At Holy Mass today, we read:
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. (Mark 12:30-31)
Some points on this, from the Catechism…
1. Charity = love God above all things, and love my neighbor as myself, for the love of God.
2. We learn what charity is from Jesus. He showed the divine love by loving His own chosen ones to the end. “Love one another as I have loved you.”
3. We must love our enemies.
4. “Charity is patient and kind, not jealous or boastful, not arrogant or rude. Charity does not insist on its own way. It is not irritable or resentful. It does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Charity bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
5. Charity makes a Christian a child of God. We obey Him not out of fear, or for the sake of some short-term gain, but because we love Him as our Father.
6. Divine love makes us joyful, peaceful, and merciful. Also generous and friendly. And willing to correct others.
Father Mark White Blog 