Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always, trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Charity is love-love for God and love for your neighbor. Charity is the mother of all virtues since all Christian virtues revolve around love. All good comes from God, and God is love. Charity is the most important virtue to practice, in as much as if you love God, you will practice all of the virtues in order to please Him.
Charity is not an easy virtue to practice since it involves forgetting oneself. Human beings often tend to do what is beneficial to themselves. This often leads to selfishness, and apathy towards other people. These are opposites of charity. Love has no boundaries. We must not let our own selfish feelings stand between us and serving others. If one wants to practice charity fully, one must fight against selfishness and go out of his way to love and serve others.
One way to practice charity is to love God more fully. One can do this by going to Mass often, going to confession regularly, and praying. We shouldn’t do this out of fear of punishment or anticipation of reward, but out of genuine love for our beloved Father. God doesn’t shower us with graces because he fears us or expects us to reciprocate, but because he loves us as His children. It is only fair that we love him just as purely in return.
Love for God doesn’t end with prayer. We must show our love by being kind to our neighbors. One place where we can start this is at home. We should always be kind to our family. We should shower them with love and affection. Our family is one of our greatest assets in life. No matter what we are or what may become of us, our families will always love us. Our love for them should be equally unconditional.
We should also not forget about the other members of our household– the household helpers. We should treat them with kindness and respect like we would a friend. Our maids and drivers are people just like us. They feel good when praised, and get hurt when shouted at. These helpers give us invaluable service and loyalty. We should reciprocate by showing them gratitude.
We should also practice charity in school by being kind to our classmates and friends. One thing a lot of students do against charity is to tease and bully. Teasing is worse than most students think it is. There is a common saying, "Sticks andstones will break my bones but names will never hurt me." This is entirely untrue. When you tease someone, you hurt him internally. You ruin the person's entire day. Is your momentary pleasure worth someone else’s prolonged misery? Sometimes, teasing can lower someone's self esteem permanently. It is destructive to a person's life. It is abhorrent that some people value their momentary amusement more than someone's life. This is a sign of selfishness and apathy, the two opposites of charity. What we should do, rather than tease or bully, is to support and encourage our classmates. This way, we can practice charity and make others happy.
Remember, never hesitate to give love and kindness to everyone around you. Serve people and make them happy.
MOTTO: Support and encourage, don't tease and bully.