Meditation for August 7, Fraternal Charity

An essential characteristic of the teaching of Jesus, our Savior, is that He did not separate the love of God from the love of our neighbor. To claim to love God and then wilfully to harbor bitterness toward our neighbor is an absolute contradiction.

By what sign, our Lord asked, will you be recognized as my disciples? Yes, indeed, by what sign? By the love you have for God? By the purity of your life?

Without doubt something else is required.

Here it is: By this shall all men know that you are my disciples if you have love one for another. The authentic, undeniable mark of Christianity, such as Jesus Christ wished it to be in the world, is love for one another.

How many would-be disciples of our Lord are far from quali­fying!

And I? Is the law of charity the first law of Christianity for me?

"Lord, give me, a religious, the grace to be first and foremost a true Christian, and then a soul who understands and practices real Christ­like charity; grant that I may understand it and practice it, not in the measure of my narrow heart and narrow views, but in the very measure of the Gospel-spirit. I have to learn how to love. Teach it to me."

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Adapted from Meditations for Religious
by Father Raoul Plus, S.J. (© 1939, Frederick Pustet Co.)