[thoughts on charity]
"By
willing to become man, God clearly displayed the immensity of His love
for men, so that henceforth men might serve God, no longer out of fear
of death, which the first man had scorned, but out of the love of
charity." -Thomas Aquinas.
"Let words that inflate vanity and wound charity be banished." -St Gregory.
Over the past two weeks, I kept coming across this word, charity. Perhaps I'm alone in this, but I think that many of us have forgotten, or simply never known the first meaning of the word. I've always thought of charity as a gift of material goods to those in need. But another, possibly older, meaning is this: Charity is a virtue, and that virtue is to have an abundance of love, first for God and second for your neighbor. This is a really good meaning, and it should be used more often today. I had to read materials from hundreds of years ago to find this meaning. Both these quotes, by the way, aside from the fact that they use that word, are amazing in their own right. Take a little time to ponder them.
And this leads to a really nice little wrap up/play on words. Let us all be blessed with charity from God.
Shaina
"Let words that inflate vanity and wound charity be banished." -St Gregory.
Over the past two weeks, I kept coming across this word, charity. Perhaps I'm alone in this, but I think that many of us have forgotten, or simply never known the first meaning of the word. I've always thought of charity as a gift of material goods to those in need. But another, possibly older, meaning is this: Charity is a virtue, and that virtue is to have an abundance of love, first for God and second for your neighbor. This is a really good meaning, and it should be used more often today. I had to read materials from hundreds of years ago to find this meaning. Both these quotes, by the way, aside from the fact that they use that word, are amazing in their own right. Take a little time to ponder them.
And this leads to a really nice little wrap up/play on words. Let us all be blessed with charity from God.
Shaina
Comments
Post a Comment