Mental Prayer Meditation Helps
Presence of God
Grace I Ask : God, teach me to know what charity is and give me the strength to practice it.
The Idea: At the Last Supper, Christ said to His Apostles: "I have a new commandment to give you, that you are to love one another; that your love for one another is to be like the love I have bome you. The mark by which all men will know you for my disciples will be the love you bear one another" John 13:34-35).
This command of Christ was wonderfully carried out in the early Church, as the pagans remarked: "See how the Christians love one another." Today, too, there are many pagans. And they too are watching the followers of Christ to see if the Christians are still loyal to Christ and love one another and all men. In a world where hate is so common and love so needed, they look hopefully to Christians. But a Christian can forget that he should love God above all things as a friend. He can forget that God wants all men to be His friends and that he should treat all men as God's friends. He can forget that love for God is shown in deeds, not mere words. He can allow his life to be ruled by feeling and not by Christ's Golden Rule. He can be uncharitable in his speech. He can be cruel and rude toward his fellowmen who most need his sympathy and help. He can let prejudices rule his attitudes toward those of other races. He can forget that there are people lying wounded on roads today as well as in the time of Christ, though perhaps in a different way. But each time the Christian does one of these acts the pagans of today have reason for saying: "This man must not be a Christian." For even pagans know that the heart of Christianity is love of God and neighbor.
Thought for Today: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart and thy whole soul and thy whole mind. This is the greatest of the Commandments, and the first. And the second, its like, is this: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" (Matt. 22:37-39).
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Adapted from Mental Prayer, Challenge to the Lay Apostle
by The Queen's Work,(© 1958)
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