Charity

[Shin]

Q. What is Charity?
A. Charity is a supernatural virtue, infused into our soul by God, by which we love God above all for His own sake, and our neighbour as ourselves for the love of God.

Q. Why should we love God?
A. We should love God because He is the Supreme Good, infinitely good and perfect; and also, because He commands us to do so, and because of the many benefits we receive from Him.

Q. How are we to love God?
A. We are to love God above all things else, with our whole heart, with our whole mind, with our whole soul, and with all our strength.

Q. What is meant by loving God above all other things?
A. To love God above all other things means to prefer Him to all creatures, even the dearest and most perfect, and to be willing to lose everything rather than offend Him or cease to love Him.

Q. What is meant by loving God with our whole heart?
A. To love God with our whole heart means consecrating all our affections to Him.

Q. What is meant by loving God with our whole mind?
A. To love God with our whole mind means directing all our thoughts to Him.

Q. What is meant by loving God with our whole soul?
A. To love God with our whole soul means consecrating to Him the use of all the powers of our soul.

Q. What is meant by loving God with all our strength?
A. To love God with all our strength means striving to grow ever more and more in His love, and so to act that all our actions should have as their one motive and end the love of Him and the desire of pleasing Him.

- Catechism of St. Pius X