"Charity believeth all things."
Faith is a preliminary gift of God without which charity is impossible. No one can do any work that is pleasing in His sight unless that person believes in God and is ready to accept whatever God has revealed. Works of benevolence are not works of charity if he who performs them does not possess this belief. The charity that rests on a feeble faith will always be itself feeble. He who minimizes in matters of faith will generally have a minimum of charity. Hence, pray for a loyal readiness to believe that so you may obtain an intense charity.
Charity, while it believes all things that God has revealed, is the reverse of credulous. Charity is the bitter enemy of superstition and carefully examines the claims of any doctrine or the proofs of any fact that are not already vouched for by authority. It is no act of faith or of charity to swallow down some unauthenticated statement. We should prove all things and hold fast only that which is good. The saints never were credulous or given to believe in portents, omens, or apparitions, unless bearing the mark of the finger of God.
Charity supplements faith and it strengthens it. The stronger our love of God, the stronger will be our belief in all that He has revealed. When love waxes cold, faith becomes faint. No man ever loses his faith without first willfully estranging himself from God by deliberate mortal sin. If I want a strong faith, I must cultivate a fervent charity. My ready acceptance of all that God has revealed will be in proportion to my love of Him. If I have difficulties in belief, is it because there are gaps and defects in my charity?
- text from Charity, Meditations for a Month by Father Richard Frederick Clarke, SJ