The Charity of Quinquagesmia

Fr. Scott A. Haynes

Septuagesmia Sunday unlined the virtue of faith; Sexagesmia focused on hope, and Quinquagesmia Sunday emphasizes charity. As we have been preparing for Lent these three weeks, St. Paul reminds us,

“And now there remain faith, hope, and charity, these three: but the greatest of these is charity.”

In other words our Lenten austerities, our fasting, abstinence, sacrifices, almsgiving, and prayers amount to nothing if we fail to intensify our love of God and neighbor. As St. Paul puts it,

“If I deliver my body to be burned, yet have not charity, it profits me nothing.”

Godly love, sacrificial love, Christ-like love seeks the good of neighbor without counting the cost. When your neighbor is irksome and difficult it is a real challenge to show charity to him. But this is our Christian vocation—a divine vocation to imitate the charity of our Lord who is generous in mercy and who forgives the sins, faults, and faux pas of others quickly.

The forty days of Lent are a pilgrimage in which we follow Christ through the desert, into Jerusalem and to Calvary’s mountain. Lent is a pilgrimage of charity because on the Cross love of Christ conquers even death. Lent is the clarion call for you and me to embrace the charity of Christ, because without charity, we are nothing.

The charity of Christ is “patient and kind”; it teaches our hearts about His love which redeems and sanctifies. Our Lord’s charity challenges us to change our usual human behavior and to act out of charity in our relationships with one another. St. Paul teaches us,

“And you should not repay a person evil for evil, neither insults for insults; but to the contrary of these things, give blessings, for you are called to this, that you would inherit blessing.”

In the Gospel today Our Lord says,

“Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things that have been written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be accomplished. For He will be delivered to the Gentiles, and will be mocked and scourged and spit upon; and after they have scourged Him, they will put Him to death; and on the third day He will rise again.”

This is Jesus' invitation to us to take up the cross He has fashioned for each one of us, and to follow him through the desert, into Jerusalem, to Calvary. And along the way we will learn the lessons of Jesus love. But, dear friends of the Cross, Jesus’ pilgrimage does not end in death. For St Paul proclaims that,

“Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

Gifts pass, graces remain. Of graces there are three—one for each relation of life. Towards God there is faith; towards self, hope; towards others, love. Of these graces, love is the greatest; for while faith and hope appropriate, love diffuses; and the grace which gives is more blessed than those which receive. We are prepared for heaven in the same degree in which we are perfect in love, and are advanced Christians only so far as we are advanced in kindness and tenderness of heart.