Part 3
(CHARITY — COURAGE — COURTESY)
God is love.
In three
brief words, St. John summarized a lifetime of pondering what
he had seen and
heard during the three years he lived with the Incarnate Son of God.
God
is love
—
but not just
any kind of love. St. Jerome highlighted this distinction whe
translating St.
John's words from Greek into Latin..
Deus caritas
est. God
is CHARITY —precious love, costly love,
selfless love, infinitely giving love.
If
CHARITY is a virtue so great that many theologians consider
it THE virtue, how can we count it
among the "little" virtues? Because charity, like God, has a way of
making itself small. Charity
"fits" itself into every situation. It ennobles and enhances and
elevates even the
smallest human action. It complements and completes every human
virtue. When charity "teams up" with any other virtue, great
things happen.
COURAGE
without charity, for example, can run the risk of being little more
than bravado or recklessness.
Charity anchors courage in the greater good, the greater giving,
helping us not only to
face
danger and difficulty without
fear, but also to endure them
with, in and for Christ. Without
charity, COURTESY can disintegrate into superficial
politeness, mere flattery
or even facetiousness. Twinned with charity, courtesy becomes a
reflection of the divine
consideration which surrounds and accompanies all of creation.
Jesus,
God-in-the-flesh, was a Man of COURAGE, Even His enemies
acknowledged
His courage in
the face of opposition, misunderstanding and ill treatment. Jesus
went
bravely forward to His Passion and death because He
loved
the Father. Not
even death
itself could
deflect Him from obediently fulfilling the will of His Father for
the salvation of the world.
Jesus,
God-in-the-flesh, was likewise a Man of exquisite COURTESY.
Our Lord was
such a
gentleman!
a priest once
exclaimed, pointing out some of the Gospel passage
where Jesus'
courtesy shines forth, The rudeness, coarseness and even cruelty of
His opponents never dampened our Lord's celestial civility, all the
more amazing because it
was the
response of One who was the Creator and Savior of the fallen
creatures who were insulting Him.
It can take a great deal of courage to be courteous. We think of that pivotal moment in the conversion of St, Francis when he met the leper. It was courage permeated by charity which enabled the future saint to leap the chasm of human repugnance, and not merely to toss a coin into the leper's outstretched hand, but to embrace and kiss the deformed man before him.There are also times when courage must be tempered with courtesy. The meeting of St, Francis with the Sultan is a good example. No doubt the Sultan was impressed by Francis' courage in coming to meet him. But what opened his heart to listen to his message was the courtesy which informed the saint's proclamation of Christ. While the Sultan did not convert, it is probably safe to say that he never forgot what Francis had expounded to him with such engaging zeal. For, under-girding Francis' courteous and courageous proclamation of Christ was Francis' Christ-like love for the Sultan, a man, like himself, made in God's image and redeemed by Christ's Blood.CHARITY — COURAGE — COURTESY These three Cs can transform us into true mirrors of CHRIST, Himself the source and exemplar of redeeming love, saving courage and that delicate grace of God which is courtesy.