The Absence of Charity

What happens when you encounter someone who appears absent from virtue? A central premise of this question focuses on how we treat one another with respect and whether we recognize the dignity in one another, made in the image and likeness of God. Within every human being, there exists a body and a soul that, because of their development, will require nourishment, instruction, witness, and confirmation of how one is to live and behave in accord with the will of God. An important facet of the human condition is the spiritual development and disposition of the person to act and be drawn to engage in good holy acts. This process affects both the person and those around them because all human discourse involves an engagement of others and not just the self.

The Catechism identifies the disposition toward good acts or behaviors as a virtue. A virtue is a habitual and firm disposition to do the good. It allows the person not only to perform good acts, but to give the best of himself. The virtuous person tends toward the good with all his sensory and spiritual powers; he pursues the good and chooses it in concrete actions (CCC 1803). St. Gregory of Nyssa affirms this point when he proclaims that the goal of a virtuous life is to become like God (CCC 1803). It appears that the authors of the Catechism of the Catholic Church knew the importance and gravity of associating a life of virtue with becoming like God.

Interestingly, the prologue of the Catechism of the Catholic Church says that above all else, the virtue of Charity must prevail. It cites the Roman Catechism, revealing the intimate, unbreakable relationship between doctrinal teaching and charity (CCC 25). Hence, charity is recognized as the form of all the virtues (CCC 2346). If all doctrinal teaching is to be led by the virtue of charity, then what of the exercise and practice of the kerygma, evangelization, and catechesis? St. John Paul II, in his Apostolic Exhortation, Catechesi Tradendae, tells us that catechesis must reveal in all clarity the joy and demands of the way of Christ (22). Thus, the nature of any virtue is to bring out the goodness in a person or help a person develop a disposition toward the good (CCC 1697).

The premise of any virtue, whether moral or human, theological or cardinal, is directed toward our orientation to God and thus our relationship with him and our fellow man. Our human nature, if placed under the order of the moral virtues of prudence, temperance, fortitude, and justice, allows us to direct our senses to right reason and judgment, seeking the good in all things while avoiding all that is bad and unholy. The perfection of our intellect and will is crucial in the development and strengthening of a virtuous life. One would hope that all of us would conduct ourselves with a proper moral frame of mind in accord with reason and faith. In particular, the virtue of prudence serves as the anchor of the human virtues because it disposes us to practical reason to discern the true good in every circumstance and to choose the right means of achieving it; it is right reason in action (CCC 1806).

If the exercise of virtue is so important in our relationship with God and one another, why would someone become absent from virtue, especially the virtue of charity? At what point was a decision made to remove oneself from a life of truth, beauty, and goodness? Why would the virtue of Charity (love) no longer be viewed through the lens of Jesus Christ? One possible explanation is the spiritual and emotional fatigue involved in living a virtuous life. The thought here is that the person has an expectation to receive something in return for exercising charity, meaning, what is the return on their spiritual investment? Still, others may find the antithesis of living a virtuous life more appealing; this is called sin.

Whatever the reason may be, when one chooses to live a life of vice over virtue, the virtue of Charity is negatively affected the most because instead of loving God and neighbor, the person in question has chosen to love himself above all else. The view and understanding of Charity as a virtue has now been redefined to focus on oneself instead of God and neighbor. The Catechism reminds us that every time we sin, it weakens charity; it manifests a disordered affection, impedes the soul's progress in the exercise of virtues and the practice of the moral good (CCC 1863). The absence of the virtue of charity places us against God and His love for us. It constructs a Machiavellian view of the world where the human person is at the service of your every whim. The need to manipulate, lie, cheat, and steal becomes your right to achieve personal happiness. I don’t believe this is what God intended, but unfortunately, it is what we chose when presented with something supposedly greater than God’s love. In his sermon on the immortality of the soul, St. John Henry Newman provides some perspective on the necessity of living a virtuous life,

Oh that there were such a heart in us, to put aside this visible world, to desire to look at it as a mere screen between us and God, and to think of Him who has entered in beyond the veil, and who is watching us, trying us, yes, and blessing, and influencing, and encouraging us towards good, day by day! Yet, alas, how do we suffer the mere varying circumstances of every day to sway us! How difficult it is to remain firm and in one mind under the seductions or terrors of the world! We feel variously according to the place, time, and people we are with. We are serious on Sunday, and we sin deliberately on Monday. We rise in the morning with remorse at our offences and resolutions of amendment, yet before night we have transgressed again. The mere change of society puts us into a new frame of mind; nor do we sufficiently understand this great weakness of ours, or seek for strength where alone it can be found, in the Unchangeable God. What will be our thoughts in that day, when at length this outward world drops away altogether, and we find ourselves where we ever have been, in His presence, with Christ standing at His right hand!

St. John Henry Newman,

 "The Immortality of the Soul" in his

Plain and Parochial Sermons, volume one