Charity to me, to use one of your examples, is compassion for one that is overcome by events beyond their control. We are rational agents responsible for our actions, but not all circumstances are "deserved" - they are the result of misfortune. Compassion is recognizing the injustice of the misfortune, and desiring to rectify that injustice.
Hi D. Long;
Your comments reminded me of a passage I recently read. In this brief quote, the author is discussing the fresco, Virtues and Vices of Padua, and makes an arresting comment on the virtue Charity:
"Later on, when, in the course of my life, I had occasion to meet with, in convents for instance, literally saintly examples of practical charity, they have generally had the brisk, decided, undisturbed, and slightly brutal air of a busy surgeon, the face in which one can discern no commiseration, no tenderness at the sight of suffering humanity, and no fear of hurting it, the face devoid of gentleness or sympathy, the sublime face of true goodness."
Swann's Way, p.81
--fl@elementsofreality.com |
