Charity and Service

Sed per charitatem servite invicem, omnis enim lex in uno sermone impletur. Diliges proximum tuum sicut teipsum.    Qui cum esset liber ex omnibus, omnium se propter charitatem servum fecit, ut plures lucrifaceret, recte hortatur et caeteros, ut per charitatem sibi serviant: quae non quaerit quod suum est, sed quod proximi. Qui enim vult fieri primus, erit omnium servus: ut quomodo Salvator in forma Dei constitutus, non rapinam arbitratus est esse se aequalem Deo, sed seipsum exinanivit, formam servi accipiens, et habitu inventus ut homo, humiliavit semetipsum, factus obediens usque ad  mortem, mortem autem crucis: ita et nos quaecumque ante sub Legis necessitate facere videbamur, nunc sciamus, nobis liberis, magis per charitatem esse facienda. Tantum autum bonum est charitas, ut omnis lex in illa recapituletur. Enumerat et in alio loco Apostulus charitatis bona, dicens: Non zelatur, non agit perperam. Multisque in medio replicatis, in fine concludit: Omnia sperat, omnia sustinet, charitas numquam excidit. Et Salvator in Evangelico, hoc signum sui, ait, esse discipuli, si diligat proximum. Quod quidem puto non solum hominibus, sed etiam angelis convenire. Aliis verbis idipsum dicitur: Quae vobis fieri non vultis, aliis ne feceritis, et quae vultis ut vobis faciant homines, haec eadem et vos eis facite similiter. Nolo adulterari uxorem meam, nolo substaniam diripi, nolo me falso opprimi testimonio, et ut cuncta brevi sermone comprehendam, indigne fero aliquid mihi fieri quod injustum est. Haec eadem si per charitatem in me operantem, vel fecero alteri, vel voluero, lex omnis impleta est. Nec est difficle est docere quomodo universa praecepta, non occides, non adulterabis, non furaberis, non falsum testimonium dices, et caetera his similia, una charitatis observatione teneantur. Sanctus Hieronymus, Commentariorum in Epistolam ad Galatas, Liber III, Cap V

But in charity serve one another, for every law is in one phrase fulfilled: Love your neighbour as yourself. 1  He who when he is free from everything makes himself a servant of everyone through charity, that he might gain many 2, and rightly he exhorts others, that they should serve through charity, that a man care not for what is his own but for his neighbour. 3 For he who wishes to be first should be the servant of all 4 just as the Saviour 'in the form of God established, not seizing on judgement that he be equal to God, but emptying himself, receiving the form of a servant, and in such form discovered like a man, humbled himself, being obedient even to death, death on a cross.' 5 Thus even we who before beneath the necessity of the Law seemed to do, now we should know, freedom being granted to us, that more is to be done through charity. The only good is charity, in it is recapitulated every law. The Apostle enumerates in another place the goods of charity, saying, 'It is not zealous, it does not do wrong, '  and so on with many things, and at the end he concludes, It hopes everything, sustains everything, nothing exceeds charity. 6 And the Saviour in the Gospel says that this is the sign of his discipleship, that a man loves his neighbour. 6 So I think this befits not only men, but even angels. And with other words He says, what you do not wish done to yourself, do not do to a neighbour, and what you wish men do to you, this even do to others. 7 I do not wish my wife assaulted, I do not wish my property stolen, I do not wish to be assailed with false testimony, and all that, in short, understanding, unworthily I treat myself to take to injustice.  If this same charity is working in me, in what I do to another or wish to do, every law is fulfilled. It is not difficult to teach how every command, do not kill, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not speak false witness, and so on, are encompassed in the one observation of charity. Saint Jerome, Commentary on the Letter to the Galatians, Book 3, Chap 5 1 Gal 5. 13-14 2 1 Cor 9.19 3 Phillip 2.6-8 4 Mk 10.44 5 Philip. 2.6-8 6 1 Cor 13, 6-8  7 Mt 7.12