OF real and eternal value, that is.
At best, one can only
enjoy some passing benefit or advantage that can usually have a double
effect of good and bad, depending on how one carries out a particular
human act. It’s charity that makes even the most ordinary activity
acquire tremendous, eternal worth.
This can easily be gleaned from some words of St. Paul.
“If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love,
I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift
of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I
have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am
nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to
hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.” (1
Cor 13,1-3)
Further down, he reiterated the same idea. “Where there
are prophecies, they will cease. Where there are tongues, they will be
stilled. Where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in
part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in
part disappears.” (1 Cor 13,8-10)
Yes, charity or love is the ultimate value that we have to
aspire for. It is the fullness of Christian life. With it, everything
else is subsumed. Even our mistakes and ignorance, if done with love,
can somehow acquire eternal value. Apropos to this, St Paul testifies:
“In all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have
been called according to his purpose.” (8,28)
We cannot deny that we many times get contented only with
some worldly value to motivate our thoughts, words and deeds. It can
be effectiveness, efficiency, profitability, popularity, etc.
While these motives are good in themselves, they can turn
bad if not infused with the spirit of charity. As can be easily
verified in numberless cases, they can occasion dishonorable motives
like greed, envy, lust, sloth, love for power, etc. That would be a
pity because with all the apparent goodness these motives can effect,
they still fail to reach the ultimate goal meant for us.
We need to see to it that charity is at the beginning and
end, as well as in the in-between of our every act, be it a thought,
an intention, a word or a deed. We need to train and discipline
ourselves strictly in this, since it is very easy for us to be carried
away by merely human and worldly values and motives.
In this, we have to look closely at Christ who as God is
the very essence of love himself, the very source, power and pattern
of love. And as our Redeemer, Christ clearly commanded us to love one
another as he has loved us.
And so, we need to look at one another and to do things
always from the perspective of Christ’s love for us. Nothing that we
do, even the most impressive act we do, can have real value if not
inspired by Christ’s love. On the other hand, if Christ’s love
motivates us, even the most ordinary and insignificant act we do can
have eternal value.
We have to exert great effort here, since we have to
contend with a tremendous environment that ignores Christian love as
motive for our actions, while revering worldly values to stimulate our
actions.
This does not mean that we retreat from the world in order
to be filled with the love of Christ. This is a mentality that has
gone out of date, though many are still hooked to it. Our worldly and
temporal affairs are no obstacles and hindrances in putting Christian
love into the real world.
We just have to cultivate a kind of contemplative spirit,
proper of persons immersed in the world, to be able to see God in
everything and to be moved by love in his every activity.
As Christ himself said, we might be in the world, but we
are not supposed to be worldly. St. Paul said something relevant: “Set
your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” (Col 3,2) This
simply means that while we have to do our temporal affairs, we should
offer everything to God as an act of love.
It’s actually when we offer things to God that these
things can also be of great and real benefit to others. We have to
rectify our intentions then, and avail of a spiritual plan which would
enable us to be with God always even in our most mundane affairs.
enjoy some passing benefit or advantage that can usually have a double
effect of good and bad, depending on how one carries out a particular
human act. It’s charity that makes even the most ordinary activity
acquire tremendous, eternal worth.
This can easily be gleaned from some words of St. Paul.
“If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love,
I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift
of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I
have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am
nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to
hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.” (1
Cor 13,1-3)
Further down, he reiterated the same idea. “Where there
are prophecies, they will cease. Where there are tongues, they will be
stilled. Where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in
part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in
part disappears.” (1 Cor 13,8-10)
Yes, charity or love is the ultimate value that we have to
aspire for. It is the fullness of Christian life. With it, everything
else is subsumed. Even our mistakes and ignorance, if done with love,
can somehow acquire eternal value. Apropos to this, St Paul testifies:
“In all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have
been called according to his purpose.” (8,28)
We cannot deny that we many times get contented only with
some worldly value to motivate our thoughts, words and deeds. It can
be effectiveness, efficiency, profitability, popularity, etc.
While these motives are good in themselves, they can turn
bad if not infused with the spirit of charity. As can be easily
verified in numberless cases, they can occasion dishonorable motives
like greed, envy, lust, sloth, love for power, etc. That would be a
pity because with all the apparent goodness these motives can effect,
they still fail to reach the ultimate goal meant for us.
We need to see to it that charity is at the beginning and
end, as well as in the in-between of our every act, be it a thought,
an intention, a word or a deed. We need to train and discipline
ourselves strictly in this, since it is very easy for us to be carried
away by merely human and worldly values and motives.
In this, we have to look closely at Christ who as God is
the very essence of love himself, the very source, power and pattern
of love. And as our Redeemer, Christ clearly commanded us to love one
another as he has loved us.
And so, we need to look at one another and to do things
always from the perspective of Christ’s love for us. Nothing that we
do, even the most impressive act we do, can have real value if not
inspired by Christ’s love. On the other hand, if Christ’s love
motivates us, even the most ordinary and insignificant act we do can
have eternal value.
We have to exert great effort here, since we have to
contend with a tremendous environment that ignores Christian love as
motive for our actions, while revering worldly values to stimulate our
actions.
This does not mean that we retreat from the world in order
to be filled with the love of Christ. This is a mentality that has
gone out of date, though many are still hooked to it. Our worldly and
temporal affairs are no obstacles and hindrances in putting Christian
love into the real world.
We just have to cultivate a kind of contemplative spirit,
proper of persons immersed in the world, to be able to see God in
everything and to be moved by love in his every activity.
As Christ himself said, we might be in the world, but we
are not supposed to be worldly. St. Paul said something relevant: “Set
your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” (Col 3,2) This
simply means that while we have to do our temporal affairs, we should
offer everything to God as an act of love.
It’s actually when we offer things to God that these
things can also be of great and real benefit to others. We have to
rectify our intentions then, and avail of a spiritual plan which would
enable us to be with God always even in our most mundane affairs.
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