The Epistle read on the Tenth Sunday after Pentecost is taken from St. Paul’s
first letter to the Corinthians, Chapter 12. St. Paul writes about how the Holy
Spirit gives different gifts to different members of the Church, and how all the
gifts come from the same Spirit. He also writes that each of us is given different
ministries to serve the Church, and how all ministries are all from the same
Lord.
Gifts and ministries are distributed by
God’s Holy Spirit to each according to the will of God, and always for the good
of all.
Later in the same letter to the Corinthians, in Chapter 13 St. Paul makes
it clear that no gifts or ministries are worth anything without charity.
The meaning of the word charity has
changed over time. It simply means love. St. Paul says, “Charity is patient,
is kind: it does not envy, it dealeth not perversely.”
What does it mean to not
deal perversely? It means to avoid such
faults as telling lies, speaking badly about others, speaking angrily, making
fun of others, using cutting words, or mulling over resentments in our hearts.
St. Paul goes on to write that charity is
not puffed up, which means it is not proud or touchy about real or imagined insults.
“Charity is not ambitious, and
seeketh not her own,” —which means that love is not always trying to get its
own way.
“Charity is not provoked to anger,
thinketh no evil. It believes all things, hopes all things. Charity never dies.”
Charity must be always the central virtue
of a Catholic.
Three of the Gospels tell of the time a
sinful woman anointed Jesus. Jesus says in her defense, “Many sins are forgiven
her because she hath loved much.” This makes it clear that charity has the power
to remit many sins and restore a sinner’s friendship with God.
But we very often find it difficult to
fulfill the precept of universal charity because our love for our neighbor is
often very self-centered and very self-seeking. We are loving only to those who
please us and make us happy.
English philosopher John Stuart Mill
(1806-1873) argued that we never value anything unless we associate it in some
way with pleasure or happiness. So, we value beauty because it gives us pleasure.
We value knowledge because, usually, it is useful to us in coping with the world,
and hence is linked to happiness. We value love and friendship because they are
sources of pleasure and happiness.
Followers of Christ must practice a more
universal charity that includes love for others who are not sources of pleasure
and happiness.
For example, if our neighbor likes and
respects us, shows consideration for us, and lends us his services, we find no
difficulty in loving him. But it is harder if our neighbor is hostile toward us
or does not get along with us.
In the gospel of St. Luke Chapter 6, verse 32, Jesus
said “. . . if
you love them that love you, what thanks are to you? For sinners also love
those that love them. And if you do good to
them who do good to you, what thanks are to you? For sinners also do this.”
Jesus went on to say, “ Love your enemies . . . “and your reward shall be great, and you shall be the
sons of the Highest. For he is kind to the unthankful and to the evil. Be ye therefore merciful,
as your Father also is merciful.”
To love our neighbor as God wants us to
do, we must overcome our egocentric point of view, our personal selfish view.
Remember that Jesus also said that at the
last judgement we will be judged by what we have done to Him, because whatever
we do to the least of his brothers—no matter how unimportant that person is in our eyes--we do to Him.
We have to realize that when we love
others even if we have no use for them and even if they do not please us, we
are loving God. And without love of God in the person of our neighbor, we will
not be saved.
(Adapted from a homily delivered by Canon Raphael Ueda on the Tenth Sunday after Pentecost, August 18, 2019, at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Oratory at the Five Wounds Portuguese National Church in San José, CA)
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