...Any Christian worth their salt is familiar with the Gospel Verse from the First Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians...
Charity is to be preferred before all gifts.
[1] If I speak with
the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding
brass, or a tinkling cymbal. [2] And if I should have
prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have
all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
[3] And if I should
distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be
burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. [4] Charity is patient, is
kind: charity envieth not, dealeth not perversely; is not puffed up; [5] Is not ambitious,
seeketh not her own, is not provoked to anger, thinketh no evil;
[6] Rejoiceth not in
iniquity, but rejoiceth with the truth; [7] Beareth all things,
believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. [8] Charity never falleth
away: whether prophecies shall be made void, or tongues shall cease, or
knowledge shall be destroyed. [9] For we know in part, and
we prophesy in part. [10] But when that which is
perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away.
1 Corinthians 13:1-10
....now as CHristians we must ask ourselves what is meant by Charity..for many who owing to the Spirit of Nature or fallen humankind have a skewed notion of Charity...some believe Charity to be almsgiving..and so they mistake this gift or this theological virtue which is nothing more than a bond of love with which we wish to possess our neighbour and God in the same bond of friendship...in this way Charity connotes unity of will...
..Thomas Aquiinas tells us what this friendship comprises...
I answer that, According to the Philosopher (Ethic. viii, 2,3) not every love has the character of friendship, but that love which is together with benevolence, when, to wit, we love someone so as to wish good to him. If, however, we do not wish good to what we love, but wish its good for ourselves, (thus we are said to love wine, or a horse, or the like), it is love not of friendship, but of a kind of concupiscence. For it would be absurd to speak of having friendship for wine or for a horse.Yet neither does well-wishing suffice for friendship, for a certain mutual love is requisite, since friendship is between friend and friend: and this well-wishing is founded on some kind of communication.Accordingly, since there is a communication between man and God, inasmuch as He communicates His happiness to us, some kind of friendship must needs be based on this same communication, of which it is written (1 Corinthians 1:9): "God is faithful: by Whom you are called unto the fellowship of His Son." The love which is based on this communication, is charity: wherefore it is evident that charity is the friendship of man for God.
..and so one sees that Charity is based on a friendship of well wishing for another...true we are able to wish well for others without true Charity...and this well wishing if not based in the precepts of the Church is only a friendship based in self-love not in charity...of course God wants us to love ourselves ..however we are not to make our decisions based on self-love exclusively..we are to base our decisions on the precepts of Holy Mother Church..so that our friendships will draw others into the unity of the fold and by so doing all of our respective willing will be willed by ONE...who is God..and so the words of the Our Father will be made real..Thy Kingdom Come Thy WILL Be Done....
..yet at MEDJUGORJE we see a message from the Gospa which tells us that Charity is not important.. so our friendship here is based on selfhood..and not concerned with unity...of course this is a direct contradication of the Gospel and indeed is very troubling....indeed this could be a human error of transcription..where the Gospa stated one thing and through the human filter of the alleged seer we hear something else..however..if it is really the Virgin speaking at Medjugorje one doubts that she would make such a gross error..since CHarity is the life blood of the Church and without it we are lost..so too the Gospa would teach the seers the difference between Charity and ALmsgiving...so we see the Message from July 21, 1982...
"The best fast is on bread and water. Through fasting and prayer one can stop wars, one can suspend the natural laws of nature. Works of charity cannot replace fasting... Everyone except the sick, has to fast." (July 21, 1982)
...of course this message as it stands is dubious and should not be proliferated to the faithful...for we know that the Devil is wont to inspire newly initiated individuals in the way of the Spirit who lack proper guidance...into excessive mortification and excessive fanaticism...and by so doing bring about a ruin of a person's health....we must be balanced..of course not everyone can fast..some people must work hard for their living and they need to eat a balanced diet otherwise they could be killed operating heavy machinery or what have you..it is well known that the brain requires a sufficient quantity of fat in the diet for the proper physiological functioning of memory and cognition....inshort we must eat according to our vocation..and we should follow the proper Church prescribed days for fasting and abstinence...and if our vocation calls for extra-spiritual exercises.such as in a monastic setting then this should be undertaken under the guidance of a wise spiritual director....
.......we must remember Jesus as well said....
[11] Not that
which goeth into the mouth defileth a man: but what cometh out of the mouth,
this defileth a man. [12] Then came his
disciples, and said to him: Dost thou know that the Pharisees, when they heard
this word, were scandalized? [13] But he answering them,
said: Every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.
[14] Let them alone:
they are blind, and leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both
will fall into the pit. [15] And Peter answering,
said to him: Expound to us this parable. -Matthew 15:11-15
.....let us all examine ourselves in a spirit of truth and self-denial..so that we walk in the Spirit of God and not according to the Spirit of Nature or the Spirit of the Devil.....amen
....
1 Corinthians 13:1-10
....now as CHristians we must ask ourselves what is meant by Charity..for many who owing to the Spirit of Nature or fallen humankind have a skewed notion of Charity...some believe Charity to be almsgiving..and so they mistake this gift or this theological virtue which is nothing more than a bond of love with which we wish to possess our neighbour and God in the same bond of friendship...in this way Charity connotes unity of will...
..Thomas Aquiinas tells us what this friendship comprises...
I answer that, According to the Philosopher (Ethic. viii, 2,3) not every love has the character of friendship, but that love which is together with benevolence, when, to wit, we love someone so as to wish good to him. If, however, we do not wish good to what we love, but wish its good for ourselves, (thus we are said to love wine, or a horse, or the like), it is love not of friendship, but of a kind of concupiscence. For it would be absurd to speak of having friendship for wine or for a horse.Yet neither does well-wishing suffice for friendship, for a certain mutual love is requisite, since friendship is between friend and friend: and this well-wishing is founded on some kind of communication.Accordingly, since there is a communication between man and God, inasmuch as He communicates His happiness to us, some kind of friendship must needs be based on this same communication, of which it is written (1 Corinthians 1:9): "God is faithful: by Whom you are called unto the fellowship of His Son." The love which is based on this communication, is charity: wherefore it is evident that charity is the friendship of man for God.
..and so one sees that Charity is based on a friendship of well wishing for another...true we are able to wish well for others without true Charity...and this well wishing if not based in the precepts of the Church is only a friendship based in self-love not in charity...of course God wants us to love ourselves ..however we are not to make our decisions based on self-love exclusively..we are to base our decisions on the precepts of Holy Mother Church..so that our friendships will draw others into the unity of the fold and by so doing all of our respective willing will be willed by ONE...who is God..and so the words of the Our Father will be made real..Thy Kingdom Come Thy WILL Be Done....
..yet at MEDJUGORJE we see a message from the Gospa which tells us that Charity is not important.. so our friendship here is based on selfhood..and not concerned with unity...of course this is a direct contradication of the Gospel and indeed is very troubling....indeed this could be a human error of transcription..where the Gospa stated one thing and through the human filter of the alleged seer we hear something else..however..if it is really the Virgin speaking at Medjugorje one doubts that she would make such a gross error..since CHarity is the life blood of the Church and without it we are lost..so too the Gospa would teach the seers the difference between Charity and ALmsgiving...so we see the Message from July 21, 1982...
"The best fast is on bread and water. Through fasting and prayer one can stop wars, one can suspend the natural laws of nature. Works of charity cannot replace fasting... Everyone except the sick, has to fast." (July 21, 1982)
...of course this message as it stands is dubious and should not be proliferated to the faithful...for we know that the Devil is wont to inspire newly initiated individuals in the way of the Spirit who lack proper guidance...into excessive mortification and excessive fanaticism...and by so doing bring about a ruin of a person's health....we must be balanced..of course not everyone can fast..some people must work hard for their living and they need to eat a balanced diet otherwise they could be killed operating heavy machinery or what have you..it is well known that the brain requires a sufficient quantity of fat in the diet for the proper physiological functioning of memory and cognition....inshort we must eat according to our vocation..and we should follow the proper Church prescribed days for fasting and abstinence...and if our vocation calls for extra-spiritual exercises.such as in a monastic setting then this should be undertaken under the guidance of a wise spiritual director....
.......we must remember Jesus as well said....
[11] Not that which goeth into: No uncleanness in
meat, nor any dirt contracted by eating it with unwashed hands, can defile the
soul: but sin alone; or a disobedience of the heart to the ordinance and will of
God. And thus when Adam took the forbidden fruit, it was not the apple, which
entered into the mouth, but the disobedience to the law of God which defiled
him. The same is to be said if a Jew, in the time of the old law, had eaten
swine's flesh; or a Christian convert, in the days of the apostles, contrary to
their ordinance, had eaten blood; or if any of the faithful at present should
transgress the ordinance of God's church, by breaking the fasts: for in all
these cases the soul would be defiled; not indeed by that which goeth into the
mouth; but by the disobedience of the heart, in wilfully transgressing the
ordinance of God, or of those who have their authority from him
.....let us all examine ourselves in a spirit of truth and self-denial..so that we walk in the Spirit of God and not according to the Spirit of Nature or the Spirit of the Devil.....amen
....
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