The epistle that we just read from St. John, 1 John chapter 4,
he tells us, first of all, that God is charity.
And second of all, how this charity has manifested itself.
And then that we too are called to imitate that charity.
God is charity.
That is, God has a love of benevolence toward all of his creatures, especially man.
That he wills us.
He wills the good, the highest good, which, of course, is himself.
He wills for everyone, himself, that is salvation, heaven.
God desires that all men be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.
This is first and foremost what is meant by God is charity.
And we see how that's true with respect to how that charity of God
is meant by God.
As St. John says,
So he sent his son into the world.
For what reason?
In order to save us, to redeem us from our sins,
and to open the way to heaven, to salvation.
That we may live by God.
That we may live by him.
That we may live by his grace in this world,
and by his glory in the next.
And then he says,
We also must have this charity.
My dearest, if God hath so loved us,
we also ought to love one another.
And so this commandment of fraternal charity
that we are supposed to have for one another
deals first and foremost with the fact that we are not alone.
We are not alone.
We are not alone.
We are not alone.
And foremost with this,
that we have the love of benevolence for our brothers.
That we wish them the highest good.
That we wish first and foremost that everyone be saved.
That they come to the knowledge of the truth and be saved.
That they arrive at heaven along with us.
And I think there are very few people out there
when they hear this commandment,
a fraternal charity,
of fraternal love, that they think first and foremost of salvation,
about desiring salvation for their neighbor.
But instead, they normally think of some type of abstract or generic love,
some type of feeling or sentiment, just a general kindness,
especially a tolerance and a foolish tolerance.
It is a tolerance for error and for sin.
Just live and let live, which, of course, has nothing to do with the charity of God.
So we should ask ourselves, practically speaking, how this charity,
this desire for our neighbor's salvation should express itself, should manifest itself.
First and foremost, we should pray and make sacrifices for our neighbor.
And especially.
Remember, this commandment to love our neighbor extends also to our enemies.
No one is excluded from our charity.
Again, this, too, is an imitation of the charity that we find in God,
that our Lord died in order to save everyone.
And so we, too, must have that charity, that love for everyone.
No one excluded, including our enemies.
And so it's always possible.
It's possible to pray and to make sacrifices as an expression of our desire for the salvation of all.
As Our Lady of Fatima said,
many souls go to hell because there is no one to pray and make sacrifices for them.
So first and foremost, we should pray and make sacrifices.
Second of all, we can prudently admonish the sinner
to bring him back from his sin.
To bring him back from his wayward actions.
I say prudently admonish the sinner because when we make a fraternal correction,
we need to make a judgment and determine whether there's a reasonable hope for a benefit,
you know, a positive benefit.
Because sometimes if we imprudently make a correction,
it will actually drive the sinner further away.
It will cause him to become even more hardened in his heart.
As a result of his own pride.
So we have to be prudent.
Thirdly, we should be good examples to others by ourselves living holy lives.
You know, we should ask ourselves, are we observing the commandments?
Are we fulfilling our duties?
Are we doing the best we can to practice virtue?
Again, this is a way to bring others to salvation.
Amen.
So may we be instruments in bringing others to the truth,
to salvation and to happiness.
In this way, imitate the charity of God.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.