In the thirteenth chapter of the first letter he wrote to the Corinthians St. Paul gives them these weighty warnings. He now goes on to sing the praises of this virtue, telling us how to discover if our love of our neighbour bears the stamp of the divine approval. In my prayer I can only make a choice of the qualities he enumerates; there are sixteen in all.
True love of the neighbour is ready to suffer and suffer much for the sake of the person loved. Counterfeit love will express itself in selfindulgence, in seeking to satisfy its own selfish cravings under guise of heaping signs of affection on another. But true love feeds on selfsacrifice. It is like the love of Jesus Christ, which proves itself most of all on Calvary. The more human love approximates to the divine, the truer it will ring.
That is why the saints are the greatest lovers of all. They seek nothing for themselves; the one yearning they have is to help others, and in this way to prove their love of God. If the recipient of their favours show himself basely ungrateful, they keep on doing him good just the same, without allowing any rancour into their hearts, without permitting a word of complaint even to themselves.
True love does not consider any task beneath it. The love of Christ, upon which it is modeled, did not disdain to mix with sinners and women of evil repute; did not hesitate to kneel and wash the feet of the apostles. In every human being Christ is discovered by those who have eyes to see; that is why tasks that are considered menial are done with joy and eagerness. St. Peter Claver would hasten to the ship that was bringing in its cargo of slaves. He would wait on these poor outcasts with the love of a mother, washing their wounds, removing the filth from their poor bodies, giving them food and drink, and persevering at this selfimposed task for over forty years. He signed himself "Peter, slave of the slaves until death."
Charity abhors talebearing and gossip and believes evil of another only with great reluctance and only when the belief is forced upon it. So far from gloating over the discovery, so far from ferreting out the scandal and spreading it, love is pained to hear of it, tries all it can to keep it hidden, seeks every means of giving help to reinstate the offender. Charity always inclines towards the kindly interpretation of what seems evildoing. Charity "hopeth all things," will never give up the hope that the neighbour will reform and make a good end. No insults will make it alter; no punishments will sour it; it comes up every time, always ready to begin again, always prepared to excuse and forget.
Charity is concerned only with what promotes the glory and the knowledge and the love of God. That is why it is a stranger to all feelings of jealousy lest another should outshine itself. Some people preach, writes St. Paul, "out of envy and contention, but some also for good will ... But what then? So that by all means whether by occasion or by truth Christ be preached, in this also I rejoice, yea, and will rejoice." Charity is singlevisioned; it longs to see Christ known and loved, and is happy when that object is furthered by whatsoever lawful means; more, it is glad when evil itself is utilized to promote God's glory.
Counterfeit charity likes to make a show of ostentation when it gives. If it gives, it takes care to make the person who receives aware of its largesse so as to receive as much itself again. If it does a kind deed, it is pompous in its doing and determined that the recipient will realize its magnanimity, will understand well what a compliment is being bestowed. True charity has no time for all such ceremonial. It regards itself honoured to be asked and is always ready to do and is hurt if circumstances beyond its control make a refusal inevitable.
What a paradise on earth we would have if all men, if even all Catholics, strove consistently to observe this great commandment perfectly! It is in my power to bring at least a few bricks to the building that must be raised, but I shall contribute my share only in the measure in which I realize the fundamental principle at the root of all the apostle's sublime teaching. That principle is given in Our Lord's own words: "As long as you did it to one of these, My least brethren, you did it to Me."
I shall meet You today, Lord, in the street, in the office, in the playing field, in my own family. Wherever I look I shall see You; whatever I do to another I do to You; my words, if harsh and impatient, are spoken to You; if I am patient, I am showing my patience to You. You sit beside me in the bus; You stand beside me in the queue; You rub shoulders with me in the street. Can Your great commandment, then, be so difficult of observance?