Monday, June 22, 2020

Charity is the fulfillment of the law

YES, that’s what St. Paul said in his Letter to the
Romans. And if we believe that St. Paul was an apostle, a special
vessel Christ chose to preach to the Gentiles, then his words ought to
be believed. The complete passage is as follows:

            “Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing
debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the
law. The commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not
murder,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not covet,’ and whatever
other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: ‘Love
your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore
love is the fulfillment of the law.” (13,8-10)

            With these words, we are made to understand that it is
love or charity that summarizes and fulfills all the laws there
are—those that come directly from God and those that are man-made
which are supposed to reflect God’s laws.

            We just have to understand what this love or charity is,
because we can also have all kinds of charity that may not exactly be
the charity as it should be. We all know that we are notorious in
doing this. Thus, we should first find where we can have the true
essence of charity.

            We know that charity is the very essence of God. St. John,
in his first letter, said it clearly. “God is love.” (4,8) And that
charity was lived and continues to be lived, shown and taught to us by
Christ, who is the fullness of the revelation of God to us.

            Christ himself summarized and perfected all the divine
commandments given to us by revealing to us a new commandment—that we
love one another as he himself has loved us. (cfr. Jn 13,34) The
question to ask is: How has Christ loved us and continues to do so?

            We know that Christ is the Son of God who became man to
save us. He went all the way to assume everything human, except sin,
though he was made like sin, just to adapt himself to us for the sake
of our salvation. (cfr. 2 Cor 5,21)

            He, of course, preached about what is good and evil, what
is right and wrong. But given man’s condition as a free being like God
himself, he did not force us to believe him. If we believe him, it is
because we want to. It should be a free act.

            But given man’s wounded condition and proneness to sin,
Christ was and continues to be most understanding, compassionate,
patient and merciful to all of us, especially those who have fallen
away. This fact was dramatized in the parables of the lost sheep, the
lost coin, and the prodigal son. (cfr. Lk 15)

            And finally, in spite of all that he taught and did,
performing a lot of miracles if only to elicit from us the faith in
God, he consummated everything by offering his life on the cross,
thereby bearing all the sins of men and offering forgiveness and
salvation to everyone, yes, including those who crucified him.

            This is the charity that we are supposed to live among
ourselves. This is the charity that proves that we truly love God.
Yes, it tells us to be always on the right as much as possible, to do
all the good that we can, and to encourage everyone to do the same,
even with some forcefulness.

            But again, given the way we are, with all our weaknesses,
limitations and sins, we cannot insist too much on what is right and
wrong. We just have to be like Christ who showed us how to truly love.
And that is to be understanding, patient, merciful, willing to bear
the sins of the others, etc.!

            It’s up to the others to correspond or not. That was the
attitude of Christ. That should also be our attitude. That is what
truly fulfills the law!

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