, and all around."

I can easily repeat the very same thing to you, my dear brethren. It is true that we shall never have the happiness of going to Heaven unless we do good works, but let us not be afraid of that, my dear children. What Jesus Christ demands of us are not the extraordinary things or those beyond our powers. He does not require that we should be all day in the church or that we should do enormous penances, that is to say, to the extent of ruining our health, or even to that of giving all our substance to the poor (although it is very true that we are obliged to give as much as we possibly can to the poor, which we should do both to please God, Who commands it, and also to atone for our sins). It is also true that we should practice mortification in many things to make reparation for our sins. There is no doubt but that the person who lives without mortifying himself is someone who will never succeed in saving his soul. There is no doubt but that, although we cannot be all day in the church, which yet should be a great joy for us, we do know very well that we should never omit our prayers, at least in the morning and at night.

But, you will say, there are plenty who cannot fast, others who are not able to give alms, and others who have so much to do that often they have great difficulty in saying their prayers in the morning and at night. How can they possibly be saved, then, if it is necessary to pray continuously and to do good works in order to obtain Heaven?

Because all your good works, my dear brethren, amount to prayer, fasting, and almsdeeds, which we can easily perform as you shall see.

Yes, my dear brethren, even though we may have poor health or even be infirm, there is a fast which we can easily perform.

Let us even be quite poor; we can still give alms. And however heavy or demanding our work, we can still pray to Almighty God without interfering with our labours; we can pray night and morning, and even all day long, and here is how we can do it. All the time that we deprive ourselves of anything which it gives us pleasure to do, we are practicing a fast which is very pleasing to God because fasting does not consist solely of privations in eating and drinking, but of denying ourselves that which pleases our taste most. Some mortify themselves in the way they dress; others in the visits they want to make to friends whom they like to see; others in the conversations and discussions which they enjoy. This constitutes a very excellent fast and one which pleases God because it fights self-love and pride and one's reluctance to do things one does not enjoy or to be with people whose characters and ways of behaving are contrary to one's own. You can, without offending God, go into that particular company, but you can deprive yourself of it to please God: there is a type of fasting which is very meritorious.

You are in some situation in which you can indulge your appetite? Instead of doing so, you take, without making it obvious, something which appeals to you the least. When you are buying chattels or clothes, you do not choose that which merely appeals to you; there again is a fast whose reward waits for you at the door of Heaven to help you to enter. Yes, my dear brethren, if we want to go about it properly, not only can we find opportunities of practicing fasting every day, but at every moment of the day.

Tell me, now, is there any fasting which would be more pleasing to God than to do and to endure with patience certain things which often are very disagreeable to you? Without mentioning illness, infirmities, or so many other afflictions which are inseparable from our wretched life, how often do we not have the opportunity to mortify ourselves in putting up with what annoys and revolts us? Sometimes it is work which wearies us greatly; sometimes it is some person who annoys us. At another time it may be some humiliation which is very difficult to endure. Well, then, my children, if we put up with all that for God and solely to please Him, these are the fasts which are most agreeable to God and most meritorious in His eyes. You are compelled to work all the year round at very heavy and exacting labor which often seems as if it is going to kill you and which does not give you even the time to draw your breath. Oh, my dear children, what treasures would you be storing up for Heaven, if you so desired, by doing just what you do and in the midst of your labours having the wisdom and the foresight to lift up your hearts to God and say to Him: "My good Jesus, I unite my labours to Your labours, my sufferings to Your sufferings; give me the grace to be always content in the state in which You have placed me! I will bless Your holy Name in all that happens to me!" Yes, my dear children, if you had the great happiness to behave in this way, all your trials, all your labours, would become like most precious fruits which you would offer to God at the hour of your death. That, my children, is how everyone is his own state in life can practice a kind of fasting which is very meritorious and which will be of the greatest value to him for eternal life.

I have been telling you, too, that there is a certain type of almsgiving which everyone can perform. You see quite well that almsgiving does not consist solely in feeding those who are hungry and giving clothes to those who have none. It consists in all the services which one renders to a neighbour, whether of body or soul, when they are done in a spirit of charity. When we have only a little, very well, let us give a little; and when we have nothing, let us lend if we can. If you cannot supply those who are sick with whatever would be good for them, well then, you can visit them, you can say consoling words to them, you can pray for them so that they will put their illness to good use.

Yes, my dear children, everything is good and precious in God's sight when we act from the motives of religion and of charity because Jesus Christ tells us that a glass of water would not go unrewarded. You see, therefore, my children, that although we may be quite poor, we can still easily give alms.

I told you that however exacting our work was, there is a certain kind of prayer which we can make continually without, at the same time, upsetting our labours, and this is how it is done.

It is seeking, in everything we do, to do the will of God only.

Tell me, my children, is it so difficult to seek only to do the will of God in all of our actions, however small they may be? Yes, my children, with that prayer everything becomes meritorious for Heaven, and without that will, all is lost. Alas! How many good things, which would help us so well to gain Heaven, go unrewarded simply by not doing our ordinary duties with the right intention!

Christian Quotes on Love and Works, a Parable on Redistribution or Government Social Justice

Without love, deeds, even the most brilliant, count as nothing."
- St. Therese of Lisieux


"It is not the magnitude of our actions but the amount of love that is put into them that matters."
- Mother Teresa

A Parable on non-Catholic Social Justice (i.e. Government Redistribution of Wealth):It is not love that makes one decide it is good to take money from someone and give it to another. Nor does that count as being good to the poor.  Be generous yourself and bless your own gift with God's love, who will then multiply its effects, like He did with the loaves. Without Love, there is no real charity.


A group of neighbors decided that a less fortunate neighbor needed some help. They had a vote among all the neighbors to decide if they should take some of the belongings from a wealthier neighbor and give them to the poor neighbor.  The vote was in favor of the idea and some belongings were taken from the wealthier neighbor.  While receiving the objects was helpful for the poor individual, he felt no charity and was unmoved by the generosity because there was no charity involved in the transaction. He actually felt worse by seeing how it all happened but the majority told him he deserved those belongings and assured him it was all good. The rich person was personally moved away from a sense of dignity and honest charity since the redistribution was not of his free will and not a gift. Instead, his heart became hardened and indifferent towards the majority of his neighbors as he feared more would be taken from him.  He began to store and stash away more than he did beforehand, in places the neighbors couldn't get to it.  The poor neighbor accepted the idea that this redistribution was a fair way of balancing things out and continued to rely on frequent gifts, gifts he said were from the majority. He thanked the majority for doing this for him and the majority felt good and proud about themselves and the good they had done.


There was not one act of Love in this whole transaction.  There was sympathy, followed by a desire to remediate the poor man's condition, followed by collective sin so that the sin wouldn't feel like the stealing that it is, followed by pride.  The end goal that the majority had in mind is desirable but the means makes all the difference. Re-distribution and generosity must be voluntary; otherwise it is extortion and agreed upon robbery, and its effects are similar to these crimes.

--Christopher Majella Paul