How can we recognize the presence of the Holy Ghost in a soul? This Catholic homily explains that charity—the supernatural love of God expressed through love of our neighbor—is the essential practical fruit of Christian life.

Saint John teaches, “We know that we have passed from death to life because we love the brethren.” Sanctifying grace produces affection for our friends, forgiveness toward our enemies, sympathy for those who suffer, and a desire to make others happy even at personal cost.

Saint Paul names the fruits of the Holy Spirit: charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, mildness, faith, modesty, continence, and chastity. Our Lord gives the identifying mark of His disciples: “By this shall all men know that you are My disciples, if you have love one for another.”

Love of God and love of neighbor are not competing duties. Christ took our human nature so that, through Baptism, we might participate in His divine life. We therefore love other people in Jesus Christ and for God—not through a merely worldly philanthropy separated from faith.

The Church, sacraments, prayer, and divine law are the means Christ established to cultivate the mature fruit of supernatural charity. That charity must be practiced especially within our families, amid crying children, illness, impatience, delays, disappointments, and the countless daily annoyances of living with others.

These ordinary moments become opportunities to imitate Christ through patience, gentleness, forgiveness, and self-sacrifice.

Come, Holy Ghost, fill our hearts with divine charity. Teach us to love God above all things and our neighbors as ourselves.

0:00 Opening prayer
0:15 Taking Saint Paul’s words to heart
0:20 “The fruit of the Spirit is charity”
0:28 Recognizing the presence of the Holy Ghost
0:36 The practical effects of Christian love
0:54 Passing from death to life
1:02 Loving friends and forgiving enemies
1:14 The fruits of the Holy Spirit
1:37 Christ’s new commandment
1:45 The identifying mark of His disciples
1:56 The new life received from above
2:07 Bearing visible spiritual fruit
2:16 What about the love of God?
2:35 God and neighbor are loved together
2:43 Born of God through Holy Baptism
2:59 Christ assumes our human nature
3:15 Partakers of the divine nature
3:26 God became man to elevate humanity
3:33 Extending Christ’s grace to others
3:45 Why the Church emphasizes love of neighbor
4:01 Loving humanity through the God-Man
4:11 Charity versus worldly philanthropy
4:18 What about prayer and the sacraments?
4:28 The parable of wheat and bread
4:43 Different methods of preparing grain
5:02 Christ gives us His Church and sacraments
5:11 The means of producing supernatural charity
5:26 Practicing fraternal love within the family
5:40 Everyday domestic trials
6:00 Loving patience in imitation of Christ
6:17 Charity and the Kingdom of Heaven
6:36 Sensus Fidelium app
6:43 Sponsor message

For more from this parish please visit https://www.institute-christ-king.org/wausau-sermons & please remember to say 3 Hail Marys for the priest

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