"Charity seeketh not her own."
In all the affairs of life, men may be divided into two classes. First, those whose eye is always fixed upon some advantage to themselves. Second, those who devote themselves without thought of self to the work in which they are engaged and whose object is to carry the work through, even at the cost of suffering and humiliation to themselves.
When I look at my life and the motives that guide it, do I recognize in myself the sacrifice of self that is the essence of charity?
What reveals this spirit in my life? Not zeal, for there is a zeal that is nothing but a disguised form of self-seeking. Not activity, for an active nature rejoices in being employed. Not a strong interest in the work - perhaps the pious work in which I am engaged. All these may be mere counterfeits. The real test is the willingness that the work should prosper independently of myself; a preference for its success rather than my success, even though I myself am thrust out of it; a readiness to disappear if I can do anything to help the good cause. Can I stand this first test?
Yet this is not enough. I must not be satisfied with a general willingness to obliterate myself, especially where this is perhaps impossible. If my motives are pure, I must also be ready to be taken down, humbled, misjudged, or disparaged. I must be prepared to accept all the blame of failures and to see others reap the praise of success and I must know this is done to me through God's grace. Rather, I must rejoice in this as a good sign. Can I stand this second test?
- text from Charity, Meditations for a Month by Father Richard Frederick Clarke, SJ