Charity, a very common word used today, is in truth a contemplative-mystical experience. It is a peek into the great mystery of God by our intellect and the consequent falling in love with the mystery that the soul has beheld for a brief moment. It is knowing God the way God knows Himself and loving God the way God loves Himself.This experience takes place in the secret recesses of the soul. It is a meeting between God and soul where God calls all the shots and wherein we need to be raised up to a certain level of divinity to be able to encounter divinity. Charity, a theological virtue that goes with Faith and Hope, is a pure act of grace meant for all, though not all receive it. It is an infused grace.
The charity shown by St. Vincent de Paul and Mother Teresa were over-flows from their contemplative-mystical prayer life. There is a world of difference between their work and the work of the United Nations. Sadly, many Catholic apostolates nowadays look more like the work of the United Nations than the work of Mother Teresa. The work of St. Vincent de Paul was a light. Not the United Nations’.
Since Charity is a state of contemplative prayer, it can only be achieved through prayer….by raising our hearts and minds to God ….. not by pulling God down to our level.
Charity, however, has different degrees for us creatures. There is one for beginners, one for the proficient and one for the mature. When one has reached that degree of the mature — or Perfect Charity — there will be NO end in this growth.
For us to be saved, it is sufficient to have the beginnings of the virtue of Charity that usually comes along with faith. But with mortal sin this Charity could disappear though faith could be maintained, unless we, too, commit the sin of infidelity, in which case we lose the faith also. This level of Charity or love of God that goes along with faith is commonly referred to as the state of sanctifying grace. To this, God gives us a certain degree of infused knowledge…knowledge better than most seminarians can acquire in the seminary. Of course we must progress higher from faith to hope wherewith the Holy Spirit gives us understanding of Christ’s teachings better than what most priests have. And then — some degree of perfection of charity, to which wisdom is given, and which Popes, like our present beloved Pope Benedict XVI, seem to have reached.
Sin and Perfect Charity cannot exist together. So the presence of faith plus some degree of charity is only possible in one without any mortal sin. Hope plus some degree of charity can only exist in one without deliberate venial sin. And Perfect Charity can only exist in one without any sin because by that time the soul is completely ruled by the Theological virtues, the moral virtues and gifts of the Holy Spirit. The soul completely belongs to God. So how can it sin? Free will? Well, by that time how can they ever choose sin? By that time sin is so detestable and the heinousness of sin is so evident that even its shadow cannot cross their minds.
Charity is a much superior experience of God than the vision of God that Adam and Eve and the bad angels had before their fall. Pope Benedict has reminded us of the invitation to the wedding banquet and of the required attire : a wedding garment . . . . Charity?