IX — THE MANTLE OF CHARITY

Presence of God. — O Lord, teach me to cover with the mantle of charity the defects and errors of others.

Meditation

1 — “Brethren, do not speak evil of one another,” exhorts St. James. “He who speaks evil of a brother speaks against the law” (4:11), that is, against the evangelical law of fraternal charity. To speak ill of neighbor it is not necessary to go so far as to sow unjust suspicions or attribute faults and wrongs that are untrue; it is enough even to speak without necessity of others’ defects, even if they are real and known to all. This too is against charity, because in this way one fixes one’s own and others’ attention on neighbor’s defective sides instead of on his good sides, with the consequence of diminishing in the listener’s soul the esteem due to neighbor, or at least casting some shadow upon it. Very different is charity’s behavior, which, as Holy Scripture says, “spreads its veil over all offenses” (Prov. 10:12), seeking rather to cover others’ faults than to bring them to light. That same industry we instinctively use to cover our own defects and wrongs, not at all liking that others make them matter of conversation, we must use out of supernatural charity toward our neighbor. If we are so sensitive about what others charge us with, how can we think it entirely indifferent to speak with such freedom of others’ defects under pretext that they are true and already known? And are not our own defects equally true and manifest to those who approach us?

Fraternal charity consists in loving neighbor for God’s sake, insofar as he belongs to God and is the work of his hands. As a mother cannot be pleased to hear people speaking of her children’s defects, as an artist does not like his works criticized, so God does not like the defects of his creatures to be spoken of. Therefore we must not only strictly forbid ourselves to speak of others’ defects, but we must also avoid paying attention to those who do so. “Never listen to the tale of others’ weaknesses,” says St. John of the Cross, “and if someone should complain to you about another, you may humbly ask him to say nothing to you” (PA. 68).

2 — St. Teresa of Jesus wrote to her daughters: “To rejoice that the sisters’ virtues are known is always a great thing; likewise to feel sorrow for a defect noticed in them, as though it were our own, and to seek to cover it” (Interior Castle V, 3, 11). Here is the true attitude of delicate fraternal charity. Besides, it is exactly what we spontaneously do for our friends, but which, for universal charity, we must seek to do for every person whatsoever. Too often, however, the devil, enemy of charity, stirs up struggles in us to make us act in the opposite direction. Even saints knew similar temptations; but while we often comply with them, they knew how to react courageously, using them to exercise charity more earnestly. Here is the tactic used by St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus: “When the devil strives to place before my eyes the defects of this or that sister, I hasten immediately to seek out her virtues and good desires; I say to myself that, if I have seen her fall once, she may well have won numerous victories kept hidden through humility, and that even what appears a fault may very well be, by intention, an act of virtue” (St. 9).

If a person is naturally unsympathetic to us, or has done us some wrong, it will be easy to see in her defects much more than virtues, to see the former enlarged and the latter diminished. It will be easy to interpret badly what she says or does. Then is the time to be particularly vigilant, to counter the unbenevolent thoughts that spontaneously come to mind regarding her, and never to allow ourselves to speak of her to others. Not only that, but we must react also with positive acts of charity: pray particularly for her, readily seize every occasion to render her some service, show ourselves toward her especially kind and benevolent. The mantle of charity must be so broad as to cover not only friends’ defects, but also those of enemies or of persons not to our liking. Charity makes no personal distinctions, but uses equal benevolence toward all, because in all it sees and loves God alone.

Colloquy

“To know whether I possess true charity, I must consider whether, when I begin to speak of some neighbor, I am more ready to speak of his virtues than of his defects. And even if I did not speak evil, merely staying to listen to evil would already be a great evil, because by remaining silent I would show that I consent to what I hear. Therefore, my God, when someone comes to tell me some defect of neighbor, I will not want to hear it, and I will tell him to pray for that person and to pray that I may amend myself. And more readily I will tell the defect to the one who commits it than speak of it with others, because by doing so, instead of remedying it, many other defects are committed far worse than those spoken of.

“If my eye were pure, O Lord, I would see very well in what way I must exercise love toward my neighbor. Noticing myself defective in something and finding the same defect in a brother, I would go to him and ask counsel, begging him to teach me how to correct myself. Then he, wanting to answer me, will reflect on that defect and thus will know he has it in himself, and in this way both of us will remain instructed. My God, with what sweet love does one whose eye is pure know how to deal with neighbor!

“If I love my sister, O Lord, even if I were singing your praises, I would be obliged to interrupt them to come to her aid in her needs. And if I must do this for her material good, much more must I do it for the good of her soul. If, to help the body, I should watch one or two nights when she needed it, much more, if I had true charity, I would not esteem it a burden to watch one or two nights and with tears weep over a defect, even the least, of my sister. And I am obliged to desire for her every virtue and to labor that she acquire it. And not only must I desire for her virtue and health of soul, but also that she have many merits and that by your grace, O Lord, she be transformed totally into You” (St. Mary Magdalene de’ Pazzi).