The purest water comes not from shaded valleys, but from the deepest bowels of the earth, from where it rises to the top of the mountains and cascades forth in crystalline streams.
So also, true charity comes not from feelings based on natural affections for other human beings, which are transitional and capricious. Rather, true charity comes from the depth of the human heart, then rises up to God, and from there it cascades down the mountain, crystalline and pure, to all creatures.
True charity is free of the “mud” of human affections. It rises straight to God.
Love of God, properly understood, is not limited only to adoration. It also relates to men, God’s creatures.
We learn this from our Faith.
And the direct observation of reality clearly confirms our faith, because true love of neighbor is found only in creatures that have true love for God.
You never saw an atheist, transported by love, kiss the repugnant wounds of a leper, as did St. Francis of Assisi.
And no one has ever managed to run a hospital with the zeal and perfection of the Sisters of Charity by relying on atheist nurses.
True love of neighbor, therefore, can only be understood as a reflection of God's love.
Men are rational animals, endowed with a material and mortal body and an immaterial and immortal soul. The soul is far more important than the body.
A healthy body is nothing more than a terrible prison to the unhappy soul, whose bonds are often broken by suicide.
Consequently, sin, spiritual sickness and unhappiness are a far more serious and terrible burden than physical illness.
Indeed, the body dies and with death all disease ends. But the soul lives on and pays for its sins eternally.
That is why all of Christianity highlights God, Our Lord’s immense desire to save our souls.
It wasn’t to save bodies that the Redeemer came to the world, and that God offered Himself in expiation for the sins of His creatures.
It was not to save bodies that the Church was founded, nor do the Sacraments exist to save bodies.
Souls, souls, always souls are what Jesus wants.
In healing bodies, the main purpose is to save souls.
And, conversely, God often gives people certain serious physical ailments to move them, through suffering, to penance. This means that God makes people sick to save their souls!
Therefore, the most important and special end of the active life and true works of charity is to heal souls, and not only to relieve physical suffering.
If these truths would have been understood, we would have set up a Catholic Social Action long ago. And instead of just talking about today’s appalling moral crisis, we would have given the world an example of character worthy of our past.
But funds for pious associations have been almost exclusively used by hospitals to cure bodies, which is something very commendable, but far noble and less pleasing to God than works that aim to spread Christ's Kingdom.
Let us build or raise up a truly Catholic university or Catholic Social Action instead of building a hospital. And if, on one hand, many bodies would be deprived of health, on the other hand, many souls would not be deprived of faith.
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True Charity by Plinio Correa de Oliveira was translated and slightly adapted by me. ("The Legionnaire", No. 76, March 8, 1931)
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