Salesian Literature

Chapter 4  :  Charity is lost in an instant

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The love of God, which leads to self- contempt, makes us citizens of heaven; self-love, which incites us to contempt for God, makes us the slaves of hell.

 

Only gradually do we become bored with God’ let this happen, however, and charity instantly parts company with us; or rather, it is utterly lost.  Contempt for God is the essence of mortal sin, and a single mortal sin shows charity the door; it breaks the link uniting the soul with God – obedience, submission to his will.

 

Life leaves the body instantaneously, not little by little, once the body is too weak to perform its vital functions; charity too leaves the soul instantly the passions reach such a state of rebellion that it can be queen no longer.  There is a nobility about charity, which makes it impossible for it to exist unless it reigns supreme.

 

Habits built up by purely human acts are not destroyed by one single opposite act.  One act of intemperance does not brand a man as intemperate; nor does one failure belie an artist’s skill.  Habits are developed by the repeated determination of many acts; so we lose them, either by long disuse, or by a large number of contrary acts.

 

Charity, however, which the Holy Spirit pours out in our hearts the very instant we are disposed to receive it (cf. Rom. 5:5), is instantly torn from our grasp the moment we divert our wills from the obedience which we owe to God, the moment we give our consent to the revolt, the treachery, to which temptation incites us.

 

Charity increases gradually, it is true; it grows ever more perfect, the more our good works or the sacraments dispose us to receive it.  Not so with its decrease; no gradual falling off in perfection – if we lose any part of it, we lose it all.

 

The Holy Spirit increases his gift of charity step by step until the soul’s love becomes more and more perfect; but the essence of charity – the determination to put God’s will before anything else – must always remain intact.  It is the image of eternal love, of the Holy Spirit; remove only a fragment, and all at once charity crumbles utterly.

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