AN ACT OF LOVE

O my God! I love Thee above all things, with my whole heart and soul
because Thou art all-good and worthy of all love. I love my neighbor as
myself for the love of Thee. I forgive all who have injured me, and ask
pardon of all whom I have injured.

The substance of this act is: I love God above all things for His own
goodness, and my neighbor as myself for the sake of God. An act of love
and an act of charity are the same thing with different names. We are
accustomed to call such things as the giving of alms or help to the
poor, the doing of some good work that we are not bound to do for
another, charity. Surely there are many motives that may induce persons
to help others in their distress; but what is the chief Christian
motive, if it be not the love we bear our brother-man because he is,
like ourselves, a child of God, and the desire we have to obey God, who
wishes us to help the needy? The sufferings of others excite our pity,
and the more we love them the more sorry are we to see them suffer.
Thanks to God for all His mercies to us; He might have made us, instead
of this man, poor and in suffering, but He has spared us and afflicted
him; we know not why God has done so, and therefore we help him, moved
by these considerations even when we feel he is not deserving of the
help, because we know his unworthiness will not prevent God from
rewarding our good intention. We may be charitable to our neighbor by
saying nothing hurtful about him, by never telling his faults without
necessity, etc. Therefore real charity, in its widest sense, and love
are just the same.