Act of Charity

The Act of Charity is the highest of the three theological virtues put into words, for charity — the love of God — is, in St. Paul’s words, the greatest of them: "but the greatest of these is charity" (1 Corinthians 13:13). Faith will one day give way to sight and hope to possession, but love alone abides forever; it is the very life of heaven begun on earth.

The prayer follows exactly the two great commandments on which, Our Lord said, "dependeth the whole law and the prophets" (Matthew 22:37–40). First: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart" — and note the motive, "because Thou art all-good and worthy of all love." This is love of God for His own sake, not chiefly for the reward He gives; the soul loves God because He is God, infinitely good in Himself. Second: "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" — but the prayer adds the Christian key, "for the love of Thee." We love our neighbor not merely by natural sympathy but in God and for God, seeing in each person His image.

Because true love of God is inseparable from mercy, the prayer ends where charity always leads: "I forgive all who have injured me, and ask pardon of all whom I have injured." The Church teaches, moreover, that a perfect act of charity — sorrow for sin arising from the pure love of God — can restore a soul to grace even before Confession, provided one intends to confess; so this small prayer, said with a whole heart, is among the most powerful a Christian can make.