Christian Charity: A Call

People are often told to do good, to be generous and kind, and to love everybody especially the poor, among others and this is what Christian Charity entails. It simply is the act of showing love to the poor and the needy. Moreover, charity can be attributed as a Christian love and this act of love for other persons, corresponding to the love of God for humankind is one of the virtues deeply imbibed to Christians. In fact, Murphy emphasized that the City of God is where the Christians belong and this is based upon charity (1).

John Winthrop, a Massachusetts Governor, gave the sermon "A Model of Christian Charity" in 1630 stressing the importance of being just, being able to give love, being humble, and being united. According to him, "always having before our eyes our Commission and Community in the work, our Community as members of the same body, so shall we keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace, the Lord will be our God and delight to dwell among us." Furthermore, the phrase "city upon a hill" is associated with his warning to the Puritan colonists of New England who were to found the Massachusetts Bay Colony that their new community would be a "city upon a hill," watched by the world:

For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us. So that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken... we shall be made a story and a by-word throughout the world. We shall open the mouths of enemies to speak evil of the ways of God... We shall shame the faces of many of God's worthy servants, and cause their prayers to be turned into curses upon us til we be consumed out of the good land whither we are a-going.

Winthrop has the belief that all nations had a covenant with God. Meanwhile, due to what happened, he believed that England had violated this religious covenant and there is a need for the Puritans to leave the country. This came about since the Puritan belief expressed that the Church of England had fallen from grace by accepting Catholic rituals and according Winthrop the Puritans forge a new, special agreement with God, like that between God and the people of Israel. On the contrary, the Separatists (such as the Pilgrims remained nominally a part of the Anglican church in hopes that it could be purified from within. Furthermore, a model Protestant community is what Winthrop hoped for through the purification of Christianity in the New World.

On the other hand, this idea that Winthrop has and his group that their community was specially ordained by God had a powerful impact on the Puritan society of New England since breaking a covenant with God has negative implications and the Puritans sought to maintain a perfect order to avoid incurring God's wrath. This belief caused a commotion in the society since even the smallest sins were punished harshly by the courts; no one was allowed to live alone for fear that they would succumb to the temptation to sin; parents were to instruct their children and servants diligently in the Word of God; church attendance was mandatory; marriage was required. These conventions and institutions molded an extremely stable and rigidly-structured society in New England, a stark contrast with the unstable and loosely-bound society of the early British colonies in the Chesapeake Bay region, such as Jamestown.

Centuries later, the virtue of charity is still of importance to many but Pope John Paul II, in his address after the Way of the Cross on Good Friday (April 1, 1994) reiterated the difficulty charity is due to the events in Central and Eastern Europe wherein Christian brothers and sisters who together had suffered persecution are regarding one another with suspicion and fear just when prospects and hopes of greater freedom are appearing and in one of his Roman Missals said, "Every time we celebrate the Eucharist, the sacrament of communion, we find in the Body and Blood we share the sacrament and the call to our unity" (87). The present world has become more chaotic and more and more people suffered.

Furthermore, the picture of a trouble world has the need to change and everyone has the responsibility to make this possible. As the world continue to become divided and many feel, Pope John Paul stressed the necessity to cooperate in order to proclaim the Kingdom or we can become the upholders of new divisions. "May the Lord open our hearts, convert our minds and inspire in us concrete, courageous steps, capable if necessary of breaking through clichés, easy resignation or stalemate," asked Pope John Paul. He further emphasized how important love is and how we can show charity despite the individual differences. In addition, he urged the Church and its members serve as the witnesses of concrete actions in the inner certitude of love and charity. He also wanted the people to reflect on this, "How can we be fully credible if we stand divided before the Eucharist, if we cannot live our sharing in the same Lord whom we are called to proclaim to the world?"

In view of our reciprocal exclusion from the Eucharist, we feel our poverty and the need to make every effort so that the day may come when we will partake together of the same bread and the same cup (Message to Mechitarists 47) and then the Eucharist will once again be fully perceived as a prophecy of the Kingdom, and these words from a very ancient Eucharistic prayer will resound with full truth: "Just as this broken bread, once scattered on the hills and gathered up, became one, so may your Church be gathered from the ends of the earth into your kingdom" he further stressed.

John Winthrop and Pope John Paul II were among those who clearly emphasized what really is Christianity. While, Winthrop use it to give a lesson the Puritans that God is just watching over, Pope John, on the other hand use it to make the people understand that God wants everyone to be one. Charity is more than just giving; it is giving one's self wholly and without the need to be paid back. Moreover, this Christian virtue needs to be flourished and applied and this is what the messages of John Winthrop and Pope John Paul II depict. Centuries may pass but the concepts on the virtue of Christian charity will certainly not be forgotten as long as it nurtured in the hearts of every Christian. Lastly, the Winthrop and Pope John Paul II may have different view how to execute the act of Christian charity but one thing holds true, the virtue of charity is the key to division, separation and when everyone has the capability has the capability to show concern and love to others, God will certainly bless the world and everyone.

References
An excerpt from Winthrop's sermon is included (pp. 63-65) in Speeches That Changed the World, compiled by Owen Collins. Westminster John Knox Press (1999).

Address after the Way of the Cross on Good Friday (April 1, 1994): AAS 87 (1995), 87.

Cf. Roman Missal, Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, prayer over the gifts; ibid., Eucharistic Prayer III; Saint Basil, Alexandrian Anaphora, ed. E. Renaudot, Liturgiarum Orientalium Collectio, I, Frankfurt, 1847: 68.

Cf. Paul VI, Message to the Mechitarists (September 8, 1977): Insegnamenti 15 (1977): 812.

Funk, I.Didache, IX, 4: Patres Apostolici. Didache, IX, 4: 22.

Murphy, Charles. Charity, Not Justice as constitutive Of the Church's Mission. Theological Studies, Vol. 68, 2007: 1.