I do not mean charity which is performed for the purpose of acquiring merit in the eyes of a personal God or to win eternal bliss.
This utterly base form is the worst of all bargainings and to call it charity would be to tarnish this name.
But I mean charity which is performed because one finds pleasure in it and which is still subject to all kinds of likes or dislikes, attractions or repulsions.
That kind of charity is very rarely completely free from the desire to meet with gratitude, and such a desire always atrophies the impartial clear-sightedness which is necessary to any action if it is to have its full value.
There is a wisdom in charity as everywhere, and it is to reduce waste to the minimum.
Thus to be truly charitable one must be impersonal.
And once more we see that all the lines of human progress converge on the same necessity: self-mastery, dying to oneself in order to be born into the new and true life.
To the extent that we outgrow the habit of referring everything to ourselves, we can exercise a truly effective charity, a charity one with love.
Besides, there is a height where all virtues meet in communion: love, goodness, compassion, forbearance, charity are all one and the same in their essence.
From this point of view, charity could be considered as the tangible and practical outer action determined by the application of the virtues of love.
For there is a force which can be distributed to all, always, provided that it is given in its most impersonal form: this is love, love which contains within itself light and life, that is, all the possibilities of intelligence, health, blossoming.
Yes, there is a sublime charity, one which rises from a happy heart, from a serene soul.
One who has won inner peace is a herald of deliverance wherever he goes, a bearer of hope and joy. Is not this what poor and suffering humanity needs above all things?
Yes, there are certain men whose thoughts are all love, who radiate love, and the mere presence of these individuals is a charity more active, more real than any other.
Though they utter no word and make no gesture, yet the sick are relieved, the tormented are soothed, the ignorant are enlightened, the wicked are appeased, those who suffer are consoled and all undergo this deep transformation which will open new horizons to them, enable them to take a step forward which no doubt will be decisive, on the infinite path of progress.
These individuals who, out of love, give themselves to all, who become the servants of all, are the living symbols of the supreme Charity.
The Mother [CWM 2]
