406. Twenty-seventh Monday of Ordinary Time
Meditations no. 362 (unofficial computer-aided translation)
Charity embraces everyone, in the right order.
About halfway between Jerusalem and Jericho, just beyond the mountains, some robbers came upon a defenceless man who was easy prey. They stripped him and beat him, and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him he passed by on the other side.
Soon afterwards, a Levite passed by; and hearing the cries for help, he drew near. The wounded man looked near death, but the Levite likewise ⌠passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was; and when he saw him, he had compassion. The Samaritan didnât placate his conscience with the thought that he owed the wounded man nothing. Rather, he saw himself as indebted to the stranger.
I cannot love the devil, our Father said, but I love all those who are not the devil, everyone without exception. I donât see myself as anyoneâs enemy. Iâm opposed only to the ideas that oppose the faith and morals of Jesus Christ. But we need to understand those who hold these ideas and pray for them.
Christ taught us to love those who do us harm, to wish everyone well, to understand even those who fail to understand us. What kind of love are we talking about? Sacred Scripture uses the Latin word dilectio, to make us understand clearly that it does not simply mean the feeling of affection. It signifies, rather, a firm determination on the part of the will. Dilectio comes from electio, choice. I would add that, for Christians, loving means âwanting to loveâ, making up oneâs mind in Christ to work for the good of souls, without discrimination of any kind; trying to obtain for them, before any other, the greatest good of all, that of knowing Christ and falling in love with him.
Our Lord spurs us on: âDo good to those who hate you, pray for those who persecute and insult you.â We might not feel humanly attracted to those who would reject us were we to approach them. But Jesus insists: we must not return evil for evil; we must not waste any opportunities we have of serving them wholeheartedly, even if we find it difficult to do so: we must never cease keeping them in mind in our prayers.
Our charity should be universal and self-sacrificing like the good Samaritanâs, who did all he could without asking himself who it was he was helping. We too should love in this way, without discrimination of any kind, which would imply small-heartedness. Our Father helped us with his continual example here. I welcome everyone, he said. I keep my heart and the doors of our houses always open to everyone, for I couldnât commit the injustice of depriving a single soul of Christâs charity.
Charity expands our hearts so as to make room for all: dilatasti cor meum, sings the Psalm: you have enlarged my heart. Charity is a supernatural gift, a work of God, that transcends every human difference. Our Father said: Per Iesum Christum Dominum nostrum. You have to do things for Christ. Itâs good for you to have a human heart, but if you do things only for such-and-such a person, thatâs bad! Though you also do it for that person, do it above all for Christ.
We see in others souls which have to be saved.
Charity always, towards everyone. While we canât treat error the same way as truth, we need to be particularly understanding towards those who are in error, while all the time respecting the right order of the Christian virtue of charity.
Never be violent. I donât understand violence, it doesnât seem the right way to convince or overcome anybody: a soul who receives the faith always feels victorious. Error is overcome by prayer, by the grace of God, by reasoned argument, by studying and getting others to study, and, I repeat, by charity.
So if ever anyone tries to ill-treat those who are mistaken, be certain that I will feel interiorly compelled to go and stand beside them and share their lot for the love of God.
The Samaritan rose above his peopleâs age-old rancours and rivalries. He saw in the man on the roadside, not an enemy of his race, but a brother in need. Our Father said: there is no one so âbadâ in the world - I donât like to speak about âbad peopleâ and âgood peopleâ: I donât divide men up into good and bad - there are no people so evil-minded and wretched that they havenât done something virtuous in their life. If they are not better, we are partly to blame. Often their errors, our Father wrote, are the result of being badly taught. In not a few cases, these poor people had no one to teach them the truth. I think that on judgement day many souls will answer God like the paralytic beside the pool: Hominem non habeo,â I had no one to help me. Or as those labourers who werenât working answered the owner of the vineyard: Nemo nos conduxit, no one hired us; no one has asked us to work.
Though their errors may be blameworthy and their persistence in evil deliberate, at the heart of their lamentable state lies a profound ignorance which God alone can measure. Remember Christâs cry on the Cross, finding excuses for those putting him to death: Pater, dimitte illis: non enim sciunt quid faciunt; Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Let us follow Christâs example and never reject anyone. To save one soul we should go as far as the very gates of hell. But not further, for beyond them one cannot love God.
St Gregory, commenting on that same verse -âFather, forgive them, for they know not what they doâ - tells us: Here we have a decisive test for our charity: loving someone who is opposed to us. When Truth himself endured the Cross, he showed love toward those persecuting him ⌠And he tells us what is the height of love: âGreater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.â Our Lord came to die for his enemies as well. Nevertheless, he said he had to lay down his life for his friends. Thus he taught us that by loving our enemies, we can win them over and make our very persecutors into friends.
We have to take the initiative in understanding others, following Christâs example, as did our Father: I cannot be uncharitable toward anyone, he told us, because if it seems someone does not deserve charity, neither do I. I donât deserve to be a Christian, a priest, or a son of God in his Work. Do you understand? I canât treat anyone harshly. I have to be understanding toward everyone, as long as this compassion doesnât harm souls, the Work or the Church.
Fruits of this charity.
He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. What canât the oil and wine of charity achieve? The man was bloodied and covered with wounds. One could feel repugnance on approaching him. But charity transforms everything: it makes any wound clean and noble. I donât think anyone is bad, our Father stressed. What happens is that some, out of pride or human respect, react badly if you talk to them in front of others. But if you reach their heart, if you treat them with affection and understanding, they can change.
To attract those in error to the right path: justice is not enough. If justice is done and no more, people may feel hurt. Justice has to be accompanied by charity, because charity sweetens everything: Deus caritas est (God is love). We must always act out of love for God. Then it is easy to love our neighbour, and our human love is purified and cleansed. When God is included, everything becomes supernatural.
In the apostolate of spreading doctrine, we should teach charitably. We always try to tell the truth without offending those in error. What affection Jesus showed the Samaritans! Yet he told them: salvation is from the Jews. Our Founder taught us to help others in such a way that you donât humiliate. May those who receive your help hardly even realize it, because your charity is superabundant. He told us to prevent a misguided zeal from jeopardizing the holiness of your intransigence. You need to be like a steel mallet, powerful and firm, but wrapped in a padded cloth, so as not to wound.
Genuine charity, the affection that prudence will teach you to practise, will lead you to say things with discernment, at the right moment and in the right way. It will make you sensitive to your neighbourâs needs and circumstances.
Our way is one of love. God wants us on all the divine pathways of the earth, sowing understanding, forgiveness, fellowship, charity and peace: in hoc pulcherrimo caritatis bello, in this most beautiful war of charity. This way of acting is not, our Founder wrote, just good or advisable. Itâs much more: itâs an imperative command of Christ, the mandatum novum that I speak to you about so much. It obliges us to love all souls, to understand their circumstances, to forgive, if theyâve done something that needs to be forgiven. Our charity should be such that it cloaks over all the shortcomings of human weakness, veritatem facientes in caritate, (speaking the truth in love): showing love for those in error, but never compromising in matters of faith.
A love such as this brings rich supernatural and human fruit: a charity that knows no exception of persons or distinction of race, that forgives and forgets and is open to everyone. Arenât you glad God wanted this spirit for our supernatural enterprise, a spirit that imbues the Gospels but seems so forgotten today? Thank Jesus for it, thank our Lady. And renew your desires to co-redeem and be apostolic. What a great work awaits us! For he who began the Work in us will bring it to completion.