Day Twenty-Nine - Charity
Today's Reflection
by Grace Chaffins
The dictionary defines charity as "[Helpfulness] especially toward the needy or suffering." Is this all that is meant by charity? Are we fulfilling our duty toward our neighbor by merely giving a coin to a homeless man every few months? Is being helpful all there is to truly loving others?
This definition completely misses what Christians should mean when they say "charity". While helpfulness and goodwill are good maxims to guide our interactions with others, Christian charity should go even further: treat others as if they were Christ Himself. In short, true charity is loving others as God loves us. Imagine how different the world would be if each of us strove to follow this true definition of charity!
In the pro-life movement, we need to put this Christian charity into practice. Do we treat people on the other end of the debate as brothers and sisters, or as enemies? Do we respond to others with love or with anger? Showing charity towards others is not something that is simple. Rather, it is a lifelong practice of cultivating the ability to respond to others in love.
This Lent, let us try to practice charity. In our daily interactions with others, try to imagine them as Christ and treat them with love and compassion. In doing so, we will not only witness to Christ's love, but to the truth that each human being deserves dignity and respect. And that is the root of the pro-life message.
Prayer for Charity
O my Jesus, You who are very Love,
enkindle in my heart that Divine Fire
which consumes the Saints and transforms them into You.
O Lord our God,
we offer You our hearts
united in the strongest and most sincere love of brotherhood;
we pray that Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament
may be the daily food of our souls and bodies;
that Jesus may be established as the center of our affections,
even as He was for Mary and Joseph.
Finally, O Lord, may sin never disturb our union on earth;
and may we be eternally united in heaven with You
and Mary and Joseph and with all Your Saints.
Amen.
Prayer published by Catholic Online.