A Sermon Preached by Reverend Father James Peek

8 February 1987
Saint Thomas Aquinas Seminary Chapel

Dear Brethren, these last few Sundays now the Church has been presenting to us for our meditation extracts from the Epistles of Saint Paul, extracts touching upon charity, especially fraternal charity. For example, last Sunday we read: "If there be any commandment, it is comprised in this word, Thou shall love thy neighbor as thy self . . . . Love, therefore, is the fulfilling of the Law." And today Saint Paul tells us: ". . . above all things, have charity, which is the bond of perfection."

In this matter, the other Apostles are just as insistent as Saint Paul. Saint Peter recommends: "But before all things, have a constant mutual charity among yourselves." And Saint John dwells upon this point so often: "Dearly beloved, let us love one another, for charity is of God . . . . He that loveth not, knoweth not God, for God is charity."

If the Apostles repeatedly preached this point of fraternal charity, and the Church in their stead, it is surely because Our Divine Lord was the first so to insist: "A new commandment I give unto you: that you love one another, as I have loved you. By this shall all men know that you are My disciples, if you have love one for another." Our Lord Jesus Christ tells us that the love we bear for one another will be the sign of our love for Him, the sign of being one of His disciples.

So of course we must love one another, and what do we mean by that? For these are words that we have heard so very often and, yet, what is their meaning? It is a common tactic—a common practice—for example, of modern Catholics (of Modernists, in general) to say, to preach, using Catholic words but with an entirely new meaning. That is how you will find a Modernist willing to sign his name to any formula of faith, because, by it, he understands something quite different. That is the way it was back in the time of Saint Pius X when he had the Modernists condemned—when he wanted them to sign formulas of recantation. They would sign happily but not change their beliefs. For the words that a Catholic used, they could adapt to their own ends. We see this on no other issue more than on this one of charity—fraternal charity. We hear it preached by the Modernists often: "Charity, charity, charity … love, love, love!" But what do they mean?

We shall try, therefore, to see a little of what is the true notion and then try to weed out some of the false notions.

What is, after all, "love"? What is "love"? It is an act of will whereby we want, we desire, the beloved object. We are then said to "love something" when we want that object. For example, we speak of the "love" of money. We want that thing. We speak of, say, the drunkard who has a "love" for the bottle; indeed, he wants it. These are not very noble "loves" because they are the love of the object to gratify ourselves. It is what we call the "love of concupiscence"; if you like, love in its least noble form—the love, the wanting, the desire of something for our own personal gratification . . . not a very noble love!

A higher form of love is to want the good of the beloved object, that is, when we "love" someone. We want the good of that person whom we love. The drunkard, for example, does not "love" the bottle; he does not want the good of the bottle; he is thinking entirely of his own gratification. That is the love of concupiscence. The love whereby we want the good of another is called the love of friendship. And that is something peculiarly human, between human beings. It is something far more noble, and indeed, reaches its highest level in the Holy Sacrament of Matrimony, whereby the spouses give themselves completely—sacrifice themselves completely—to one another.

It is this love of friendship, indeed, that makes us do good things to our neighbor—that makes us perform "works of charity," that makes us, for example, alleviate the needs of the poor, to give alms. But notice that this love of our neighbor is not yet charity. That is not charity. As Saint Paul tells us, "If I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing." That is not charity. That is love of our neighbor, that is the love of friendship. Charity is something far more noble still. Charity is something which we might say is "out of this world," for charity is a theological virtue. Charity is that virtue whereby we love God; we want God's good; we want His reign in this world; we want His reign in our souls. Charity is first and foremost the love of God, and secondly, as you know, the love of our neighbor for God's sake. That is very important! If the love of our neighbor is going to be charity, it must be the love of our neighbor for God's sake. That means for a supernatural motive; that means we want to draw our neighbor to God—to heaven. And then we are speaking of charity—true charity.

Very often you hear the notion that the only sin is one against charity, and by that, people think the only sin is hurting one's neighbor. We hear this often. Some people, for example, don't want to come to confession . . . "Oh, I don't commit any sins! I don't go outside; I don't talk to anyone; I don't kill anyone; I don't steal; I don't commit adultery . . . I don't commit any sins!" The only sin they can think of is if they have hurt their neighbor in any way. This is the attitude of the modern world.

Recently I was looking at a catechism—a presentation to prepare children for First Holy Communion, and, in its favor, it did mention First Confession—that's already something—but the only sin it could suggest to the little ones was: "Are you a sharing person? Are you caring? Do you play with others?" The only sin it could suggest to them was: "Do you hurt your neighbor?" That is the sum total, if you like, of the sins it presented and the sum total of sins against charity in particular.

That is not so! We who are Catholic know that there are far more ways to go to hell than that! Far more ways, unfortunately! But even this notion of hurting one's neighbor…is it lack of charity to hurt one's neighbor? God Himself tells us. Our Lord Jesus Christ told, for example, Saint John on the island of Patmos when he was writing the Apocalypse that, "Such as I love, I chastise and rebuke." Hurting our neighbor can be charity! Just because we hurt him does not mean we are not being charitable. Our Lord tells us again in the parable of the vine: "I am the True Vine, you are the branches. It is my My Father who is the husbandman." Those branches that bring forth fruit—what does the Father do?—He will prune them; He will purge them so that they bring forth more fruit. He will chastise and rebuke them; He will cut them; He will hurt them, so that they bring forth more fruit. That is the way God acts. That is the way Our Lord Jesus Christ acted here on earth. Hurting someone can be charity. For example, take an example from Our Lord's life when He had predicted to His Apostles the Passion that He was to suffer and die. What did Saint Peter say? "Lord, not for You; You must not do this!" And does Our Lord worry about Saint Peter's feelings when He rebukes him, "Get thee behind Me, Satan, for your thoughts are not the ways of God"? Did He worry about rebuking Saint Peter in public, about hurting his feelings, about lowering his esteem before the Apostles who were witnesses to this scene? Our Lord knew better; He was charitable, yet He reprimanded. Again, how does Our Lord act towards the scribes and pharisees? We know He is charitable, of course! And indeed He tried to draw them to Him by kindness. But when that did not work, He did not mind rebuking them. Read, for example, Chapter XXIII of Saint Matthew's Gospel: "Woe to you scribes and pharisees," He tells them seven times in the one chapter, "Ye hypocrites, ye foolish and blind, ye whited sepulchres, ye vipers, ye generation of serpents, ye sons of the devil." He does not worry about hurting their feelings; He tells them how it is, to draw them to the Father, to make them realize they are wrong, that they are on the wrong path, that they are not the sons of God, the sons of Abraham, the sons of Moses: they are the sons of the devil. And was Our Lord not charitable? We know better: He was Charity Itself! This whole notion of just "hurting our neighbor" is no gauge whether one is charitable or not. For there can be times when one must hurt one's neighbor.

The principle of modern Catholics that "Thou shalt not hurt thy neighbor at any time or ever," has several consequences. As I say, they are Catholic in name but their meaning is changed. "Judge no one; forgive everyone; respect one and all." Each one of these would merit a sermon of its own, but we have only to point out a few distinctions. For example, take that one: "Thou shalt not judge anyone." Of course, that is Catholic. We do not judge; we are not allowed to judge. "Judge not, and you shall not be judged." What does that mean? That means we do not judge the culpability of anyone; we do not know which graces they have received, which they have refused. We do not know whether they merit, and to what degree, the wrath of God. We do not judge them, that is, we do not condemn them. But does that mean that we do not judge them in any way, shape, or form? Of course not! Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself tells us, "Beware of false prophets who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. By their fruits you shall know them." He tells us, "Judge them by their fruits." If their fruits are good, they are of God; if they are bad, they are not. They are wolves! They are wolves in sheep's clothing. And, He says, "Beware of them!" In other words, He is telling us to judge, to distinguish. "By their fruits you shall know them."

And so it is for those other points, which we have not the time to develop here. It all comes back, if you like, to that precept of Our Divine Savior that we are to love one another as He loved us . . . as He loved us! And how did He love us? Our Lord Jesus Christ—God from God, Light from Light, True God from True God—He became Man; He spent thirty-three years on this earth preaching, suffering . . . and what for? To save us from sin. He came to save that which was lost. He came to cast fire on the earth, and what did He want but that it be kindled, inflamed? Our Lord Jesus Christ came to spread the love of God here on earth. He came to destroy sin. He came to draw us to God the Father. And that is charity. Charity for one's neighbor is to draw him to God the Father, to draw him to heaven. And therefore, to correct the sinner, whether that means punishing him or whether that means hurting him, it does not matter! But to correct the sinner, to counsel the doubtful—those who do not know what is true, what is right, what is wrong—to counsel them. May they not sin! To instruct the ignorant, to tell them where is sin and where is good. These are but three examples of what have always been called the spiritual works of mercy, and that is charity. That is charity.

Let us therefore practice charity. For, as you see, it is in the mind of the Church presenting to us for the third Sunday in a row an epistle on charity. It is not only the mind of the Church, it is the mind of the Apostles—all of them—because they heard it in the words of Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

We must be charitable! We must love one another with a true Christian love. That is, we must want to do good to others—supernatural good. We must want to draw others to God; we must want to save souls! We must want therefore the honor of Our Lord Jesus Christ. We must be ready to stand up for Him, to tell others when they are doing wrong, to tell others that that is not the way to heaven—and, then, we are being charitable.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.