Judas delivered up Christ out of greed. The Jews delivered up Christ out of envy. Pilate delivered up Christ out of worldly fear for Caesar. Christ delivered Himself up out of Charity. And God the Father delivered up His Son out of Charity.
If man knew how much God loved him, he would respond in kind. In His passion both Christ and God the Father showed how much Charity they had for mankind. But at the same time through the passion, they showed how man should love God in return. And so the death of Christ by crucifixion, being the most convincing manner by which God could prove His love for man is the most fitting way in which Christ worked out the manner by which man can love God in return. He died for us while we were sinners, that He may give us the grace to be His friends.
Seeing what price Christ paid to redeem us should inspire us to abstain from all sin. What should inspire us is not the ugliness of sin but the beauty and attractiveness of Charity. Charity, however, is a Divine Act. A study of theology cannot teach us Charity. It is a gift. So our concentration must be how to be worthy of it. Charity cannot be merited. It is Charity that merits for us.
To reach Charity we must go through Faith and Hope. And Faith is the process by which we die to our natural selves to be able to be raised up by sanctifying grace which in turn will make us capable of receiving the supernatural gift of Charity. “He who loses his life will find it.”
The natural self must die to rise up the spiritual level for there Charity abides. And humility is the process by which we die little by little. In ascetics this is commonly described as “white martyrdom” or acts of mortification.
Should we wonder why, if we asked Christ what we should study, He did not answer “A course in Theology.” He said: “Learn from Me for I am meek and humble of heart.” Meekness and humility are the same. That is what we must learn to become worthy of God’s choicest graces….the greatest of which is Charity. (Painting is “The Betrayal of Christ,” by Caravaggio, 1602.)